But of course iTunes is absolute shit, so next step was to replace it with Rockbox, an open source firmware for old mp3 players, which is pure unadulterated goodness. And so, now I have a wonderful mp3 player that works better than before (CF vs HDD), has more storage (32GB vs 20GB), and with an OSS firmware that has a ton more options than the original and doesn't force me to use bloody iTunes.
This 20 year old little thing is still bringing joy 😊