iPod Touch 2.2.1 to 3.x

When the ipod touch 3.0 update came out, I didn't touch it. I had heard of too many applications going off the deep end. When the 4.0 firmware came out, I didn't touch it for the same reason.

But now most apps require the 3.0 firmware, so I went to make the upgrade. But I couldn't find the 3.0 or 3.1 (or 3 dot anything) searching on iTunes, even after upgrading to iTunes 9 (which, by the way, was really weird: upgrade to iTunes 9, and then have iTunes 9 tell you that in order to use the iTunes store within iTunes, you have to upgrade Safari 5...makes you feel like you're stuck in the Mac version of DLL Hell. Two reboots later, you're "current". Way to make me feel like I'm running Windows 95, guys.

Apparently when iOS 4 came out, it became the "best". But since first-gen ipod touches can't run iOS 4, version 2.2.1 became "best" according to iTunes. It's as if there's no version 3.0/3.1....but this post tells you how to get your first-gen IPT to run 3.1.

It all begs the question: how the fuck am I supposed to know what "generation" of an iPod touch I have? It doesn't say anywhere what the generation is.