Although it did not support some of the more advanced features of iTunes, gtkpod still performed the role of an iPod manager for Linux.

Most digital audio players permit the user to browse and access their content via an interface closely related to the underlying file system.

iPods, on the other hand, employ a proprietary database file for managing all the metadata associated with their content.

This task is usually performed by iTunes, but since Apple has only released versions for Mac OS X and Windows, gtkpod provides the needed support for other operating systems.

Starting with version 0.93, the code that handles the iPod access had been separated as libgpod, a shared library that allows other projects to provide iPod support within their applications.