Using the Apple support page
Identify your iPod model, I concluded that my model is the iPod classic. On the back of my iPod I can see “80GB”, model no. A1238 and a serial no. ending in YMV. I thought this meant I had a 5th generation or video iPod but in the end I had to install the 6G firmware. Here's
a link to my notes, in case anybody else runs into the issues I ran into. I am on macOS with no access to Windows, so I had to format the iPod, fight permission issues and all that.