[HN Gopher] Building an iPod for 2022
___________________________________________________________________
Building an iPod for 2022
Author : hownottowrite
Score : 370 points
Date : 2022-02-15 12:07 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (ellie.wtf)
(TXT) w3m dump (ellie.wtf)
| MrGando wrote:
| I'll give you money for this. Can I buy one?
| echelon_musk wrote:
| I absolutely love rockbox on the ipod6g.
|
| I have been through a number of iterations of them and compile my
| own custom builds of rockbox. One thing I would do is avoid the
| iFlash SD card adapters as in my experience files tend to
| corrupt. With an upgraded battery the iFlash mSATA SSD adapters
| work very well.
|
| You can use transflac/oggenc to transcode your lossless library
| and it works really well for maximising space.
|
| Edit: here is a link to photos of some of my iPods:
| https://imgur.com/a/I0yg4eR
| ellieh wrote:
| I've only had mine for a couple of days now, but so far I love
| it!
|
| > One thing I would do is avoid the iFlash SD card adapters as
| in my experience files tend to corrupt.
|
| I had this experience too, but booting into the original
| firmware and transferring files while there sorted it
| temporarily.
|
| Updating to a daily Rockbox build solved the problem on that
| side of things too! There was a forum thread about it here:
| https://forums.rockbox.org/index.php?topic=52560.0
| asciimov wrote:
| I'm not a big fan of RockBox, it's always been too buggy for
| me.
|
| Regarding the iFlash, the best way to avoid file corruption is
| to transfer files to the iPod while using the Apple Firmware
| (don't sync with iTunes, just copy the files directly). There
| is some issue with Rockbox that corrupts the files if the
| device can't sync the files fast enough. Stock iPod Firmware
| doesn't seem to have this issue.
| dotancohen wrote:
| Right in the screenshot I see a rockbox bug. The analogue clock
| shows a quarter to eight, the digital clock shows 20:43.
| twmiller wrote:
| I love how everyone is chomping at the bits to get one of those
| iPods with the Wolfson DAC when a) most people can't hear the
| difference and b) even among people who can, they're probably not
| using headphones* that are good enough to take advantage of the
| difference.
|
| * and/but/also c) even if they can hear the difference, and have
| a headset that can express the difference, they're probably not
| using these in a quiet enough environment where it matters.
| lkxijlewlf wrote:
| Woah there fella! That's an awful lot of assuming.
| twmiller wrote:
| It's really not. That was the concensus of many reviews when
| these things were new. I'm not (by any stretch) implying that
| DAC differences are 'audiophile snake oil'. There _is_ a
| difference. It 's just that the 'difference' is vastly
| overstated.
| digisign wrote:
| With hardware so cheap there's no reason to settle for
| lower quality.
| nyanpasu64 wrote:
| I wish I had more single-purpose hardware without extraneous
| complexity and complications. Is using an iPod today practical?
| Does the original iPod firmware or Rockbox support FLAC and Opus
| file formats? What about the obscure video game emulation audio
| formats like .nsf and .spc?
| dsr_ wrote:
| Rockbox supports FLAC and .nsf and .spc and Ogg Vorbis, but not
| Opus -- yet. Look at the manual for the whole list.
| FridayoLeary wrote:
| I've looked at this a bit. A modern sony walkman is really a
| better option. A used, 15 year old ipod will always have issues
| and feel dated. While this mod is very nice, an iflash and sd
| cost so much time and money that you may as well just buy a
| walkman and be done. Alternatively, buy some generic, cheap thing
| from China, if that kind of thing doesn't bother you.
|
| [P.s don't forget ipods need itunes...]
| [deleted]
| asciimov wrote:
| I've done this a few times, some things to think about if you
| decide to take the plunge.
|
| 1. New backs aren't always made well, often with the mounting
| posts not lining up as well as they should.
|
| 2. New batteries are a crap shoot. Most don't last as long nor
| are rated as high as advertised. On the 5g and later, you can put
| in a much larger battery in them, but you need the thicker case.
|
| 3. If you mod an iPod mini, use a higher quality sd to compact
| flash adapter. The cheaper ones, end up having weird issues when
| transferring files.
|
| 4. If Rockbox seems temperamental it's not just you. It can take
| a bit to work out the issues it has with your iPod, from buggy
| themes to random crashes.
|
| 5. If your music doesn't play right through Rockbox (clipped
| music) or playing music on rockbox seems to crash device, the
| issue was the file transfer. To fix, reboot the iPod to the stock
| Apple Firmware, delete the old files, and then transfer them
| again. Apple firmware handles file transfers much better than
| Rockbox.
|
| 6. If your iPod hasn't been charged in a long time, it might not
| come up when first connected to power. Sometimes, leaving the
| iPod attached to power for a day or two will allow it to get
| enough charge to get into actual recharge mode. Older models re
| detaro wrote:
| > _3. If you mod an iPod mini, use a higher quality sd to
| compact flash adapter. The cheaper ones, end up having weird
| issues when transferring files._
|
| Why wouldn't you just use ... compact flash?
| floatboth wrote:
| Because CompactFlash is one of the most overpriced things in
| the universe I guess?
|
| I bought a couple for retro (IDE/PATA) laptops and paid
| ridiculous prices for just 32/64 GiB >_<
| anacleto wrote:
| That's a great post, a video about this would be incredible.
|
| Speaking of iPod videos, last week I shared one [0] about the
| story of the first iPod. A deep look into the crazy 11-month ride
| that led to its creation.
|
| It's my first YT video, so please be merciful.
|
| [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8JoM9Lr3Go
| snapetom wrote:
| Man, no idea that iFlash Quad existed. _Every_ iPod I had died
| because of a broken hard drive. I 'm going to have to get one of
| those and dig out one of my busted iPods.
| azinman2 wrote:
| Somewhat off topic, I recently recovered all my mp3s and tried to
| import them into Apple Music. After having used Spotify for a
| long time, I'm finding it very difficult to use. The lack of
| intelligence around what I'm currently listening to, intelligent
| groupings, etc. I'm realizing how a central catalog with great
| data analytics has made Spotify such a powerhouse. Perhaps Apple
| Music, the subscription service, would be able to do similar. But
| what is one to do with just mp3s these days? Is there anything
| remotely good, or an I always having to pick an
| artist/album/genre manually from the entire catalog?
| [deleted]
| wwalexander wrote:
| Apple should be able to identify your MP3s as long as those
| songs are also in the Apple Music collection (and you are
| subscribed to Apple Music).
|
| There's a "Create Station" feature that might be what you're
| looking for.
|
| Additionally, for discovering new music, Apple Music has plenty
| of recommendations and curated playlists to check out. Like
| most machine-curated approximations of my taste, these never
| quite do it for me and I end up finding new music by exploring
| artists/producers/labels I'm interested in "by hand".
|
| But in any case, Apple Music is definitely a better choice over
| Spotify if you want to maintain a collection of personal media
| files while getting access to a big streaming catalogue and
| recommendations. If you use iCloud Music Library, your MP3s are
| cloud-synced to all your devices automatically. Spotify allows
| adding personal files, but it must be done manually per-device,
| so it's quite a headache if you regularly listen to anything
| that isn't available to stream (due to business, politics, or
| simply never having an official release).
| azinman2 wrote:
| I'm not an Apple Music subscriber. I guess I'm asking for a
| pure mp3 experience that matches what the subscription
| services can do today, or at least a good amount of it.
| MuffinFlavored wrote:
| How much of a difference does a DAC really make on a 320kbps MP3?
| I feel like you're fooling yourself if you claim you can tell a
| difference.
| dt2m wrote:
| If you ask me, honestly a good quality DAC sounds better
| playing a 320kbps MP3 than a bad DAC sounds playing a 96/24 WAV
| of the same recording.
| [deleted]
| richardw wrote:
| My wife's shuffle battery finally died. Competition seems to be
| fairly lame. I can't believe it hasn't been beaten yet. I've
| ordered a replacement battery rather than risk some device with
| 3.5 stars.
|
| Someone build it. Runners worldwide would thank you.
| FridayoLeary wrote:
| >I can't believe it hasn't been beaten yet.
|
| The ipod was too good at it's own game. It's functionally
| obsolete now. Also, a shuffle has 2gb and no screen or
| bluetooth.
| richardw wrote:
| Sure, for running she doesn't need a lot of storage or a
| screen. Run and listen, that's it.
|
| There are copies, there are people looking for them. Just
| nothing really good (it seems).
| skrebbel wrote:
| A bit off topic, but i wonder why no music streaming service (eg
| Spotify) makes dedicated hardware with iPod Shuffle like
| semantics (but 1000x more storage, store just about all music you
| ever played plus lots of discovery stuff).
|
| I can't be the only one who wants to be able to disconnect but
| still enjoy music, right? (and doesn't have a huge mp3
| collection)
|
| I bet on the inside it could just be a cheapo android phone with
| wifi but no gsm and the whole OS locked down to the Spotify app
| on extra-aggressive-make-available-offline-mode. I'd totally buy
| that and switch to whichever music service sells it.
| paulcole wrote:
| Smartphones have airplane mode and you can download from Apple
| Music (and probably other streaming services) to play offline.
|
| I don't own a smartphone but carry an iPod touch everywhere and
| downloading to it works fine for me.
| post_break wrote:
| I have an 80GB 5.5 sitting in my night stand. I sometimes think
| about doing this after dankpods blew up but then I remember I
| have almost 0 use for something that has music already on it, vs
| streaming. The clear shell looks fantastic.
| c0nsumer wrote:
| I wasn't able to find this when looking. When using Rockbox can
| the iPod still be connected to a car via the dock connector / USB
| and speak in AAP (Apple Accessory Protocol) to the car?
|
| I ask because my 2015 Subaru Outback doesn't have AptX for BT,
| and inserting a USB drive full of music requires browsing by
| folder structure (ick). Thus, I use an iPod which very quickly
| lists music by artist and album and such. I've been keen on
| trying Rockbox so I no longer have to use iTunes, but I still
| need the thing to talk AAP.
| peterburkimsher wrote:
| The iPod is great! It's what introduced me to embedded systems,
| and still provides the music I listen to while at work all day.
|
| After replacing the hard drive with a Kingspec SSD, there's a lot
| more physical space inside. Here's a photo from a few years ago,
| showing an EspUSB, miniDP-HDMI adaptor, Corewind WiFiG25 single-
| board computer, and PQI Air Card.
|
| https://www.flickr.com/photos/150180606@N08/albums/721577133...
|
| The iPod is so hackable that it fills in for any lack of features
| on my iPhone (e.g. SD->WiFi makes up for the lack of SD slot).
|
| There's a few changes now (Corewind replaced by Vocore 2,
| VGA->HDMI, USB-C->HDMI have joined the storage), and I continue
| to enjoy hacking it.
|
| One of my favourites is using an Ultradock to act as a serial
| remote control.
|
| http://www.chlazza.net/ultradock.html
|
| The ICT department restrict what we can install on our office
| PCs, but we're allowed to use serial cables for work, and
| AutoHotKey is tolerated. So I've got a script to remap the
| numpad, and the Microsoft Intellimouse side keys (side as
| modifier, wheel for volume, buttons for next/back), to be an iPod
| remote.
|
| All I need now is to figure out how to press the centre button so
| I can set a rating, and how to read the song title and lyrics
| over serial. That needs 0x04 Extended Interface Lingo, which
| normally needs a special Apple authentication chip, but I bought
| a Griffin iKaraoke and am trying to hack around with that to see
| if I can insert data after it's already authenticated.
|
| Although there's no leaked schematics or boardviews for the iPod
| (unlike some MacBook models), there is an "iPod Accessory
| Protocol Interface Specification.pdf" that some very kind person
| discovered and made available, and it's been a huge help in
| trying to build this iPod remote. Apple documentation is really
| nice to read, too. I wish I could continue supporting the
| original authors, but alas, Apple decided to shift away from the
| Digital Hub and require streaming.
| hettygreen wrote:
| The big thing here is the concept of a device doing ONE thing and
| doing it well. Is there a name for that?
|
| I've been rocking an iPod Video for like 15 years and it is still
| my go-to music device. All the stereos in my office, house and
| shop have a 3.5mm cable hanging from them.
|
| I've also been using rockbox so I can play FLAC files. The ipod
| is on it's 4th battery at this point and I've also upgraded to SD
| cards from the internal HD about 6 years ago. The screen is not
| working in a few places now, but the thing keeps working and I'd
| be very sad if it ever stopped because I'm not sure what would
| replace it.
|
| Whenever I'm programming and I feel like I've been very
| productive, it's often the times I'm using this ipod with
| headphones - instead of a music playing piece of software. Maybe
| it's because I'm less inclined to open up the software and spend
| time choosing an album/podcast/etc.
| leviathant wrote:
| > The big thing here is the concept of a device doing ONE thing
| and doing it well. Is there a name for that?
|
| Best of breed? Dedicated hardware? The model that always comes
| to mind for me is related to audio hardware, specifically with
| respect to guitar pedals. There are multi-fx pedals out there -
| one device that has a collection of distortions, overdrives,
| modulations, reverbs, delays, etc. etc., and for most people
| it's _fine_
|
| But as you begin to specialize, you tend to build out a signal
| chain of dedicated pedals. I don't want the phaser algorithm on
| my Zoom multiFX pedal, I want a Moog 12-stage Phaser. The 3
| echo algorithms on that multiFX get the job done in a pinch,
| but given the opportunity, I'll use a Deluxe Memory Man for the
| sound I prefer.
|
| Having had that framework in my head, I've never had to
| consider the phraseology for that _one_ device, beyond
| 'dedicated' - in this case, a dedicated pedal. Or dedicated,
| specialized hardware.
| smilespray wrote:
| > doing ONE thing and doing it well. Is there a name for that?
|
| Unitasker
| digisign wrote:
| Unitastic!
| jkestner wrote:
| Appliance.
| thereddaikon wrote:
| >Is there a name for that?
|
| Dedicated hardware?
|
| Potentially, "fixed function hardware" although not technically
| correct when used with programmable digital computers like an
| iPod.
| kinghtown wrote:
| I'm super interested in getting a Free Write Traveller for
| creative writing but it's hard to justify the price.
|
| There's an interesting interview with the Iranian filmmaker
| Abbas Kiarostami where the interviewer was asking why he
| doesn't just come to Hollywood, because he wouldn't have to
| deal with you know censorship and artistic training wheels or
| what have you. And Kiarostamisaid that he felt more creative
| with fewer options and preferred to stay in Iran. He went on to
| make one movie outside of Iran but I really can relate to what
| he said. Our phones and computers, really our culture, has been
| infected with distractions which are pulling us away from what
| we should be doing towards bad faith actors with junk for sale.
| techer wrote:
| I use the alphasmart neo2. Extremely simple and cheap.
| Batteries last months and months.
|
| I may end up with a derivative of the FWT one day but for now
| there's no need at all.
| bnj wrote:
| Almost like a hardware extension of the Single Responsibility
| Principle
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-responsibility_principl...
| mypastself wrote:
| People are usually surprised when they see me carrying a
| portable audio player (for music and podcasts) during runs.
|
| Smartphones are too clumsy (not to mention pricey) to be
| carried in your hand or pocket while running, and phone bands
| do not complement sweaty arms very well. Plus, I'd rather be
| unavailable by phone while working out anyway.
|
| A cheap MP3 player with an SD card has served me well for a few
| years now. So there is definitely something to be said for
| devices that do one thing well.
| skykooler wrote:
| Given that the processing power of something like airpods is
| more than that of original ipods, I wonder how feasible it
| would be to make a pair of wireless headphones that just play
| the music loaded onto them, similarly to the 2009 ipod
| shuffle (the one with no buttons except power). It would be
| nice to not have to carry _anything_ on a run.
| RichEO wrote:
| I find that my Apple Watch is a fantastic compromise. It
| has cellular data to stream music, a built in arm strap and
| it doubles as my run tracker
| ralfd wrote:
| > The big thing here is the concept of a device doing ONE thing
| and doing it well. Is there a name for that?
|
| I don't think so, but it was the first item in the Unix
| philosophy in 1978.
|
| "Make each program do one thing well. To do a new job, build
| afresh rather than complicate old programs by adding new
| "features"."
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
| oceanplexian wrote:
| 2022's development philosophy should be "Try to do
| everything, and do it poorly. If what you're trying to do
| already exists, make no effort to learn it and rewrite it
| into the latest monolith." ;)
| overlordalex wrote:
| > Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail.
| Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones
| which can.
|
| Zawinski's Law of Software Envelopment is hardly a 2022
| notion ;)
| nyanpasu64 wrote:
| More like "try to use as many moving parts and layers and
| fragmentation as possible to accomplish a single task, turn
| the Linux desktop into a distributed system with messaging
| back and forth, and distributed state that can go wrong".
| creeble wrote:
| Yes, I wonder how a systemd-inspired iPod would work. It
| would surely have multiple webservers, even if it had no
| network connection.
| ellieh wrote:
| > The big thing here is the concept of a device doing ONE thing
| and doing it well. Is there a name for that?
|
| Totally! I love single purpose + honest technology. It's not
| secretly sending my data off somewhere to infer crap
| information about my life, it's just doing what it says on the
| tin
|
| > The ipod is on it's 4th battery at this point and I've also
| upgraded to SD cards from the internal HD about 6 years ago.
| The screen is not working in a few places now, but the thing
| keeps working and I'd be very sad if it ever stopped because
| I'm not sure what would replace it.
|
| The screen isn't that difficult to swap out either! It'll end
| up like the ship of theseus haha
| CognitiveLens wrote:
| I've started searching for something similar, and it looks like
| such devices are now referred to as DAPs (digital audio
| players), and the market is very small, mostly served by
| devices targeting audiophiles. I'm considering getting a used
| iPod touch (2019) and then locking it down to just the music
| player app(s) using parental controls.
| TonyTrapp wrote:
| This would be even more awesome if there were holes in the case
| to allow for swapping the SD cards.
| ruined wrote:
| there was a sweet spot around 2014-2016 where streaming was new,
| and the price of old ipods fell through the floor. i used to make
| a few bucks refurbing like this and flipping to nostalgics.
| dnljrz wrote:
| I wonder if OP made an actual 3000 mAh battery or if she bought a
| "3000mAh" battery from eBay.
|
| More info on the actual 3000mAh battery:
| https://www.reddit.com/r/IpodClassic/comments/lmnk38/lg_g4_b...
| vymague wrote:
| There is regularly-updated comparison chart of modern mp3
| players/digital audio players (DAP).
| https://azalush5.hatenablog.com/entry/2022/01/dap-comparison...
|
| I personally find them too expensive and bulky. With not so great
| software.
| BoxOfRain wrote:
| I love this! I've been meaning for a while to cram a TB of
| storage into an iPod Mini I have lying around to fit my lossless
| music library in a gorgeously cheerful package of mid '00s
| design, this is definitely a cooler project though!
|
| Anyone know which iPod had the best DAC? Might have to look at
| doing a 5.5G as well as my Mini at some point.
| divbzero wrote:
| > _Almost all of the cables can be removed by lifting a little
| black lever, and are equally as easy to replace._
|
| I'm guessing that's not commonly seen in electronic devices made
| today.
| motowaifu wrote:
| Proud of youuuu ^-^
| nullwarp wrote:
| This is great, I've been really wanting to get a dedicated
| media/mp3 player again after finding my little zune stuffed in a
| drawer (which rockbox worked on that bad boy)
|
| I've pretty much moved back to purchasing mp3s and syncing them
| with my phone but I would much rather have a dedicate device for
| it
| i_am_proteus wrote:
| This is an fantastically _inspiring_ writeup (it makes me want to
| do something similar with the 5th gen ipod i have collecting
| dust) though I 'd have loved a BOM and a manifest of the
| procedures you used.
|
| That said, hats off for not just loading your blog up with
| affiliate links.
| ellieh wrote:
| thank you! I'm glad it had that effect on you :) If you do end
| up building one, I'd love to see it!
|
| I could probably add something about that, but honestly most of
| the procedures were taken straight from iFixit and most of the
| parts were just found from random eBay sellers
|
| > That said, hats off for not just loading your blog up with
| affiliate links.
|
| haha well, it's not for that :) it'd make writing there feel
| like a job
| floatboth wrote:
| I love the idea of tinkering with iPods, but I'm really, really
| not going to actually carry a dedicated music player device.
| Going back from modern convenience to retro inconvenience just
| isn't practical to me.
| conradev wrote:
| I've done this myself and the thing that ultimately blocked me
| from enjoying my iPod is the fact that I wasn't able to take my
| music library, which is all streaming, and put it on my iPod.
|
| It is still on my todo list to write a high quality open source
| scraper for Apple Music and/or Spotify
|
| One pro tip to go further is that you can get a teeny tiny 30 pin
| Bluetooth adapter and listen using AirPods. It works great, and
| is a great use of the larger battery:
| https://store.kokkia.com/i10stinybluetoothipodtransmitterfor...
| bredren wrote:
| My first thought after seeing this was how do I get Bluetooth
| onto one of these remade upgraded iPods?
|
| Had to look at this device, and it is small but it would be
| even better if that could be moved into the iPod itself.
|
| Is there possibly room to stash a Bluetooth transceiver inside
| the case once the large HDD has been replaced with an SD card
| board like it is shown in this walk-through?
| conradev wrote:
| I briefly looked into the same possibility, but I am trying
| to keep my physical modifications of the iPod to a minimum -
| mine is pretty tight in there with the big battery, although
| I could buy a deeper back plate.
|
| Power and audio can easily be multiplexed, but I don't know
| about the playback control piece. The dock connector needs to
| be intact for USB
| bitexploder wrote:
| Best I have seen is a thing that converts Spotify playlists to
| YT ones and then just use youtube-dl. I have seen some
| automation around this. It is 80-90% accurate and requires a
| little cleanup in terms of playlist conversation, same versions
| of songs etc.
| conradev wrote:
| I would only use this in conjunction with something like
| iTunes Match (which is still around), because I want the
| original song data. That is what I meant by "high quality"
| moralestapia wrote:
| I'd pay some serious money to have an iPod like that again. Just
| music, no bullshit, long battery life, top notch UI/UX. We went
| backwards.
| okwubodu wrote:
| The Apple Watch can stand alone as a wireless wrist-mounted
| music player. It almost reminds me of an iPod nano but that's
| maybe still too many frills.
| BoxOfRain wrote:
| I started moving towards my own offline music library after
| getting pissed off with the record labels removing stuff from
| streaming services for no reason. Sometimes artists do it too,
| a lot of Adam Kay's offerings from a decade or so ago have been
| thoroughly memory-holed presumably in a pre-emptive attempt to
| avoid controversy for their vulgar humour now he's much better
| known as a public figure.
| ghaff wrote:
| I'm not sure I would do it from scratch today but I had a
| large offline library between ripping CDs and Napster (which
| was mostly replacing music I only had on old vinyl) pre-
| streaming so most of my collection is online. I've thought of
| filling in the gaps with purchases but, for the time being, I
| figure the missing "classics" I'd want, I should generally be
| able to buy if I want to at some point.
| kergonath wrote:
| Damn. I need to make sure to back that up somewhere. To be
| fair, some are in very, very poor taste. But a lot of them
| are genuinely hilarious.
| throwaway6734 wrote:
| The modern walkman is like this. You can drag and drop mp3
| files onto it. There's no wifi or Bluetooth. It's got a crazy
| long battery life.
|
| If only I could add Spotify playlists to it
| FridayoLeary wrote:
| >There's no wifi or Bluetooth.
|
| >If only I could add Spotify playlists to it
|
| There is nowadays and i think you can. Otherwise correct.
| cschneid wrote:
| These exist. Mostly they have moved upmarket to serious
| audiophile nerds, but some are still below the price of an OG
| iPod.
|
| https://www.whathifi.com/us/best-buys/portable/best-portable...
|
| Can't speak to the UI/UX, but they do one thing, for people who
| care a lot about that one thing.
| concinds wrote:
| FiiO.
| tompt wrote:
| This is the way. Decent hardware, support for FLAC, and the
| ability to run android apps if streaming is your thing.
| stronglikedan wrote:
| Thanks. My buddy just lost his beloved original Nano last
| week, and the FiiO M5 looks like it may be a worthy
| successor.
| eesmith wrote:
| Looks like something I would like.
|
| What do people use to manage podcasts and keep downloads
| synchronized, and remove podcasts I've listened to? Does it
| handle resume for in-progress podcasts?
|
| If I read https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fiio-m5-compact-
| and-versatil... correctly, it treats a podcast recording as
| a song and doesn't have a way to resume.
|
| Or am I misunderstanding?
| simon1573 wrote:
| Nice! It's one of things I really wish I had a use case for just
| to excuse myself to own one.
|
| How much did you spend on replacement parts?
| ellieh wrote:
| I've found it to be a nice way to disconnect, if you want to
| use my excuse :)
|
| I think it was around PS200 total, with most of that being the
| SD cards!
| asciimov wrote:
| My most recent build was:
|
| $25 for new case and click wheel
|
| $42 for the iFlash Quad
|
| $20 for some SD cards, caught them on sale.
|
| $18 for a new battery.
|
| $32 for a rough condition iPod 5g. The screen was in good
| shape, but the case was beat to hell. The only things that have
| to work is the motherboard, dock connector, and screen. (you
| can find people selling working screens, but it's
| easier/cheaper to find an iPod with a screen in good
| condition).
| sandreas wrote:
| My personal experience with iPod 5th gen (the one used in the
| article):
|
| - indeed produces the best audio with the wolfson chip, but this
| difference to a 7th/latest gen is hardly noticable (while 6th gen
| and others are not as good)
|
| - does not support EarPod or similar headphone remotes, while the
| 7th gen does - with one limitation: fast forward and backward
| does not work
|
| - supports a 2200mah battery (40h of listening) when used with
| iFlash Quad and a THIN back cover (i built one, google for "ipod
| 2200mah") but not the 3000mah one (only supported with the thick
| cover) - this is also the case for 7th gen
|
| - has a far less good haptic expierience (the wheel does not feel
| as well)
|
| - when using the wrong microSD cards behaves strange or does not
| event work
|
| - when using original firmware, depending on the version (there
| is 5th and 5.5th gen), it does not support as many audio files
| (20000 instead of 50000)
|
| - when using original firmware, I would not invest in more than
| 512GB flash storage because max 50000 Tracks/Files are supported
| - unless you want to listen to audiobooks
|
| My advice:
|
| - Get and iPod 7th Gen 160GB from 2009
|
| - Get an iSesamo opening tool (only one - this tool is better
| quality than anything else for the first hull breach)
|
| - Get an iFlash Quad and 3 similar to iSesamo opening tools from
| the same shop (lower quality, but cheap and good for second and
| third stroke)
|
| - Get 2 to 4 NEW Transcend 256GB cards (TS256GUSD300S-A)
|
| - Get a 2200mah iPod Battery from ebay (not the 3000mah, it won't
| fit in the thin case)
|
| - Be extremely careful removing the old battery or you will break
| the headphone adapter (if this happens, buy a cheap 5th gen iPod,
| the parts are interchangable)
|
| - Do not remove the blue rubber stuff but put it back in - these
| are dust protectors
|
| - Test and restore your iPod BEFORE closing
|
| - Watch this:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AF1Pjbwc6c&list=PLfSaYZHlgM...
|
| - Build the iPod of your dreams with up to 1TB Storage, good
| audio quality and > 40 hours continous listening time
| vnxli wrote:
| I did this last summer with my iPod classic. Fun writeup, great
| way to revive old tech and reclaim media ownership.
|
| If you have the iPod already, it's a great afternoon project and
| not too expensive to do.
| awiesenhofer wrote:
| Wait, did Apple really once sell an 1TB iPod or do these eBay
| sellers just etch in whatever you want them to?
| dogman144 wrote:
| read the article, it was a self-udate
| AdmiralAsshat wrote:
| I've debated buying another standalone portable music player for
| some time (about ten years after I got my first smartphone and
| _stupidly_ gave my Sansa Fuze+ to a friend, who promptly lost
| it), but none of them really tick all the boxes for me.
|
| I want:
|
| - A high-quality DAC
|
| - A headphone jack
|
| - Expandable memory or a _ridiculously_ large HDD (I have about a
| terabyte of music)
|
| - A _modern_ connector /charging port (like USB-C)
|
| - 20+ hours of battery life
|
| The problem I have is that resurrecting old devices like an iPod
| or a Sansa falls back onto era of proprietary chargers, which I
| worry about losing and not being able to find replacements.
|
| On the other hand, I periodically search for "newer" audiophile
| player devices, and a bunch of them feel like Android phones
| without the phone part. I don't want a smartphone OS, because
| then the battery life is inevitably going to be many times worse
| than the standalone mp3 player batteries of old. I don't need an
| app store, or a battery-sucking high quality display screen for
| watching videos. I just want it to play my music.
| brosciencecode wrote:
| It sounds like the Shanling M0 fits your bill:
| https://en.shanling.com/product/222
|
| I've used it for over a year and love it. It also works as a
| USB and Bluetooth DAC, so you get a nice little 3 in 1 tool.
| porcoda wrote:
| You and me both: I've had the exact same thoughts. I did buy a
| Sony device (NW-A45), and it's not quite what I want. It
| frequently goes into a very slow "creating database" mode when
| it decides to reindex the SD card. That gets in the way of
| wanting to quickly add a song or two since I know such changes
| will induce the long database rebuild.
|
| Not a fan of the proprietary connector either. I misplaced it
| once and had to order another one. All my other devices use
| standard cables, of which I have a bunch of each.
|
| If the Sony device was updated to use a standard connector, and
| the software was given some attention with respect to
| efficiency and customizable navigation, I'd be pretty happy.
|
| I totally agree on the Android/smartphone OS front. I do NOT
| want a device that does apps of any form: I just want it to do
| one thing and do it well.
| PragmaticPulp wrote:
| > I don't want a smartphone OS, because then the battery life
| is inevitably going to be many times worse than the standalone
| mp3 player batteries of old. I don't need an app store, or a
| battery-sucking high quality display screen for watching
| videos. I just want it to play my music.
|
| I think you're overcomplicating this.
|
| Modern mobile SoCs have evolved hand-in-hand with Android OS to
| be power efficient, perhaps equivalent or even better than the
| iPod Classic SoCs of the 2008 era. Using a modern 14nm or
| smaller process on a modern smartphone SoC isn't going to
| consume much power at all, even when running Android.
|
| The screen is primarily for the GUI, not video playback. If you
| have a giant music library, navigating with a full, responsive
| screen is far better than spinning the old iPod click wheel.
| The screen can turn off when you're not interacting with it.
|
| The products you're describing basically exist:
| https://www.fiio.com/m15 Battery life is around 15 hours, it
| has very high quality components, it has modern charging ports,
| and you can drop a 2TB card in it for twice as much storage as
| you need.
|
| However, like all niche products it's not cheap. I think when
| most people see the price of a specialty, low-volume product
| like this they quickly become more than happy with just playing
| the music out of their phone.
| ThatPlayer wrote:
| I also wanted to mention Fiio. I've got the lower-end M3K
| myself, but it does run Rockbox for what I consider to be the
| classic MP3 player experience.
| nicbou wrote:
| It's a great write up. I like your "Don't forget the human" post
| at the bottom even more. You should probably share it here.
| ellieh wrote:
| thank you! Haha I totally would, but I don't want to "self
| promote" on here too much
| mattc15 wrote:
| Hell ya
| geerlingguy wrote:
| I posted about this yesterday; as time has gone on, I've found
| myself wanting a separate camera and music player from my phone.
| The best music player I've ever used is the iPod classic (a
| couple Nano models were okay too), it was focused, lightweight,
| and not distracting.
|
| Would love for someone to build a modern iPod mini/nano with just
| 8 or 16 GB of memory for under $100, but I'm guessing the click
| wheel is patented?
| chrysoprace wrote:
| I used to own a 6th Gen iPod Classic. Loved the device, hated the
| "Apple experience" of having to sync with iTunes and not being
| able to simply transfer files. I recently stumbled upon DankPods
| on YouTube and it's really inspired me to try to acquire an old
| iPod and mod it with flash storage and a new battery. I didn't
| know about the theming options in Rockbox, which is a piece of
| software I've always found quite unappealing, so maybe this year
| is the year I give it a shot!
| benlumen wrote:
| Back in the day, Rockbox was the way to play FLAC on your iPod. I
| never found it to be as responsive or stable, though. Would be
| tempted to update my old Classic to solid state but keep the
| official firmware.
| buescher wrote:
| Ironically, I upgraded my Sansa clip+ to Rockbox so it could
| play ALAC.
| huangc10 wrote:
| Not too interested in any of these mods but will give Rockbox and
| FreshOS a look. Thanks for posting this.
|
| Fwiw, can anyone answer is it difficult to revert Rockbox back to
| original OS?
| hardwaregeek wrote:
| I was thinking that I'd love essentially an iPod Shuffle but
| connected to my Spotify and with Bluetooth. Running with an
| iPhone is still pretty annoying. It'd be nice to have a light
| device that clips onto your clothes.
|
| Now that I think about it, I wonder if Apple has ever explored
| turning the AirPods case into a mini iPod. I guess their iPod
| days are over but it'd be a really neat little device.
|
| Edit: Apparently this exists!
| https://bemighty.com/products/mighty-vibe
| hughrr wrote:
| Sounds like you need an Apple Watch. Not sure if it works with
| spotify but I run with just my watch and my airpods.
| nkozyra wrote:
| It works with Spotify. Sadly Fitbit and Android Wear do not
| do Spotify offline and every other option is a hassle.
|
| It's a shame because I find the apple watch insanely ugly.
| hardwaregeek wrote:
| Yeah...I'm gonna get one soon. But it's a shame that I need
| such a "smart" device to just listen to some music while
| running.
| [deleted]
| dkonofalski wrote:
| I think the issue is that so many of the components are
| found in both devices that removing the "smart" parts would
| end up costing more in the long run. An older Apple Watch
| that handles music with wireless headphones just fine can
| be found for about $100 now.
| ingvul wrote:
| It's a shame you cannot put your own mp3s on the Mighty Vibe.
| paxys wrote:
| The smartphone killed this entire segment. No point having a
| standalone device when you can pair bluetooth headphones and
| have your phone just somewhere in the vicinity.
| ingvul wrote:
| Doing sports and running with a 6 inch smartphone attached to
| your arm or in your pocket is just uncomfortable.
| ramses0 wrote:
| This is why we can't have nice things. Pebble Core:
| https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/getpebble/pebble-2-time...
| (basically android-ish + 3g + gps + bluetooth screenless
| widget)
|
| Hype Article: https://www.stuff.tv/news/5-reasons-pebble-core-
| most-excitin...
|
| RIP Pebble.
| salamandersauce wrote:
| You can also get that integrated into a bunch of Garmin's
| watches like the Vivoactive and Fenix lines. Not the cheapest
| stuff but it's also a heart rate monitor, GPS, etc.
| maxerickson wrote:
| I think the Forerunner 245 Music is their cheapest music
| device (getting older and not a whole lot cheaper than the
| Vivoactive though).
| twmiller wrote:
| Yep. As mentioned, Apple Watch is the way to go if you're
| looking for a modern shuffle, and it does support offline
| Spotify these days.
|
| The issues with using an older shuffle is that replacing the
| batteries on ANY of them is a massive chore, and none of them
| have bluetooth, which means you'd be back to dangling wires,
| which (imo) sucks when running. I believe the later generation
| nanos supported BT, though, so they might be a cheap candidate
| for a "music while running" solution.
| AlanYx wrote:
| >I believe the later generation nanos supported BT
|
| The 7th generation Nano does support Bluetooth, but it has
| some compatibility wrinkles with some BT headphones. For
| example, it plays back at a very low volume on first
| generation Airpods.
| soperj wrote:
| Plenty of other watches do music(Spotify) too and work with
| airpods. Garmin for example.
| ingvul wrote:
| Can you upload your own mp3s to the Apple Watch? Do I need
| special software for that?
| kccqzy wrote:
| Sure you can. Add those mp3s to the iPhone paired with the
| Apple Watch. Go to the Watch app and tap on Music. You can
| choose music to be transferred to the Watch.
| hbn wrote:
| Apple Music has a cloud locker feature, which is the main
| reason I use it over Spotify. The process isn't as nice as
| the drag-and-drop into your browser like how Google Play
| Music did it (RIP), but you can add songs through the Music
| App on Mac (I assume you can also do it through iTunes on
| Windows?), set all your metadata, etc. and then you can
| stream it from any device (except the web player, which is
| among many other problems with the web player. I wouldn't
| recommend it)
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