Building an iPod for 2022

> 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?

> 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

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.

Almost like a hardware extension of the Single Responsibility Principle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-responsibility_principl...

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.

> 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.

> 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

> doing ONE thing and doing it well. Is there a name for that?

Unitasker

>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.

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

Right in the screenshot I see a rockbox bug. The analogue clock shows a quarter to eight, the digital clock shows 20:43.

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.

> 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.

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.

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.

I am using a FiiO X1 still and love it. FiiOs have great DACs although their software is wanting at times.

My biggest issues with my X1 are: 1) Music Discovery, as my local collection has gotten so large, I often find myself using Jellyfin or local desktop music players to discover, then listen to them on my FiiO 2) Limited Queuing ability. This isn't normally an issue for me, as I usually listen to complete albums all the way through, but if you want to quickly create playlists, the X1 is terrible for that.

But, the sound is fantastic. Controls are simple. I don't get distracted and can just reliably listen to my music. Transfer/management is simple (I use rhythmbox with its usb device support). Battery life is great. Storage is expandable and supports a microSD card (I currently have a 256G, but will probably upgrade to a 512G soon). Supports ogg, flac, mp3, and other formats. Unfortunately it doesn't support opus, although I think newer models do.

I haven't tried any of their newer models as mine is 8 years old and still works perfect.

> 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.

Personally, I think one great thing about Apple is that because the branding is so strong, it's much easier to find cables for the iPod 30-pin connector than for most other brands.

I am using the xduoo X3ii right now, and that seems to check all of your boxes. It supports Rockbox too!

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.

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.

Sounds like you need an Apple Watch. Not sure if it works with spotify but I run with just my watch and my airpods.

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.

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.

It's a shame you cannot put your own mp3s on the Mighty Vibe.

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.

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.

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.

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

FiiO.

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

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?

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.

thank you! Haha I totally would, but I don't want to "self promote" on here too much