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.
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.
$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).
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.
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.
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.
>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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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?
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.
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.
I'd definitely advise it, I never did and I've not been able to find copies anywhere including Discogs. There was one CD on eBay but I was outbid on it just yesterday.
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.
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.
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.” ;)
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".
> 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
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.
I actually have an alpha smart neo. For a few months I really liked it which is why I’m considering a free write. Unfortunately, one day the batteries popped out of it and I lost a few weeks of writing, because the memory requires steady power or it wipes clean. I’ve put duct tape on the back of it now to stop that from happening again. But the experience kind of ruined the neo for me.
> 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.
It’s like game developers chasing graphic over game mechanics or simplicity.
I’m currently at Disney World and feel like was an executive decision to make all new rides a technical marvel. There aren’t as many rides as there should be (2 hour wait times) and they are broken down half the day.
I don’t feel like Walt Disney or Steve Jobs chased technical achievement at the expense of simplicity and experience.
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.
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.
Already exist. Samsung made the Gear IconX with 4GB built in. I don't think they make them anymore though. Sony also makes the waterproof in ear Walkman, not airpods style but more traditional wireless headphones.
> 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.
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.
> The big thing here is the concept of a device doing ONE thing and doing it well. Is there a name for that?
In Alton Browns world of kitchen gadgets, thats a "unitasker"[0], though they may be missing the "do it well" component, and perhaps targetting the wrong layer of abstraction. For example, a good chefs knife cuts, but nobody is going to tell you its not a versatile tool because the utilty of cutting applies to so much kitchen work. The Rollie on the other hand...
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.
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
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.
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"
This (commercial) program[1] does the job for Spotify. I think what it does is just play the given playlist then it sets Spotify's audio output to a virtual audio device similar to BlackHole[2], then reads from it, encodes the audio, fetches the metadata (including album art) and sets it. There are open source[3] alternatives[4] but I haven't tested them.
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?
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
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.
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.
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.
153 comments
[ 4.9 ms ] story [ 202 ms ] threadI 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
> 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
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.
How much did you spend on replacement parts?
I think it was around £200 total, with most of that being the SD cards!
$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).
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
It's a shame because I find the apple watch insanely ugly.
I don't own one to check, but it appears this is no longer true:
https://newsroom.spotify.com/2021-08-11/enjoy-all-your-music...
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.
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.
Hype Article: https://www.stuff.tv/news/5-reasons-pebble-core-most-excitin...
RIP Pebble.
* 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.
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
If you have the iPod already, it's a great afternoon project and not too expensive to do.
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
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
Why wouldn't you just use ... compact flash?
I bought a couple for retro (IDE/PATA) laptops and paid ridiculous prices for just 32/64 GiB >_<
I can get a name brand 128 Gig micro SD for around $15 locally.
For a name brand compact flash, 128 Gigs is closer to $70.
Local availability because I've been bitten a few times by counterfeit flash storage.
More info on the actual 3000mAh battery: https://www.reddit.com/r/IpodClassic/comments/lmnk38/lg_g4_b...
That said, hats off for not just loading your blog up with affiliate links.
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
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?
If only I could add Spotify playlists to it
>If only I could add Spotify playlists to it
There is nowadays and i think you can. Otherwise correct.
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.
Someone build it. Runners worldwide would thank you.
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.
There are copies, there are people looking for them. Just nothing really good (it seems).
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.
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
Zawinski's Law of Software Envelopment is hardly a 2022 notion ;)
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
Unitasker
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.
I may end up with a derivative of the FWT one day but for now there’s no need at all.
Swap the backup battery too, and you won't have data loss! You're welcome! :- )
It’s like game developers chasing graphic over game mechanics or simplicity.
I’m currently at Disney World and feel like was an executive decision to make all new rides a technical marvel. There aren’t as many rides as there should be (2 hour wait times) and they are broken down half the day.
I don’t feel like Walt Disney or Steve Jobs chased technical achievement at the expense of simplicity and experience.
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.
Dedicated hardware?
Potentially, "fixed function hardware" although not technically correct when used with programmable digital computers like an iPod.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-responsibility_principl...
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.
In Alton Browns world of kitchen gadgets, thats a "unitasker"[0], though they may be missing the "do it well" component, and perhaps targetting the wrong layer of abstraction. For example, a good chefs knife cuts, but nobody is going to tell you its not a versatile tool because the utilty of cutting applies to so much kitchen work. The Rollie on the other hand...
[0] https://lifehacker.com/watch-alton-brown-demonstrate-why-uni...
Doesn't feel as nostalgic but does the job. Also acts as a Bluetooth receiver and USB DAC
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.
I personally find them too expensive and bulky. With not so great software.
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...
[1] https://www.noteburner.com
[2] https://github.com/ExistentialAudio/BlackHole
[3] https://github.com/jwallet/spy-spotify
[4] https://github.com/richardk80/spotify-ripper
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?
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
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.