On Tuesday, September 9, 2014, Apple killed off the classic iPod. (The iPod touch, more an iPhone without the phone, is still being manufactured and remains on sale to this day.) After almost 13 years on the market, the iconic portable music player was retired without fanfare. But, iPod modders continue to use classic iPods in interesting ways.
Six years later, in 2021, Apple let the 20th anniversary of the iPod pass as quietly as it had let the iPod Classic fade into obscurity. Fans of the iPod, on the other hand, have been growing in number as vintage players are dusted off, repaired, and upgraded with new parts. Groups of hardware modders are adding things like Bluetooth capability, Taptic Engine feedback, custom colored cases, and terabytes of silent, power-sipping flash storage to their iPods, bringing the device fully into the 2020s—all without Apple’s blessing.
The original iPods were modular, breaking down into a screen, motherboard, headphone assembly, battery, and hard drive, all connected with tiny ribbon cables. With a bit of know-how, it’s now possible to add terabytes, not just gigabytes, into late-model iPods by swapping out the older spinning hard drive in favor of a newer solid state drive. Flash storage is more durable and more compact, uses less power, and gets rid of all the whirring and clicking typical of mechanical hard drives. And since SSDs are smaller, installing one frees up space inside the iPod’s case that hardware hackers can use to squeeze in additional niceties.
Amir Rees, an iPod modder, has come up with a self-contained Bluetooth addition that lives in the iPod’s chrome back half, along with the battery and headphone jack. “I decided to create a mod that simply refined what others had done—a Bluetooth kit that looked professional, performed well, and did not require soldering,” Rees says in an email. “It’s completely plug-and-play.”
MacDailyNews Take: There’s tons more in the – recommended – full article.
Info about Amir Rees’ Solder-less iPod Classic Bluetooth kit (€149.99) here.
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I upgraded several with flash storage using adapters. All 64GB. All monochrome screen models. One 3rd gen. One 4th gen (first fully USB compatible). One iPod mini, which used a REALLY tiny hard drive directly compatible with compact flash card (no adapter needed). They sound great and work nicely with flash storage. From a time when iPods focused on audio (no video, photos, or apps), and they were not compromised to be little “clip-on” devices. There are limits to upgrades. You can’t put a 1TB flash card in an older iPod that came with 20GB hard drive because the software and processor can’t handle that many song files. I also have a first gen iPod; it doesn’t seem to work with flash storage. But I did upgrade it with the 20GB hard drive that came out of the 4th gen iPod.
Apple still supports syncing iPods even though “iTunes” no longer exists on Macs. When it became “Music,” the iPod syncing functions were moved to Finder, in the sidebar pretty much how it was in the iTunes sidebar. Try syncing a (more recent) Zune in Windows 😵
Fly me to the Zune and let me sing among the iPods… Zune sucks even more today than it did back then.
I have an original 1st Gen I bought the first week it came out. It’s in almost perfect condition in my safe. It still works. I have the box and everything except the original headphones. I keep thinking someday it would be worth something to someone. All I know is it changed my life. I knew instantly what it could be and how it would change the world. Not because of it was a music player but, a portable hard drive with a screen and operating system. That week I put all the money I had saved for my kids college fund into Apple stock. It wasn’t much, less than $10K. Needless to say, I never needed to save another dime for their college. Anyhow, it might be hard for me to ever sale it because it means more to me than just what I can get for it.
Reminds me of the all the eMacs, iMac G4s and even one iMac G5 (aka “The Rocket”) bought for the (grown) kids, grandkids, ex girlfriend, her kids, and a few friends. They were so cheap (after the iNtel switch) and got many of them started in the world of Macs. Still have a few in storage.
Great times. Incredible machines. God bless Steve Jobs!!
Sorry about above reply… 🙃 I bought a new Power Mac G5 (dual core) on fire sale after the Intel transition started. The only “pro” Mac I’ve owned, unless you go back before Mac OS X and count a Power Mac 8100 (purchased used).
The same thing is happening with Intel Macs now. The recent models will remain highly useable for many years, and supported by Apple with latest MacOS. Even my older 2017 MacBook Air (has the wide silver screen border), which I like because it has a nice keyboard, old-school USB ports, and SD Card slot. It’s a classic design and runs current MacOS fine (and probably next major release too). I’m getting a new Mac mini at some point, but I’ll keep using it as my portable Mac.
I’m still using my (modded…) Mid 2012 13″ MacBook Pro on the road during the week. 16 GB RAM, 512 SSD, third battery! It works like a charm, can’t believe it is 10 years old. Keep saying I’ll get a new one (guess I better in case Taiwan gets invaded).
Got a 2020 M1 Mini w/ 16 GB RAM and 1 TB storage to replace my main desktop, a Late 2013 iMac, 27″ 3 TB Fusion drive 24 GB RAM plus the top video card back then. Gave it to the wife because she likes it better than the NEW iMacs (how it looks, of course…).
Some might say Apple doesn’t make money off people with old computers, but since their stuff (usually…) works so well I spend more on phones, watches, Apple TVs, HomePods (well, they kind of work OK) subscriptions and the like. Can’t imagine doing that with H/P, Samsung or Dell.
Sad to see people have downvoted you, TowerTone. There sure are some disturbed people here.
Yea, well….you hang out in a bar long enough (15+ years) you’re bound to get in a few fights over time.
At least there are still people here who remember Zune Tang!!
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