My iPod is better than my phone: repair, new SSD, and managing songs with Linux

[@VeronicaExplains]

If you're about to say "Apple sucks", I have written a blog post addressing your critique (and a few others): vkc.sh/reacting-to-comments-ipods-are-good-actually/

[@noderunner_]

Can you run Rockbox on this iPod?

[@brenisdank7097]

@@noderunner_ yes

[@AM562]

The error message you got earlier was due to the hard drive. That is what you get when you get a dead hard drive just backwards, but iPod thought the thought the drive was dead. Also, the way you power power off an iPod is just to hold down the play pause button until it turns off there was no off switch because they did not want to over complicate the iPod for their users

[@deterdamel7380]

One some of them you can run Rockbox. That's the only reason why I bought two of these devices.

[@FinnRenard]

They do. The charge/data port should be a standard usb port. It should be possible to simply drag and drop files and folders. Apple deliberately make their products harder to use outside their eco system. iTunes ALWAYS sucked. I have the version prior to yours, and I like the hardware. Too bad about all the obstacles Apple put on it.

[@LonSeidman]

I had no idea there was such a thriving marketplace for iPod replacement parts! There's lots of similar parts out there for Nintendo Game Boys too.

[@VeronicaExplains]

It's a whole ecosystem, and a ton of fun! I might try my hand at a Nano someday, although I think that might be a more challenging repair.

[@ashab1]

I had no idea they had mechanical drives!

[@VeronicaExplains]

Some of them had flash storage, to be sure, but these ones had a spinning disk drive for sure! When it failed, it was spectacular, too: "the click of death" is how it's been described!

[@blogdesign7126]

Yes Retro 2000's trends have been out for some time.

[@Myself-yh9rr]

A lot of people like to tinker with their devices and upgrade them in ways that they never came from the factory. Some might use flash memory instead of a hard disk. Some might try using custom software (if the device will reliably accept it)

[@20NewJourney23]

As a woman I love seeing other women who talk about Linux! Honestly, you are the first woman who isn't paid by a linux distro that I've seen discuss Linux on KZbin. Thanks! I just subbed!

[@mamutthe4881]

Pls check Andrea Borman out

[@valbrrie]

same here !! 🙏

[@nonWhites_have_to_go_back]

You are a cultist.

[@sholomoone]

same!! instantly subbed!

[@JamesPotts]

As a middle-aged white male engineer, I also love it. Because (trust me on this), the last thing engineering needs is another guy who thinks just like every other guy. 🙄 The more role-models, the better! (I realize I'm preaching to the choir, but it's important to stress it.)

[@richardbrawn1019]

I still use my ipod classic 120GB, 15 years later because I can store all of my music on it and not have to worry about a streaming service and everything that goes along with that... Knowing that I can get an SSD for it is a game changer

[@VeronicaExplains]

Some of the later models are allegedly a bit more challenging to replace, but the ZIF drives from DosLab seem to be great performers. I've done a couple of them and they seem to work well in both Mac and PC formatting- I've read some of the other aftermarket parts are a bit more finicky. I don't know if the 6th gen is as flexible as the 5th, but if it is, I think it's a fun project.

[@richardbrawn1019]

@@VeronicaExplains thank you for all the info, I'm definitely going to look into it!

[@kuchenblechmafiagmbh1381]

@@VeronicaExplains According to iFlash, the 6th Gens are limited to 128 GB when using stock firmware due to their use of LBA28 limit: "The 6th Gen models (80Gb/120Gb/Thick 160Gb) are limited to LBA28 addressing by Apple, so these models will only show and use up to 128Gb of the storage installed - The other iPod models have LBA48 addressing so do not have this limitation. This LBA28 Limitation can be removed by replacing the iPod operating system with an 3rd party OS. Please note we DO NOT support these types of installations - the iFlash boards are designed and only tested to work with the original Apple iPod OS and iTunes / Apple iPod Music software." The final 7th Gen (160 GB thin housing while the 6th Gen 160 GB was thick) isn't affected by that, also 5th gen and older, however, the 30 GB 5th/5.5th Gen, 4th and 3rd gen have less RAM that limits the database to around 20k tracks while the others can do up to around 50k; also different with Rockbox, AFAIK there you can build the database/index file externally and then transfer it. And they're extremely difficult to open, you may need a new housing, it's almost impossible to open these up without bending/denting the body parts significantly.

[@TheJosep70]

I still use my 160 GB one which is working perfectly after 9 years.

[@maskedrebel9670]

@@richardbrawn1019 Make sure you only get the 128gb drive for yours, the 6th gen (120gb) can only use that much. Some weird formatting limitation in the ipod operating system.

[@kelleyklein]

I LOVE my iPod. I restored it, also, and have thousands of my favorite songs - no notifications, no temptation to open TikTok, and no doom scrolling. I put bulk podcasts and audiobooks on it as well. This video was so fun!

[@escapetherace1943]

also you can't even skip songs with the inline control on the 5th gen classics, you HAVE to unlock and use the scroll wheel, so you tend to just listen to whatever comes on

[@VeronicaExplains]

Thank you! I had fun with it and I'm enjoying having this iPod working!

[@shelches]

Thanks for showing your missteps along the way. Sometimes I feel so incompetent when I watch KZbinrs seemingly glide through these kinds of upgrade and repair videos without encountering any issues, while I seem to make mistakes and have to go back and redo this or that. Your videos are more truthful and... human? Thanks Veronica!

[@robertoXCX]

That's why I love Veronica, and Adrian Black too. They both show the good and the bad in their repair videos.

[@fujitsubo3323]

most channels break 2 or 3 devices before they film a video and show you how to do something 🤣🤣

[@escapetherace1943]

depends on how much they do it too man. I don't think they are all dishonest channels. I can rip apart most laptops with no guide and replace any of the parts simply because I've done it so much... it's also an experience thing

[@gopherman96]

Woo! iPod video! And a pod from Free Geek Twin Cities, too! I'm the Apple department coordinator there, so on behalf of all of us at FGTC, thank you so much for all the shoutouts you've given us, and for helping keep this old tech alive and well. Every time I put a "project" iPod out in the store, I hope that someone's going to give it the kind of TLC you have, so it's really wonderful to see that in action.

[@VeronicaExplains]

I adore FGTC and all of the work you folks are doing for us!

[@glowytheglowbug]

dang nice! i mean if it isnt being used for this, someones probably going to use it as a little controller for their 3d printer or make a teeny cyberdeck with it XD

[@advokatie]

I got this video recommended to me randomly (super cool to see local content!!) but, seconded on the adoration of Free Geek Twin Cities!!! Writing this on a desktop I got from y'all. I also have tons of various electronics lying around from the store. Always a great visit to the Seward neighborhood, highly recommend taking a stroll on lovely Milwaukee Ave before visiting Free Geek.

[@ambiarock590]

I've got a nice little iPod collection. I originally bought one after coming across Dank Pods as a "this would be a fun little device to have around" but I've been using these as my actual music players. It's great having a way to play music you don't have to pay every month to use

[@taiteo558]

Wired headphones, too!

[@VorkKnightOfGood]

People of culture instinctively understand the value of a music player that... only plays music.

[@Warp2090]

But it had videos and other stuff.

[@jackalneck]

And people of sense realize that modern digital audio players also exist, and prefer the benefits of lossless file format compatibility, modern DAC chips, and the power to drive serious transducers for less than what you would spend trying to repair and old iPod that can do none of these things. If you want nostalgia, by all means this is awesome. But, to claim that a resurrected iPod does anything unique, or that it does it better or cheaper than a modern DAP - nope.

[@nirgunawish]

@@jackalneck which do you have

[@jackalneck]

@@nirgunawish Hiby R3 II, Hiby R4, and I also use an original iPhone SE as a DAP.

[@nomorebsforme]

😂Offline Always!!! Hate streaming, wifi, internet, etc especially Amazon making it extremely difficult to get your purchases music off it...

[@DV-ml4fm]

It's good to fix old tech if you have the skills to do it. Great job Veronica.

[@johnsimon8457]

23:02 small miracle that modern itunes still supports iPod

[@VeronicaExplains]

I was a bit shocked that I didn't have to pull out a Windows XP laptop.

[@cromulence]

Same with macOS too - despite no longer having iTunes it'll still work without any fuss. Wish my Zune was the same!

[@unicodefox]

Apple's new "Apple Devices" app for Windows 11 will happily also sync with an old iPod.

[@michaelwright2986]

Yes. I got into a terrible mess trying to transfer a large (and old) collection of mp4 files to my iPhone using the new Apple Music app, which messed up all my metadata.

[@augustinenathan266]

Yes ! it does

[@krisdjames]

I just saw a post on Lemmy yesterday about restoring an old iPod, with a clear case and new SSD. I was wondering where you could get parts for this and how it was done... Then Veronica posts a new video explaining everything. What a coincidence!

[@leandrotami]

This is specially useful for us motorcycle riders that go on the road and there's no cell phone coverage.

[@henrykhenrykowski2745]

Not only for them, but generally for travellers from point A to B for the same reason you've mentioned.

[@yung.houdini]

If the idea interests you that's all that matters. You can reach the same results by syncing playlists to offline on any of the streaming services.

[@ecw0647]

This is a great video. We throw away too much stuff that's still quite serviceable. I refurbish older high-end laptops for the residents of my retirement community and repurpose older chromebooks by installing Linux as you have done. It's crazy to throw all this stuff in the trash. THANKS>

[@barcodenosebleed5485]

Ah very cool. If it wasn't 32 bit, I'd still be using the Compaq nx9420 I bought used in like 2009 and kept going until about 2018. That thing was such a dream. Finally bit the dust and there was no point to replace it, but I think about buying one from eBay just to have a working model haha. Got my old work M4800 which is a pretty decent analog though. Some of those old business laptops are built like, well I'd say tanks but battleships might be more appropriate. Unfortunately my dad can no longer use his PC, but he's got an echo he loves hooked up to a 5 year old smartphone.

[@mynameiszakk]

I swear you’re a mind reader!!! I just came across my old iPod the other day and was amazed it was still holding a charge from over 15 years ago! I thought it’d be neat to see what kind of hackery I could do to it after all these years to make it my go to music player for when I’m out on the road (I travel A LOT) but I got sidetracked and now, less than a week later, here you are giving me no excuses... THANK YOU!!!

[@nutherefurlong]

Really appreciate including the mistakes and guesses because it feels more like what happens when you pop something open and are exploring it, helps address any guesses or mistakes I might make while figuring things out on a project. Glad I ran into this channel, thank you

[@nerzall]

This reminded me of gold days of KZbin enthusiats talking and teaching their interests in a cool and calm manner. I have felt at home

[@mihaipauldtru]

First! I kinda like the new-ish trend of forgoing "convenience/comfort" for aesthetics, kinda ethics and the coolness factor. I can't wait for pagers to make a comeback half ironically. Love your videos btw!

[@TheBayru]

I have always been on the lookout for an sms only device (having worked in a call center, any more second spent on a phone is a second too many).

[@scribblebee9549]

I have a pager for work and it is definitely an item I just enjoy being able to have 😅

[@ArthurKhazbs]

How is this forgoing convenience or comfort?

[@duvetboa]

This comment did not age well :(

[@Bimmy.Hendrix]

Awesome video! Hearing the name "RockBox" brings back some really great memories. I had so much fun customizing my theme/skin (I forget what they were called) and impressing my friends who couldn't believe I could play Pac-Man on my iPod 😄

[@michaelwright2986]

I just sold an old Sansa Clip that I'd put Rockbox on. Was glad there were still people who wanted it.

[@shid007]

Also it plays FLACs :)) iPod Video + Rockbox combo is awesome! ALSO it plays Doom :)

[@Dee_Just_Dee]

This reminds me, about three months ago I bought a new battery for my iPod (exact same model as yours, it looks like) but unfortunately when I went to remove the old battery, the connector on the mainboard popped right off. I must have weakened the solder the last time I replaced the battery. For a hot minute I thought I was going to have to buy a whole new iPod, but it turns out that there are even vendors selling _mainboards_ . 😅 Totally worth it, of course. This particular gen of iPod just sounds _amazing_ . And apart from the batteries, I had also invested in a replacement headphone jack assembly and an iFlash Quad for mine. (Incidentally, I didn't have too bad of a time with my iFlash... it didn't get recognized the first try, but after maybe 15 minutes popping the iPod open again and reformatting the microSD cards, it was good to go.)

[@cromulence]

Love my iPods - have a 5.5th gen upgraded to 512GB and an adorable little mini upgraded to 256GB. The minis are probably the easiest to upgrade as you can just get a compact flash to SD adapter to replace the micro drive HDD inside. Pop a new battery in too and ta-da, a lovely little device! For other models, I'd recommend the iFlash adapters over anything else, as they are super slim, and as such you can squeeze a lot more in! With on of these I was able to put an 1800mAh battery in whilst keeping the skinny backplate. The end result was an iPod with a drastically better battery life with more storage, whilst being even thinner and lighter than the original.

[@noderunner_]

I was always a huge fan of the iPod in school, it was a huge improvement over CD or minidisk players. I've been considering getting another one to play music in the car or to use while working. Since most modern phones don't even have MicroSD slots or headphone jacks a dedicated music player seems like a better choice.

[@ArmyK9]

Pulling the black funky sticky thing was the right decision, it made your iPod look more like a Gameboy Advanced Translucent-Purplish thing! Very nice!!

[@johncenaversusthings8452]

babe wake up new Veronica Explains video just released

[@thatpitter]

I love the edited in comments you put through the video providing extra information, commentary, or observations. It’s really helpful and makes the experience even more enjoyable! It’s so obvious how passionate and caring you are for projects and the production of the video here.

[@KORUPTable]

I love my old zune that I modded, its all the music I like and OWN

[@ThisIsReMarkable]

The textual commentary is the cherry on top of this delicious cake of a refurbishment. I had fun. Thanks for sharing, Veronica!

[@ians.2860]

Really cool video, I would love to see one about RockBox and iPod Linux

[@rheynatehrar7329]

love that you go through your troubleshooting journey on camera instead of just editing out things for the sake of being "straightforward". Much appreciated

[@Jimzy93]

You know what ? I've never even thought about replacing parts of my old ipods, think i'll do it just for fun. Thanks for the idea.

[@lmaoroflcopter]

I still love my netMD minidisc player. Load up a bunch of songs on a heap of disks and it works great! Like you say, no phone calls, no distractions and there is something to be said about organising playlists.

[@1fareast14]

clearly hand-done subtitles, thank you!

[@VincentGroenewold]

omg this is awesome! I'm already happy with the retro scene for my machine fro back in the day, but this is actually a really interesting use-case these days. Love that you can actually get new parts to fix it!

[@seanbrewer5337]

Veronica! Impeccable music taste. First the B52s shirt, now the ABBA sweatshirt? Incredible. Thanks for approaching your content creation in such a friendly, informative, non-elitist manner!

[@NijiDash]

Hey Veronica, just wanted to thank you for the proper closed captions in your videos. A lot of even bigger video creators tend to forget about that detail, and the built-in CC leaves a bit to be desired usually haha.

[@repeteRC]

Oh yeah! Finally I am not the only one who still enjoys the old iPods! Got one just like this and a 2GB nano

[@rulojuka]

Great video as always! I always long for your theme "passing time" song, but this time at 19:52 it just felt even better in my heart at 10x! This was awesome!

[@heatedpoolandbar]

I'm kinda actually addicted to upgrading iPods. I've wound up remaking 4 in the last 4 years. Two of them run rockbox and I use rsync to copy my FLAC files over from my dedicated headless CD ripping station.

[@zacharyc.4281]

I am amping myself up to tackle this project because I am beyond excited at what I could make of it. But it is very daunting, so thank you for going slowly through the process.

[@MistahMatzah]

I just returned my iPod Video to service with a new battery and a new SSD - I'd forgotten what a good user experience this thing has. It's also way smaller than I remember it, and carrying it around has been a joy. Also. Dunlop heavy picks are clearly the superior choice :)

[@EvelynnandArt]

i love this video, the fact that you included your mistakes and fails is so good. When watching linux community content i always see perfect videos with perfect procedures and no flaws and this makes me feel better about my mishaps and the ipod you created is so cool

[@bluephreakr]

Those who watch Wade Nixon already know about much of this stuff _ages_ ago. He's a cool fella. Bit loopy, but that's what Australia does to people I guess.

[@Sean-Ax]

Wait, Dank, right? Is that his last name??

[@bluephreakr]

@@Sean-Ax Yes, DankPods' real name is - _no_ you have the Internet, validate yourself.

[@mrmellow5484]

Its so interesting to see old tech like this being worked on

[@MeriaDuck]

"Waist of time", my mental picture went hourglass ⏳😂

[@Wythaneye]

Thank you! I have an iPod Gen 5, which was a coveted model for.awhile, but the battery won't hold a charge and I can't get it to power up. So glad to hear I can still get replacement parts!

[@timz9862]

I still use my clip-on iPod Nano 6th gen when I go biking. It’s the best.

[@kittenisageek]

I have one of these iPods that I purchased new back in the day. It still works -- except the battery. It always amazed me that, at the time, it had more storage space than my home computer. I also have two of the iPod Touch that immediately were followed by the first iPhone. One of the two I purchased and the other was given to me because it had stopped working. IMHO the one you're working on was the best of the iPod family. My mother has an iPod Mini and the hardware port for the plug is unstable, making it tricky to connect correctly. The 'Touch' had a great screen, but bad battery time. The iPod 5 had extremely generous storage, a battery that would last for a week, and a useful screen for selecting what to watch.

[@12me91]

yeah ill take offline music any day of the week

[@RoseaCreates]

I try to put SSD into everything I find that can take the upgrade. People I know love how it brings their electronics back from the discard pile basically. Just don't wait until the hd is on its last leg and it wont take ages. Awesome video, thanks for showing off the touch. I had the nano and the scroll wheel button was so satisfying.

[@seanys]

My iPod Video has been plugged into the head unit in my car for well over decade and is still performing its role perfectly.

[@JayElem]

Really enjoyed this. I'm also not into the streaming services anymore -it was exciting at first to be able to have so much music at my fingertips but at the same time it kinda' devalued the whole experience for me. I'm also not comfortable with the how streaming services pay musicians. I switched back to server/client and being more purposeful about music discovery and managing my own collection. I like the idea of maybe trying your thing and dedicating a device to listening instead of the Jellyfin streaming thing I do now. I love Jellyfin but if I'm honest it's not completely there for music so I've been experimenting with Navidrome ...still not settled on music delivery Thank you for the video and info!!

[@TalismancerM]

I have an antique IPAQ PDA with an 8Gb CF card that is also a spinning disk HD. It always amazes me that this thing has been spinning up/down inside there for decades.

[@evanbarnes9984]

Oh cool! I've actually been wishing lately that we would go back to using more single purpose devices. I kind of think that if the Internet was only accessible on desktop computers, and we used PDAs for organizing our lives, mp3 players for music, and cell phones just for text and calls, we might be better off than we are. I worry the constant companionship of smartphones makes us way too susceptible to the post-truth meme-fueled hellscape we seem intent on building.

[@anddoug2586]

Pager for text

[@deadmetalbr]

@@anddoug2586 Cameras for cameras and England for the English.

[@aneelodhwani3961]

Only thing with that was when you needed to combine things for a project it was almost impossible. I used to work for a charity and being able to film and produce a video in half an hour was a massive help.

[@Quantris]

try uninstalling social media apps...you'll find that your smartphone is not nearly as hellish then

[@yocyber5711]

nice, I got an ipod touch myself. It's a great lil hobyy to upload music to your mp3 player. I find it therapeutic

[@bsullivan7]

I have a 2006 iPod that I purchased new in 2006. It's still in pristine condition and working perfectly. I only had to replace the battery a few years ago.

[@themightycrixus1131]

This is great and perfect! My ipod classic had a hard disc failure back in like 2012 and have had a void in my heart ever since. I need to do this! Thanks again!

[@MeDicen_Rocha]

All thats missing from this video is someone shouting "ARMING THE NUGGET" while connecting it.

[@alphabitserial]

I remember Rockbox! After setting that up I loved being able to just copy music to the drive like a regular mp3 player or flash drive, and a bunch of my library was (and is) in flac so having support for that was super nice too.

[@alphabitserial]

I also remember getting a very expensive case because the drives in these things would fail if you looked at them funny, lol.

[@GiraffeSweaters]

Zune > iPod in my opinion.

[@lmidnight]

🤣

[@Thjperry97]

Maybe these days if you were to install rock box on it, to be honest I’m not very familiar with the Zune and it’s interface. But definitely back in their hay day the iPod destroyed the zoo. There’s a reason why Microsoft abandoned it within a few years

[@GiraffeSweaters]

@@Thjperry97 As I said, in my opinion. iPod is junk in my eyes. Apple is just a status symbol to me for people to show off how much they paid for something.

[@RadOpsTV]

I had the zune back in the day, never had an iPod. Now I have a bunch of iPods and realize zune had no future even though they were bad ass too.

[@EXP_Jenova]

Zune hardware sucked. Scroll wheel > regular buttons

[@Kenaroni]

The hardest part of working on an iPod is just getting it apart without bending the back, or cracking something! Those clips really don’t want to let go, so it takes patience and time. The rest is pretty easy. Also, I always lay a towel down as my work surface because it prevents scratches and keeps those tiny screws from bouncing off into oblivion.

[@isaiahmcclure8894]

Just stumbled upon your channel. I, too have been using an iPod again recently. I am a fairly new KZbin content creator and I enjoy making videos of old tech. A lot of gameboy refurbishings. Your channel is right up my alley. You've got yourself a new subscriber.

[@CaffeineLoaded]

This is my favorite video of yours. Also, that Blu-ray movie collection at 20:11 is a vibe

[@KimLee-lf2ls]

I have about 15 ipods, 3 classics, the rest of nanos, all gens. Listen to them all, even replaced batteries and screens in some of them. Absolute gems. ❤

[@barbarazernicke6967]

I have ordered a new battery for my old iPod. Now I know what not to do from watching your video. Thank you for not cutting out the mistakes.

[@DrKyoushu]

Love to see old hardware being given a new lease of life! I've been digging through my own boxes of old tech and reviving a few things, kind of fun going off-grid and rolling your own alternatives to music/video services.

[@outfield1988]

Love the passion you have for the pods. Awesome that you work on them.

[@ghostjacker]

Not a fan of ipods, but definitely agree with having a separate music player. For that, I use my old LG V20 android phone, with ESS Quad Dac/amp, 1 Tb msd card, flacs of cds, removable battery (replaceable if battery goes bad), etc. Kudos

[@jemjon]

I have been collecting and fixing iPods and all kinds of Apple devices as a hobby for about seven years when I found my moms old iPod Photo (or classic 4th. Gen.) in a drawer when I was 13. There’s just something so damn satisfying about fixing these nuggets and listening to your favorite songs on them. I’m so glad that it feels like recently more and more people are getting into retro tech again. Great video by the way! Greetings from Germany ✌️

[@KrashyKharma]

I love this, I've been wanting to grab an iPod again for a solid year now, this convinced me to do it. Nothing beats having an entire library that *doesn't require the internet* in your pocket. There's actually a lot of newer alternatives, but almost all of them just run Android, and it feels like I'm just buying a phone without a mobile plan.

[@TheAkashicTraveller]

11:39 I was just thinking that you should have left that screen protector on until the last step before it's covered.

[@princequestly2218]

Just what I needed!! I’ve been wanting to get an iPod again. Im gonna refurbish one like this, get a donor on eBay or marketplace. this is perfect!!! I have way too much music I’ve collected on hard drives over the years that I want to use.

[@neverping]

Itś good seeing you again Veronica! I hope everything is well with you! :)

[@411fritz]

About that battery connector... If you trim the end of a small zip tie, it will wedge perfectly in the battery slot. It holds the cable in place perfectly.

[@maverickblah]

It's really awesome to see new ways to recycle/reuse older electronics. There's already so many of them in landfills that are not even recycled for parts! Your videos are great :D

[@coyotebitez]

I'm so glad to see this!! I just put rockbox onto an ipod classic last month and have been itching to do some more mods to my new favorite dap. Thanks for talking about elite obsolete, i'm really excited to get new parts for it! And if you make a video about Rockbox, I'll watch that too!

[@Spoco]

25:50 I'm a little confused. Does it make sense to say you are transcoding between FLAC and MP4, if FLAC is an audio codec and MP4 is a container format? Can't an MP4 file can contain a FLAC audio track? Someone needs to make a video about this mess that is A/V codecs and containers!

[@NebulaHatesWatchdog]

I've never had bad luck with the iFlash Solo drives. They've been great for me, they're cheap, and you can put in bigger batteries. I'm surprised you've had issues.

[@Anonymouthful]

I have an old phone as an MP3 player, helps keeping my main phones battery ready while listening to music. Lovely work bringing life to this old piece of tech, keep it up!

[@VeronicaExplains]

Sometimes an old phone is a really great option since they can have Bluetooth and even external storage options!

[@patrickday4206]

​​@@VeronicaExplainsthat could be a really great option especially if you can figure out how to forward notifications. I'm a carpenter and don't want to break my phone

[@ShizaYeah]

watching this was so fun! i've been burnt out on streaming so I can totally see why people are switching back to separate music players, it's just digital detox. my hands suck too much to do a mod, i chose to just keep an offline music library for now. but watching other people mod their ipods is super satisfying, so nostalgic... now i want one too. also you're beautiful!

[@design1of470]

I still have two working iPods and one broken iPad Touch. I love them.

[@Chifladini]

Oh my you got a music library, I'm in love with your patch on the eye kind of vibe.

[@williamhodgin]

22:30 I love that you’re showing a little on how to use Linux to do this. I thought the music adding was locked down by Apple on these. I would love to see a video showing full steps of “how to” do the rhythm box on fedora (and possibly Linux mint which is what I have on an old thinkpad as well)❤ very nice video and so grateful you shared your missteps and hiccups and thought processes.

[@joselamas3053]

I love how much your videos tinkering with stuff feel like my real experiences dealing with the software, the machines, the knowledge and the unexpected 🙌

[@Skater3719]

I upgraded my 5th gen ipod 30g yesterday because of your video. You're right, cell phones can be intrusive and steer your attention onto other things. I found my iPod and I was just going to do the screen and battery, but transferring files was extremely slow. I studied the pros/cons of the Ziff drive and iFlash and went with the iFlash but I made sure that I used a recommended SD card, rebuild the MBR and format it to Fat32. If you're happy with your choice it's all that matters right? It's noticeably lighter now. It took me awhile to relearn how to use iTunes again and I've ripped about 40 cd's today. It took about 6 minutes to transfer 390 songs to the iPod which is awesome. Thank you for the inspiration Veronica!

[@onii6950]

You should make a video or maybe a series where your easily understandable script would help people like us to understand not only electronic but also the art of fixing things. Ill be checking up if we get that or no lol. Good luck for your future endeavors.

[@apr2499]

I did this a few years ago. I ended up buying a U2 edition knockoff shell. I also put in a 128gb SSD. It will store like 120,000 songs. So don’t worry that you didn’t get the 256gb drive

[@Playproof]

Just discovered you!!! Insta subbed!! You're so cool and when you're on camera it's so easy to see the passion in your eyes. You want to share this with the world, it's not about attention for you. More Veronicas on Earth please!!!!!

[@whomigazone]

My mom still uses an iPod Classic for her Audiobooks. I also have 2 other iPod Classics which are all operational with some replaced batteries and original hardware drives. I used to use one myself, but found a player for my phone which plays iPod formatted Audiobooks. I actually like the player as it pauses the audio when I do get the inevitable call/message and then restarts a short distance in the audio before it paused. (I have repaired the iPods over the years to keep them going, no SSD yet)

[@kriegermetal]

Restored iPod 5th here, I used a zif to sd adapter, not great, occasional skipping after a while and loading it wasn't fun, but nice to see better solutions for a zif drive. Thanks for the awesome vid, and bonus Amiga Juggler, you rock!

[@VeronicaExplains]

Thanks! Some of those ZIF-to-SD adapters seem to fare better than others. I used a Tarkan iFlash in my 4th gen iPod and it worked OK, but I used a generic ZIF-to-SD in a 5th gen iPod some time ago and never got it booting. On that one I ended up giving up and using one of these DosLab drives- at least the DosLab drives have a person who stands behind them and can help answer questions!

[@theretromillennial]

This is great. I upgraded the 5th gen iPod my friend gave me years ago but it could use a refresh. That purple front plate looks pretty sweet too! I think I’ve got some parts to buy and a project to do in the near future.

[@MrNorthNJ]

This video hit home for me. I resisted buying the iPod when it first came out, until finally getting a 5th gen as it added video playback functionality. I used if for several years and then on a work trip the screen got damaged while it was in my bag. It was similar to yours except the black lines on mine went across the entire screen. It worked fine otherwise so I left it like that. A few years ago I pulled it out again and decided to repair it. The battery connected on the 5th gen was really fragile and the ifixit guide I followed also highlighted that. Swapped the screen with no issue, however I connected the hard drive upside down like you. In the process of righting that I broke the battery connector. I was so mad but I knew that was a risk so I bought another logic board from ebay and went through swapping it. I was extra careful with the battery connector this time and it did not break. When I connected the headphone jack cable and pushed the connector closed, the entire connector broke off the board, @@#$&**!!! I gave up after that and bought a refurbished 5th gen that I still use from time-to-time. After watching this I may take another crack and repairing my original.

[@martykong3592]

:) GO Veronica! WELL DONE indeed and KUDOS for saving the iPod! I don't think I have the dexterity anymore for those refurbs or repairs anymore :( ALL The BEST andd Cheers! :)

[@_cyberpxnk]

this is so sick! makes me want to go pick up an ipod now. i didn’t know there were so many mods for these

[@EremittV]

I’ve been using iPods since 2008. I got streaming services as well, but I always maintained my library. I’ve been using my current 7th gen for about 6 years now. During Covid I discovered the modding scene and man that was a blessing! Fixing and upgrading my iPod gave it a whole new life. Now I have a 512gb iPod with a 2000mah battery. Battery life for literal days of non-stop playback and my entire collection with me everywhere I go! And iPod speakers are insanely cheap. Especially ones with an iPod dock that can’t be hidden. Sometimes you get 400 dollar speakers for less than 10 bucks. I’ll be using iPods for as long as it’s possible.

[@G1NZOU]

This definitely seems like the kind of project for me, I haven't had an iPhone for a number of years but I never got into music streaming and I never had Android music apps set up to the point I was happy with, iTunes on my iPhone just worked nice and I had my albums organised, ripping from CDs and adding album art was easy. Transparent purple is a fantastic look. I remember doing a ZIF SSD replacement on my old Vaio P netbook, a complicated mess of ribbon cables and screws to accomplish.

[@stevenpugh5412]

Lost power for about 10 hours last Thursday. Passed a lot of the time using an 80 GB iPod classic. Didn’t want to use smartphone to save battery. So even in 2024, when the power fails, nice to have something that just does one thing. So, thank you for this video.

[@KristofferLislegaard]

Ooo i didn't know about the transcoding. That is very handy! I would go for ALAC for me as I am coming from FLAC. Thought I had to do it on my local machine before, but if this can be done in the transfer itself that is great! Thanks for showing this!

[@TyIosaurus]

ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) is indeed quite similar to FLAC in terms of preserving audio quality. It's a great choice for maintaining the integrity of your music files when transferring them to your iPod. 26:06

[@defaultuser1447]

I got an iPod Nano 6th (the tiny one) as an anniversary gift from Megacorp in 2012. For a long time, I used it to play through the cassette stereo in the Venerable Bronco. Over time, the power switch stopped working, which I discovered is a common problem with that model. I have seen tutorials on repairing this, but it comes on when you connect the USB to something and shuts down if it's not playing and you disconnect it. So I use it as a bedside music system with a couple of speakers I had lying about.

[@nicozica]

Congratulations on reaching 100K subs, Victoria! I discovered your channel today through this video. Glad to be one of those 99.9-somethings! :) Cheers from Argentina!

[@VeronicaExplains]

Thank you!