I pay for music cause I can't stand them.. Lol. Love the iPod idea. I have 158GB mp3s from over the years. Bu it sounds like absolute Shite compared to my tidal or Apple Music Lossless, with about 98% of all those tracks on Apple Music. I have some FLAC but like only 20% of it. Does this software allow you to download from Apple Music app? or Tidal App? That would be great for that. My music collections not so hot quality.
@@1TechCritic I have several thousand CD's that I have been slowly ripping to FLAC for the last year. I love the iPod idea for a lot of reasons. I'm curious if the sound quality on a sub $150 DAP (about what I would spend modding my ipod) would be better and would it have as much storage?
That's what I want to use mine for, but there's a lot wrong with it and I don't really know exactly what. Tried to pry it open but I have the model that has like 50 clips around the edge which makes it nearly impossible to take apart, at least without damaging or scratching the exterior...
@@K9V1 Take it to an Apple store and get it looked at. I took in a broken one and they sold me a new (rebuilt one) for a good price, although that was in 2017.
I love my Classic because it's a musical snapshot for me from when I got my 3rd gen in 2003 my junior year at college to 2017, the last year I had loaded anything new on it. I started really using it again last year after a couple year hiatus and it's still great even in stock form.
I love my iPods back then. Had a couple of "Classics" and a Nano. Those along with several early portable Fiio amps via the line out were golden for me then.
I attempted to install Rockbox in my resurrected iPod Classic (installed 500gb SSD and new battery), but it was unsuccessful. Kept getting an error message.
I have 3 of them, but only use one -- in my alarm clock with the old-school iPod dock. Which was such a neat idea, i miss things like that. But for personal carry, I converted my old phone into a DAP by removing and disabling everything but a single music app. Suddenly it had a surprising battery life left in it.
@@dragons_advocate Yeah, imma have to have a dongle dac in my case, but given I have both that and a phone sitting around it seems like it's easy to try out.
I did this with my old Galaxy S10E. Compact size, SD card slot and a headphone jack! Using a HiBy FC1 dongle for higher audio quality when I prefer it. I use Productivity Launcher for a minimal DAP-like experience and disable all other apps other than audio apps installed.
If apple were to release an updated iPod classic capable of downloading Apple Music playlists to it with a hifi DAC and usb C, that would revolutionize the market… again.
People who listen to music on MD, DCC, MP3, Spotify and UA-cam have hearing loss because they are incapable of detecting the loss of captured sound from these terrible formats.
@@manieartis2687 The minidisc is low quality just like the iPod, Spotify and UA-cam. CDs and WAV files sound so much better because they capture all the sound.
4.4mm balanced is way better than 3.5mm but is too large to ever justify using on a phone. It's better to move on from 3.5mm altogether and to use something like the M15/CMA18P to sidestep the issue
@@buckethead420 it would be too easy to snap while the phone is in your pocket. The same problem also exists for the 3.5mm and it's also unbalanced. 4.4mm is the best option as it's considerably stronger and balanced without being outrageously large like 6.5mm. Back when phones commonly had 3.5mm jacks it was a constant issue with jacks getting damaged accidentally
I found an old ipod and been looking up what some people have done, from changing usb C, adding bluetooth, and now hearing this software. Exciting stuff
I thought that too but decided to go slowly building my iPod again (lost all my library when my old HD apparently died). Just on my car rides the sound is SO MUCH BETTER, even using Spotify on high quality, is not the same… so well worth the trouble
@@MA-xd9zl IFKR! On the stereo its king!! But just rmbr to slowly import ur files tho. Apparently and this happened to me as well if u import a bunch of songs all at once the songs can get corrupt like fake titles, bad album art. Etc
Still run my 5.5 gen iPod with CF card conversion and custom housing. I keep 2 solid state converted models spare. They live in my cars lol. I also still keep my green iPod shuffle for bike riding.
I got the FiiO KA13, their highest end USB dongle because I thought I needed that extra power. Later I didn't end up needing that much power and regretted my purchase an dwish I had the FiiO BTR 15 (wasn't a thing when I got the KA13) or a DAP. But since then I've been more and more satisfied with the KA13 and am happy with just that.
I've been using a DAP of some form or other for around four years. Had I got an iPod classic back when they were still prevalent, it'd still be using it today. I see they have a lot of merits, like repairability and recycling and price, something that is somewhat of a grey topic with modern DAPs, not many guides as of yet on the repair side due to the niche area. Software wise, that all depends on what your library is mainly comprised of, rockbox is great if you can set it up right (personal experience hasn't been the best) to make it a stand alone device. The main draw backs I've seen is the dated connection port and I can see people would like having bluetooth connection ability. There has been a project called Moonlit which has a new case back that circumvents both problems that I'm hoping to personally test at some point. If that proves to be a good deal, a modded iPod will become my travel DAP, better to lose something that can be kit bashed together than a modern device worth a few hundred more.
I have a collection of ipods and other old music players that i've modded myself. I started because i wanted something to listen to while writing but without any possibility for distractions. And then i decided that one was not enough and that I should definitely have a bunch all with different types of music on them. Last one i got (and probably one of my favorites) is my Zune Halo edition. Either that one or my second gen iPod. Big bricks of music.
I've got the iPod Mini. Use it daily. New battery, 256GB SSD, and Rockbox, it's the greatest MP3 player on the planet. I argue it's better than the other iPods only because it has a metal external case that, to me, feels amazing to the touch. Not some piece of cheap plastic. Also, the Mini is easy to take apart and work on.
I've had my mother's old iPod for years now, never used it, finally started and was loving it till the hard drive gave out. Didn't back up my music but i made sure to redownload everything again onto some usb drives and i have a modded iPod coming back to me in a few days, i can't wait to get back on it
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the iPod classic sixth gen because I still have mine with a laptop drive in it, and I’ve been thinking about either going towards the 5.5 general or just getting an SSD to install into this. Your video has helped sway my decision towards just getting an SSD for my current iPod. Even for what it is, with just the bare bones mid tier JBL headphones I have from 2016, it still sounds so wonderful. My favorite artists to listen to on it are the Beastie Boys, Bob Dylan, and The Aquabats! and mostly because the Beastie Boys have a song that is listed with sound testing in universities. I always tell people if you can’t hear both the bumpin bass and the high keyboard note at the same time in Beastie Boys “Brass Monkey”, then your setup needs help .
I got a 7th gen and modded it to hold 2TB and a 3000mAh battery, as well as swapping out body and face colors. I still use stock iPod OS, and it works great for me. I'm not an audiophile, but I absolutely hate having to charge everything these days so I insist on having wired earbuds and headphones and there are too many ads with streaming.
Whilst I didn’t own an iPod classic in its heyday, I have a fondness for them due to how simple and easy it is to use and modify. I own a 5th Gen that got Frankensteined with a 7th gen front and hard-drive whilst getting a new screen and battery, but I haven’t touched it since iPods blew up again (thanks to the dankpocalypse (no shade, I was happy they got the recognition they deserved)) but seeing this video makes me want to dabble in the missing stuff again. Like putting flash storage in, or shove a Taptic Engine in for a little umph in my music choosing experience. Loved the vid man! Thank you for showing off your cool iPod too 💪
Oh man, iPods we're like a status symbol when I was in high school (back around 2004-2008). I had an iPod nano 2nd gen. After digging it out after so many years, I found the screen to be completely broken. However, my wife's iPod nano 4th gen still works like a charm and is almost in brand new condition, so I'm starting to use that. I hope this thing lasts me a life time lol.
It’s not an iPod, but I use my Sony WM1Z all the time. It works great with my ADX -5000 headphones and my 64Audio N8 custom IEMs as well. I love having an all in one device that works anywhere
I have a 120gb iPod classic 6. It’s been fully thrashed and abused. I bought it with the original box in 2020 for $65. It has chunks of the metal torn out of the faceplate and it’s full of dents and scratches . You can barely see the text on the back. Despite that the original 120gb hard drive still works perfectly. I’m gonna use it until the battery or hard drive dies then I’ll fix it up a bit. I love the feeling of the hard drive spinning up. It’s like a little clockwork music player. I love it. I have it hooked up to my hifi with an apple universal dock. Sounds fantastic
I started with my ifi zen dac paired with philip fidelio x2HR and I remember I genuinely teared up when I booted up my first tidal song. The instant shock from the clarity and sound stage that I experienced was incredible having come from cheap wireless earphones. since then I've grabbed quite a few more bits. Fiio KA13, Letshuoer S12 Pro IEM's, Shanling M3 Ultra Dap, Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT2DS (I love these) and my newest addition the Fiio BTA30 pro (for my 4k player). Unfortunately it's an expensive hobby as you don't want anything less than the best sound possible, I even paid to replace the windows driver to provide LDAC bluetooth. I wouldn't consider myself an audiophile, I don't dare get into the technical or tinkering of sound, I just want to appreciate music how it's intended to be heard.
I love and still use my 160 GB iPod classic 7th generation mp3 player (as well as my 120 GB iPod classic) and I transferred hundreds of CD albums onto it (and bought the odd album or song on iTunes too several years ago). :)
I only had a ipod for the purpose of using my Lasonic i931 Boombox. RockBox seems to be a great mod for more simple music uploads truly appreciate this post
Honestly, I'm super happy with using Tidal or just shoving a load of my own files on my phone and playing stuff over a BTR5 - feels like the most convenient option for my use case really. After digging out my old ipod touch a few weeks ago, I'm not sure I get why everyone is raving about using these old devices. If anything, the main enjoyment I've had out of digging out my old ipod has been listening to some old songs I had on there which I hadn't heard for the best part of a decade in some cases and definitely not on nicer gear. Between my desktop DAC and my little dongle playing high res files and the stuff on my ipod played out of that, I much prefer the former so that's what I'll be sticking with. My goal for the future is to build an offline library on a home server which I can either access online through something like Roon or by copying files across onto different devices. I suppose a dedicated music player could slot in somewhere in the future but it feels much easier just to spend a bit more on a phone with a tonne of storage for my music when I'm on the go.
Same here. As much as I’d love to be one of these people who can leave the house without having their phone and go running at the park with nothing but an iPod in their pocket, most of the music I love I’ve not physically bought yet and streaming it is the only way I can listen to what I want on the go. I have 20 ish albums on CD that I could put on an iPod but I’d easily wear those out and the cost of getting an older iPod + getting physical copies of every album I could ever want to listen to would cost a whole lot of money. Some would mention pirating and I’m not above that, but risking prison time or extreme fees just isn’t worth it. I’ll stick to streaming.
@@Luke-cp2jz Total opposite here. I have over 34000 songs downloaded to iTunes (the VAST majority of which I have purchased). I still use my iPod Classic everyday, but am thinking of getting a modded one with at least 500GB of memory to hold my whole iTunes collection. I don't really stream anything.
may seem a bit much have you ever tried the remote or fm radio connection it connects to the charge sinc plug makes it have the audio jack in the bottom
Awesome video!! I have an IPod 5th generation and I installed many of my favorite songs and artists on it as well as some videos with copytrans. I’d love to check out more on rockbox or even try installing it to do more, cause man listening to my favorite songs without interruptions is the best feeling. Also I absolutely love Everything Everything!! Get to Heaven is the best album in my opinion
My question still remains for DMS. You recommend DCA E3 for portable headphones. What pocket friendly DAP can you drive for DCA E3 for best sound quality?
Two of my iPods are newer iPod Touch models. There is a photo adapter (dongle) that lets you connect to a USB cable and bypass the headphone jack. I connect the USB to an external dac and then to a headphone amp. It sounds great using high-end headphones. I'm not sure if the internal dac is bypassed (I think it is).
2:30 "I think this one sounds just great", so does my phone. So what's the advantage then besides it giving people retro vibes? I rather use my Fiio if I don't want to use my smartphone.
I wish you could provide more info on the mods. I’m trying to revive my old piece for 2 months now and I’m still completing the parts list so it’s a one time operation. What adapter/storage combo did you use? Do you have original battery or an upgraded capacity one?
I know a lot of people are getting into iPod. I myself, along with a few others, are Zune users. Zune isn't actually half bad. I wish there were hardware mods like there are for the iPod, but I'm still glad to be listening to music on my Zune.
Yo! I do a lot of travel and boy oh boy is having an iPod Classic in my pocket nice. It's something that's going to stay in my ears for 16 hours from when I get up, go to the airport, go through security, wait for a flight, get on the plane and fly, Deboard, get food, wait for flight, fly, land, grab pelican from baggage claim, get uber to hotel, checkin, and at last, open the door to my hotel room for the next week. No interruptions from texts, amazing noise isolation from my IEMs, no need for internet, phone battery lasts longer , tuned eq just how I like it for noisy environments, man. Why did the headphone jack have to die.
Really cool that you can dual boot to either the standard Apple OS or Rockbox. I see from previous comments below that Rockbox supports FLAC instead of only ALAC like the Apple system. Nice. And love that you can drag and drop files instead of having to go through iTunes which was always a pain. How hard is it to load Rockbox on an older iPod? Is there a link to how to do that you could provide? I'm pretty sure the DAC chip and implementation in an iPOD can't compare to a "real" DAP but for casual listening when out and about on IEMs or easy to drive headphones, they were always a nice, easy to carry device. Thanks. I might have to dig mine out of the drawer now.
I used to own a couple of apple DAPs - the 2nd gen, Nano and Classic, then there was a Creative Zen. Really convenient to have your music collection stored and ready to go. Since Fii0 started releasing their players I just fell in love with portable audio all over again.
I had an ipod and a zune. The ipod got into a death boot loop that couldn't be stopped till it ran out of power. Couldn't even hard reset it. The zune still works.
My allmost 20 year old ipod classic still sits in my desk. It hasn't worked in 10 years; something about a corrupted hard disk, and no one in India seems to be able to be helpful. But I still have hope it'll work.
Definitely dig it ! Sadly I lost it but my ipod touch 2 got the clearest and loudest sound I heard on a portable device next to the Sonys walkmans mp4s
I had a 6th gen classic mounted in my jeep, but basically retired it when my new vehicle would no longer recognize it. Switched to a last gen touch for that car. One thing I don’t miss from switching is the stupid click wheel. That thing is terrible.
I just have a question where can I get the music it’s not like before like the old ways now is no places to download music do you know some website ? Thanks
I have an ipod 5.5 video. The H/P out D/A converter isn't very good, and the built in EQ presets were terrible except for "Latin" & "Rock" (which were both close to what I like). Any modern music, mastered loud, would digitally clip with the EQ presets. I had to make copy of all my audio files, and gain them down 4-6db, so I could use the EQ presets. However, I loved the Sony MP3 Walkman's that came out in the late 2000's. I then got a Fiio X3 which was nice, but pain to use, and then finally just started using my smartphones.
I never owned any of the iPod classics growing up and I love the one I put together. It’s a 5th Gen with custom front and back plates, 512GB storage. The only prebuilt and Modded iPod I would be a Bluetooth 7th Gen with USB-C, and 1 or 2TB of storage.
Since no one else has commented about it and DMS won't answer the people who asked: The green Spotify like theme he shows in the video is called "Themify".
I have no idea of the iPod audio quality, never had one. I do have a Hiby R3 Gen II, I wonder how does the iPod audio quality fairs agains modern DAPs.
I have collected a 4th gen mono and photo, a 5th gen, a 3rd gen nano, and I already had a 4th gen nano. I have spent a decent chunk of change trying to get good audio out of my phone over the years. I find the BTR3 is pretty good for me, but the iPod classic 4 and 5 especially sound better still.
I'm so glad that RockBox is still around. I thought this was going to be about iPods with stock OS, didn't expect it to be about RockBox. I remember buying a used iPod nano back in the day and being shocked at how hard Apple was working to stop them from being usable under Linux. They routinely and purposefully thwarted libraries that made it work. I got tired of that cat and mouse game and installed RockBox on it. It was awesome, freed my iPod in so many ways. After a few months the iPod died and part of me blames RockBox honestly but I still wouldn't have used it any other way. I also learned that I'm not compatible with Apple and to this day I've never felt the need to get another Apple product and I don't see that changing anytime soon.
What's the difference between something like the Questyle M15 and the Fiio BTR5? I'm just curious bc coming from someone who owns a BTR5 it just seems more expensive for something with less features (that being Bluetooth) which if it's something portable that should be mandatory. I use both the USB input on my computer and the Bluetooth in my car.
Can someone tell me what is audiophile? I've used smartphones for music till date. Is there any difference from using smartphones or laptop than audiophile gadgets? or just gimick
I still have two iPod Classic, both with battery and storage updated. Rockbox has some limits (the battery estimation you mentioned is very annoying), but it is well worth being iTunes independent.
I have had a problem installing Rockbox on my Classic 7th gen. It installs the base files but not the Bootloader. There is no option for the Classic 7th gen, latest I see is the 6th gen and not sure if that is the problem or not.. Reading up someone said it could be the adapter that holds the SD card that is having problems. So I ordered a new one to see if that is the issue. Ipod 5.5 with the wolfson DAC is the one considered to be the best Ipods for Audiophiles however most are not able to really hear the difference with out using 2k worth of audio equipment to really isolate stuff the sounds. I tried to tell the difference between mky 7th and a 5.5 and I was hard pressed to notice the difference. Supposedly it is a warmer sound and plays vocals and some acoustical instruments better. Thinking about buying another one for a backup and probably a 5.5 gen is what I will get. Also have you done anything testing with the Innioasis Y1 Ipod classic clone? Reviews seem to say it is very very good for the price.
I know I might be crazy but I was thinking about using a Dap more often but found my self looking into streaming services more when new music comes out. I wish I could use my iPod more but I tend to use my phone more and more as I find it harder to just get music on the Dap....
You can get less compressed audio. Streaming is super compressed mp4. It's easier to have larger less compressed, higher quality audio files like wavs and aiffs and flacs in a device that stores your audio locally like this
As he mentions some specific models have a high quality DAC built in, all are decent. I actually owned the model but the guy who bought it only cared that my battery was lasting, he did not even know about the modifications people do to them BUT he paid my eBay price which was higher then some of the others with lesser DAC so everyone was happy.
@@TheUnitedStruggledoesn't really matter. iPods don't have the sound hardware required to get the most of loseless files. Now, if you ask me, people love iPods simply because they have no wireless connectivity.
I wonder if they have a theme that is just classic iPod coverflow. Because, not gonna lie, coverflow is legitimately my favorite way of browsing albums. I still miss that feature from my iPod days.
I have a Mini in a drawer somewhere, and at some point I'll get around to changing the battery, and replacing the HDD. But I am a bit scared to take it apart because I don't wanna mess up the lovely pink outsides.
We love em because an aussie guy reminded us on how great these are
Person of culture, i see
UGH MY PKCELL
these dinguses do be really good
Damn that Aussie with his pet snake and his green iPad cover...Dragging us back to the stone ages 😅
5 bucks off from CASHIES
No fucking ads on an iPod.
I pay for music cause I can't stand them.. Lol. Love the iPod idea. I have 158GB mp3s from over the years. Bu it sounds like absolute Shite compared to my tidal or Apple Music Lossless, with about 98% of all those tracks on Apple Music. I have some FLAC but like only 20% of it. Does this software allow you to download from Apple Music app? or Tidal App? That would be great for that. My music collections not so hot quality.
No adds on my tidal either xx
@@1TechCritic I have several thousand CD's that I have been slowly ripping to FLAC for the last year. I love the iPod idea for a lot of reasons. I'm curious if the sound quality on a sub $150 DAP (about what I would spend modding my ipod) would be better and would it have as much storage?
@@trenthaynes3461 but also i've got some fun with ipod mods ;)
Great point
I still love my 160GB Classic. It is the jukebox in my old car.
That's what I want to use mine for, but there's a lot wrong with it and I don't really know exactly what. Tried to pry it open but I have the model that has like 50 clips around the edge which makes it nearly impossible to take apart, at least without damaging or scratching the exterior...
@@K9V1 Take it to an Apple store and get it looked at. I took in a broken one and they sold me a new (rebuilt one) for a good price, although that was in 2017.
@@K9V1yep if you want less damage as possible, it’ll take hours/days 🤣👌🏾
I have a 1990s wind up radio™ and it still works better than anything else for reception
I love my Classic because it's a musical snapshot for me from when I got my 3rd gen in 2003 my junior year at college to 2017, the last year I had loaded anything new on it.
I started really using it again last year after a couple year hiatus and it's still great even in stock form.
yes
I love my iPods back then. Had a couple of "Classics" and a Nano. Those along with several early portable Fiio amps via the line out were golden for me then.
Extremely delighted to see Everything Everything as the artist being played on the iPod
Ditto what a pleasant surprise!
Indeed. A man of culture
only reason I clicked on the video is bc i saw it in the thumbnail lol
me too lol @@SilhouetteLifter
can you please make video on how to install Rockbox OS.
Totally great idea, I give this a big thumbs up please DMS 👍
bro it's all out there on the rockbox official site
Please
I attempted to install Rockbox in my resurrected iPod Classic (installed 500gb SSD and new battery), but it was unsuccessful. Kept getting an error message.
@@keithl817 skill issue
I have 3 of them, but only use one -- in my alarm clock with the old-school iPod dock. Which was such a neat idea, i miss things like that.
But for personal carry, I converted my old phone into a DAP by removing and disabling everything but a single music app. Suddenly it had a surprising battery life left in it.
Shoutout to you for this, hadn't thought about using an old phone but it makes total sense.
@@anachronismic Apart from perhaps a better DAC, the insides are the same.
@@dragons_advocate Yeah, imma have to have a dongle dac in my case, but given I have both that and a phone sitting around it seems like it's easy to try out.
@@dragons_advocateas long as the dac has enough power to drive your headphones and no distortion it honestly makes no difference.
I did this with my old Galaxy S10E. Compact size, SD card slot and a headphone jack! Using a HiBy FC1 dongle for higher audio quality when I prefer it. I use Productivity Launcher for a minimal DAP-like experience and disable all other apps other than audio apps installed.
If apple were to release an updated iPod classic capable of downloading Apple Music playlists to it with a hifi DAC and usb C, that would revolutionize the market… again.
Is Apple music leader? Nops. Spotify yet @@stratelite1337
They did airpods max for audiophiles
Masses won't..audiophiles would..but it's a miniscule amount
@@vittoriovitale1008AirPod Max are inferior to anything else in that price range
All we need is Bluetooth & maybe some new themes for this iPod🤷🏽♂️
Recently picked up an early 2000 Sony MiniDisc Player. I love it. It forces you to be discerning with what music you'll take out.
People who listen to music on MD, DCC, MP3, Spotify and UA-cam have hearing loss because they are incapable of detecting the loss of captured sound from these terrible formats.
I love minidisc bro! It's awesome!
@@manieartis2687 The minidisc is low quality just like the iPod, Spotify and UA-cam. CDs and WAV files sound so much better because they capture all the sound.
@@judenihalOr people just enjoy physical media or free access to music
@@NolanEgbertthe Compact Disc is the way to go then
I think phone manufacturers should include the 3.5mm jack in their phone designs
4.4mm balanced is way better than 3.5mm but is too large to ever justify using on a phone. It's better to move on from 3.5mm altogether and to use something like the M15/CMA18P to sidestep the issue
@@MrJester831what about 2.5mm balanced?
@@buckethead420 it would be too easy to snap while the phone is in your pocket. The same problem also exists for the 3.5mm and it's also unbalanced. 4.4mm is the best option as it's considerably stronger and balanced without being outrageously large like 6.5mm. Back when phones commonly had 3.5mm jacks it was a constant issue with jacks getting damaged accidentally
I have a large plethora of bluetooth headphones and IEM adapters and I still insist on my phone having a 3.5mm jack just in case.
@@MrJester831oh, boy, this aged poorly. moondrop released a phone with both a 3.5 and a 4.4mm jack
I found an old ipod and been looking up what some people have done, from changing usb C, adding bluetooth, and now hearing this software. Exciting stuff
The only thing that's stopping me from using an iPod again is getting my Spotify library to an iPod
spotify down website lets you copy your playlist link and download an mp3 of all the songs
spotifydownloader - thank me later
trust me my guy, with a little time, you'll get all of your library to your iPod. Im not about to give out sauces but uk, if u want some, drop ur @
I thought that too but decided to go slowly building my iPod again (lost all my library when my old HD apparently died). Just on my car rides the sound is SO MUCH BETTER, even using Spotify on high quality, is not the same… so well worth the trouble
@@MA-xd9zl IFKR! On the stereo its king!! But just rmbr to slowly import ur files tho. Apparently and this happened to me as well if u import a bunch of songs all at once the songs can get corrupt like fake titles, bad album art. Etc
Still run my 5.5 gen iPod with CF card conversion and custom housing. I keep 2 solid state converted models spare. They live in my cars lol. I also still keep my green iPod shuffle for bike riding.
I didn't know this was a thing. Some advice on what guide and hardware to use for modding an iPod would have been helpful.
For a good time, look up Dankpods for some of the hardware mods and repair.
There’s plenty of videos around for this :D the community has been great bringing iPods back to life 😊
You apparently don’t know google is a thing either
This was a BRILLIANT video, please do more like this!
Am I seriously about to dig out my old iPod classic from “that bin” and do this right now?
lol me too… same thoughts 😂
definitely worth it, give it a shot!
Did u? >.>
lol same
How did you get this iPod modded?
Elite obsolete electronics
I got the FiiO KA13, their highest end USB dongle because I thought I needed that extra power. Later I didn't end up needing that much power and regretted my purchase an dwish I had the FiiO BTR 15 (wasn't a thing when I got the KA13) or a DAP. But since then I've been more and more satisfied with the KA13 and am happy with just that.
I've been using a DAP of some form or other for around four years. Had I got an iPod classic back when they were still prevalent, it'd still be using it today.
I see they have a lot of merits, like repairability and recycling and price, something that is somewhat of a grey topic with modern DAPs, not many guides as of yet on the repair side due to the niche area.
Software wise, that all depends on what your library is mainly comprised of, rockbox is great if you can set it up right (personal experience hasn't been the best) to make it a stand alone device.
The main draw backs I've seen is the dated connection port and I can see people would like having bluetooth connection ability. There has been a project called Moonlit which has a new case back that circumvents both problems that I'm hoping to personally test at some point. If that proves to be a good deal, a modded iPod will become my travel DAP, better to lose something that can be kit bashed together than a modern device worth a few hundred more.
I have a collection of ipods and other old music players that i've modded myself. I started because i wanted something to listen to while writing but without any possibility for distractions. And then i decided that one was not enough and that I should definitely have a bunch all with different types of music on them. Last one i got (and probably one of my favorites) is my Zune Halo edition. Either that one or my second gen iPod. Big bricks of music.
I've got the iPod Mini. Use it daily. New battery, 256GB SSD, and Rockbox, it's the greatest MP3 player on the planet. I argue it's better than the other iPods only because it has a metal external case that, to me, feels amazing to the touch. Not some piece of cheap plastic. Also, the Mini is easy to take apart and work on.
I noticed on my iPod, classic, if I turn the volume down to like 15% I can still hear it. If I did at all my phone, I couldn’t hear anything.
"love" is in the title. That's how you know it isn't an Andrew video
Pffffhahahaha
Rockbox? Now that’s a name I’ve not heard in a long time. Glad to see they’re still going ❤
I remember the sansa clip+ days
I just installed Rockbox on my sansa fuse+ they're sill going
I've had my mother's old iPod for years now, never used it, finally started and was loving it till the hard drive gave out. Didn't back up my music but i made sure to redownload everything again onto some usb drives and i have a modded iPod coming back to me in a few days, i can't wait to get back on it
everything everything thumbnail LETS GOOOOOO
lets go indeed
Hell yeah
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the iPod classic sixth gen because I still have mine with a laptop drive in it, and I’ve been thinking about either going towards the 5.5 general or just getting an SSD to install into this. Your video has helped sway my decision towards just getting an SSD for my current iPod.
Even for what it is, with just the bare bones mid tier JBL headphones I have from 2016, it still sounds so wonderful.
My favorite artists to listen to on it are the Beastie Boys, Bob Dylan, and The Aquabats! and mostly because the Beastie Boys have a song that is listed with sound testing in universities.
I always tell people if you can’t hear both the bumpin bass and the high keyboard note at the same time in Beastie Boys “Brass Monkey”, then your setup needs help .
I got a 7th gen and modded it to hold 2TB and a 3000mAh battery, as well as swapping out body and face colors. I still use stock iPod OS, and it works great for me. I'm not an audiophile, but I absolutely hate having to charge everything these days so I insist on having wired earbuds and headphones and there are too many ads with streaming.
Whilst I didn’t own an iPod classic in its heyday, I have a fondness for them due to how simple and easy it is to use and modify. I own a 5th Gen that got Frankensteined with a 7th gen front and hard-drive whilst getting a new screen and battery, but I haven’t touched it since iPods blew up again (thanks to the dankpocalypse (no shade, I was happy they got the recognition they deserved)) but seeing this video makes me want to dabble in the missing stuff again. Like putting flash storage in, or shove a Taptic Engine in for a little umph in my music choosing experience.
Loved the vid man! Thank you for showing off your cool iPod too 💪
Love so much to watch DMS's videos
The way this guy talk about audio nerd stuff with so much passion is awesome
1:28 does anyone know the name of the theme please?
I just found it, its Themify!
@@AriFerrari-2 same, but thanks! i just recognized how shitty the layout is xD i am using adwaitapod now which is amazing
Oh man, iPods we're like a status symbol when I was in high school (back around 2004-2008). I had an iPod nano 2nd gen. After digging it out after so many years, I found the screen to be completely broken. However, my wife's iPod nano 4th gen still works like a charm and is almost in brand new condition, so I'm starting to use that. I hope this thing lasts me a life time lol.
Never stopped using them since the first one I got new, the iPod Mini 2nd Gen. I've had an iPod in my pocket pretty much constantly for 20 years now.
It’s not an iPod, but I use my Sony WM1Z all the time. It works great with my ADX -5000 headphones and my 64Audio N8 custom IEMs as well. I love having an all in one device that works anywhere
I love my A306!
Still rock my WM1A 😎👍
Sonys are SO MUCH better!
I have a 120gb iPod classic 6. It’s been fully thrashed and abused. I bought it with the original box in 2020 for $65. It has chunks of the metal torn out of the faceplate and it’s full of dents and scratches . You can barely see the text on the back. Despite that the original 120gb hard drive still works perfectly. I’m gonna use it until the battery or hard drive dies then I’ll fix it up a bit. I love the feeling of the hard drive spinning up. It’s like a little clockwork music player. I love it. I have it hooked up to my hifi with an apple universal dock. Sounds fantastic
I started with my ifi zen dac paired with philip fidelio x2HR and I remember I genuinely teared up when I booted up my first tidal song. The instant shock from the clarity and sound stage that I experienced was incredible having come from cheap wireless earphones. since then I've grabbed quite a few more bits. Fiio KA13, Letshuoer S12 Pro IEM's, Shanling M3 Ultra Dap, Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT2DS (I love these) and my newest addition the Fiio BTA30 pro (for my 4k player). Unfortunately it's an expensive hobby as you don't want anything less than the best sound possible, I even paid to replace the windows driver to provide LDAC bluetooth.
I wouldn't consider myself an audiophile, I don't dare get into the technical or tinkering of sound, I just want to appreciate music how it's intended to be heard.
It's been great to see everyone get all my level I've been carrying on an iPod since 2006.
I love and still use my 160 GB iPod classic 7th generation mp3 player (as well as my 120 GB iPod classic) and I transferred hundreds of CD albums onto it (and bought the odd album or song on iTunes too several years ago). :)
I only had a ipod for the purpose of using my Lasonic i931 Boombox. RockBox seems to be a great mod for more simple music uploads truly appreciate this post
Could you provide a link for the modifications you made? The SSD, backplate, and battery? Please? 🥺
Elite obsolete electronics
stil using my 160GB black one LOVE IT
what pushed me to get back into iPods was scrolling though my spotify and finding some of my favourite songs unavailable
Does this Rockbox firmware allow Ipod to play flac files?
It does from what I remember back in the day.
Yes it does
I also have a 160 GB classic. I have tonnes of CDs ripped with ALAC files on it.
Still listening to it today. :)
Honestly, I'm super happy with using Tidal or just shoving a load of my own files on my phone and playing stuff over a BTR5 - feels like the most convenient option for my use case really.
After digging out my old ipod touch a few weeks ago, I'm not sure I get why everyone is raving about using these old devices. If anything, the main enjoyment I've had out of digging out my old ipod has been listening to some old songs I had on there which I hadn't heard for the best part of a decade in some cases and definitely not on nicer gear. Between my desktop DAC and my little dongle
playing high res files and the stuff on my ipod played out of that, I much prefer the former so that's what I'll be sticking with.
My goal for the future is to build an offline library on a home server which I can either access online through something like Roon or by copying files across onto different devices. I suppose a dedicated music player could slot in somewhere in the future but it feels much easier just to spend a bit more on a phone with a tonne of storage for my music when I'm on the go.
Same here. As much as I’d love to be one of these people who can leave the house without having their phone and go running at the park with nothing but an iPod in their pocket, most of the music I love I’ve not physically bought yet and streaming it is the only way I can listen to what I want on the go. I have 20 ish albums on CD that I could put on an iPod but I’d easily wear those out and the cost of getting an older iPod + getting physical copies of every album I could ever want to listen to would cost a whole lot of money. Some would mention pirating and I’m not above that, but risking prison time or extreme fees just isn’t worth it. I’ll stick to streaming.
@@Luke-cp2jz Total opposite here. I have over 34000 songs downloaded to iTunes (the VAST majority of which I have purchased). I still use my iPod Classic everyday, but am thinking of getting a modded one with at least 500GB of memory to hold my whole iTunes collection. I don't really stream anything.
Fantastic! I dug out my old iPhone and it works perfectly. It has come back to life. Thanks!
Nice keyboard, ceramic keycaps are amazing
I have 3 ipods still in use! Including one in my car. Yes, Love them! They are still wonderful
Great video, even better hoodie!
Everything everything spotted! Absolutely elite album and band.
may seem a bit much have you ever tried the remote or fm radio connection it connects to the charge sinc plug makes it have the audio jack in the bottom
You sold me on the DSP/EQ features in Rockbox.
ripping my cds in wave format and playing it on my ipod 7th gen... it's perfect
Awesome video!! I have an IPod 5th generation and I installed many of my favorite songs and artists on it as well as some videos with copytrans. I’d love to check out more on rockbox or even try installing it to do more, cause man listening to my favorite songs without interruptions is the best feeling. Also I absolutely love Everything Everything!! Get to Heaven is the best album in my opinion
My question still remains for DMS. You recommend DCA E3 for portable headphones. What pocket friendly DAP can you drive for DCA E3 for best sound quality?
This is cool! Haven't had a dedicated music player for ages! It reminds me of my Rio Carbon and Rio Karma.
iPod Classics are retro now but I never stopped using mine.
Two of my iPods are newer iPod Touch models. There is a photo adapter (dongle) that lets you connect to a USB cable and bypass the headphone jack. I connect the USB to an external dac and then to a headphone amp. It sounds great using high-end headphones. I'm not sure if the internal dac is bypassed (I think it is).
Hello. Can you share some more references on this cable? I'm interested in getting one. Thanks
2:30 "I think this one sounds just great", so does my phone. So what's the advantage then besides it giving people retro vibes? I rather use my Fiio if I don't want to use my smartphone.
For me it’s simplicity, focused function, battery life, and fun. Honestly use whatever you enjoy using 😄
I came across this video because I'm trying to "dumb down" my tech life, so the fact that I can ONLY stream music with this is which is awesome
@@christophervalenzuela1117 fair enough, maybe my comment is actually stupid. Not sure.
I wish you could provide more info on the mods. I’m trying to revive my old piece for 2 months now and I’m still completing the parts list so it’s a one time operation. What adapter/storage combo did you use? Do you have original battery or an upgraded capacity one?
If you've done a battery mod I think rockbox lets you set the amount of mah it has, might help with the estimation
I currently have Astell Kern's budget DAP which is called Activo CT 10 and I really love the music quality that Activo CT10 provides.
I know a lot of people are getting into iPod. I myself, along with a few others, are Zune users. Zune isn't actually half bad. I wish there were hardware mods like there are for the iPod, but I'm still glad to be listening to music on my Zune.
Is there a stock style theme or a way to connect rockbox to your standard library? I want the oem experience without having to use itunes
I have a 1.5 TB Rockboxed iPod and I love it. Very good player. I’ll never ever use all that memory either.
How do I download podcasts on to the iPod with iTunes?
Yo! I do a lot of travel and boy oh boy is having an iPod Classic in my pocket nice. It's something that's going to stay in my ears for 16 hours from when I get up, go to the airport, go through security, wait for a flight, get on the plane and fly, Deboard, get food, wait for flight, fly, land, grab pelican from baggage claim, get uber to hotel, checkin, and at last, open the door to my hotel room for the next week.
No interruptions from texts, amazing noise isolation from my IEMs, no need for internet, phone battery lasts longer , tuned eq just how I like it for noisy environments, man. Why did the headphone jack have to die.
Really cool that you can dual boot to either the standard Apple OS or Rockbox. I see from previous comments below that Rockbox supports FLAC instead of only ALAC like the Apple system. Nice. And love that you can drag and drop files instead of having to go through iTunes which was always a pain. How hard is it to load Rockbox on an older iPod? Is there a link to how to do that you could provide? I'm pretty sure the DAC chip and implementation in an iPOD can't compare to a "real" DAP but for casual listening when out and about on IEMs or easy to drive headphones, they were always a nice, easy to carry device. Thanks. I might have to dig mine out of the drawer now.
I used to own a couple of apple DAPs - the 2nd gen, Nano and Classic, then there was a Creative Zen. Really convenient to have your music collection stored and ready to go. Since Fii0 started releasing their players I just fell in love with portable audio all over again.
I had an ipod and a zune. The ipod got into a death boot loop that couldn't be stopped till it ran out of power. Couldn't even hard reset it. The zune still works.
My allmost 20 year old ipod classic still sits in my desk. It hasn't worked in 10 years; something about a corrupted hard disk, and no one in India seems to be able to be helpful. But I still have hope it'll work.
Definitely dig it !
Sadly I lost it but my ipod touch 2 got the clearest and loudest sound I heard on a portable device next to the Sonys walkmans mp4s
Can the Apple iPod mini speakers be used with these types of iPods to lay music through their speakers 🔊 etc?
Hi, great video! Also, I was wondering throughout the whole video - what keycaps are you rocking?
where did you get the hi res offline song?
You could mod the iPod with a magsafe sticker and carry it on the back of your phone like a wallet.
I had a 6th gen classic mounted in my jeep, but basically retired it when my new vehicle would no longer recognize it. Switched to a last gen touch for that car. One thing I don’t miss from switching is the stupid click wheel. That thing is terrible.
I just have a question where can I get the music it’s not like before like the old ways now is no places to download music do you know some website ? Thanks
not a wesbite, but a programme, soulseek.
I have an ipod 5.5 video. The H/P out D/A converter isn't very good, and the built in EQ presets were terrible except for "Latin" & "Rock" (which were both close to what I like). Any modern music, mastered loud, would digitally clip with the EQ presets. I had to make copy of all my audio files, and gain them down 4-6db, so I could use the EQ presets. However, I loved the Sony MP3 Walkman's that came out in the late 2000's. I then got a Fiio X3 which was nice, but pain to use, and then finally just started using my smartphones.
I never owned any of the iPod classics growing up and I love the one I put together. It’s a 5th Gen with custom front and back plates, 512GB storage.
The only prebuilt and Modded iPod I would be a Bluetooth 7th Gen with USB-C, and 1 or 2TB of storage.
Beautiful ipod. Love the all black look. Im on the fench of going back and using an ipod again
I have loads of iPods, mainly Nanos, and 3 Classics (5th gen and 2 6th gen). Love them all and use them all.
Hello very nice vibe. can you please make video on how to install Rockbox OS.
Where, how can i get mine juiced up? Thanks 😊
Since no one else has commented about it and DMS won't answer the people who asked: The green Spotify like theme he shows in the video is called "Themify".
THANK YOU
I have no idea of the iPod audio quality, never had one. I do have a Hiby R3 Gen II, I wonder how does the iPod audio quality fairs agains modern DAPs.
I have collected a 4th gen mono and photo, a 5th gen, a 3rd gen nano, and I already had a 4th gen nano. I have spent a decent chunk of change trying to get good audio out of my phone over the years. I find the BTR3 is pretty good for me, but the iPod classic 4 and 5 especially sound better still.
I'm so glad that RockBox is still around. I thought this was going to be about iPods with stock OS, didn't expect it to be about RockBox. I remember buying a used iPod nano back in the day and being shocked at how hard Apple was working to stop them from being usable under Linux. They routinely and purposefully thwarted libraries that made it work. I got tired of that cat and mouse game and installed RockBox on it. It was awesome, freed my iPod in so many ways. After a few months the iPod died and part of me blames RockBox honestly but I still wouldn't have used it any other way. I also learned that I'm not compatible with Apple and to this day I've never felt the need to get another Apple product and I don't see that changing anytime soon.
One concern. How long will one be able to purchase the unique charging cable?
people sell third party 30-pin cables, and you can also get usb-c adapters. I dont think that's going to change for a long long time.
What's the difference between something like the Questyle M15 and the Fiio BTR5? I'm just curious bc coming from someone who owns a BTR5 it just seems more expensive for something with less features (that being Bluetooth) which if it's something portable that should be mandatory. I use both the USB input on my computer and the Bluetooth in my car.
Can someone tell me what is audiophile? I've used smartphones for music till date. Is there any difference from using smartphones or laptop than audiophile gadgets? or just gimick
I still have two iPod Classic, both with battery and storage updated. Rockbox has some limits (the battery estimation you mentioned is very annoying), but it is well worth being iTunes independent.
Age where you're running ads for this video, and I can't get it out of my feed
I have had a problem installing Rockbox on my Classic 7th gen. It installs the base files but not the Bootloader. There is no option for the Classic 7th gen, latest I see is the 6th gen and not sure if that is the problem or not.. Reading up someone said it could be the adapter that holds the SD card that is having problems. So I ordered a new one to see if that is the issue. Ipod 5.5 with the wolfson DAC is the one considered to be the best Ipods for Audiophiles however most are not able to really hear the difference with out using 2k worth of audio equipment to really isolate stuff the sounds. I tried to tell the difference between mky 7th and a 5.5 and I was hard pressed to notice the difference. Supposedly it is a warmer sound and plays vocals and some acoustical instruments better. Thinking about buying another one for a backup and probably a 5.5 gen is what I will get. Also have you done anything testing with the Innioasis Y1 Ipod classic clone? Reviews seem to say it is very very good for the price.
i have 7th gen too i selected 6th gen under install option and it installed just fine
@@loki4171 my new SD card adapter came in today so gonna give that a go this week. Hopefully it works.
@@alphadragongamingFTWhope so too brother
How are you connecting your Ipod Classis to a DAC/Amp?
I know I might be crazy but I was thinking about using a Dap more often but found my self looking into streaming services more when new music comes out. I wish I could use my iPod more but I tend to use my phone more and more as I find it harder to just get music on the Dap....
Sorry, what is the connection between using an old iPod and being an "audiophile"?
None. They've never sounded great. It's just a hipster trend
same question here... like I didn't really get the point.
You can get less compressed audio. Streaming is super compressed mp4. It's easier to have larger less compressed, higher quality audio files like wavs and aiffs and flacs in a device that stores your audio locally like this
As he mentions some specific models have a high quality DAC built in, all are decent. I actually owned the model but the guy who bought it only cared that my battery was lasting, he did not even know about the modifications people do to them BUT he paid my eBay price which was higher then some of the others with lesser DAC so everyone was happy.
@@TheUnitedStruggledoesn't really matter. iPods don't have the sound hardware required to get the most of loseless files. Now, if you ask me, people love iPods simply because they have no wireless connectivity.
I wonder if they have a theme that is just classic iPod coverflow. Because, not gonna lie, coverflow is legitimately my favorite way of browsing albums. I still miss that feature from my iPod days.
I have a Mini in a drawer somewhere, and at some point I'll get around to changing the battery, and replacing the HDD. But I am a bit scared to take it apart because I don't wanna mess up the lovely pink outsides.