The Mini is one of the easier, cheaper ones to mod, because the hard drive uses a Compact Flash connector. So you can either replace the drive with a standard CF card, or you can buy a CF>SD adapter and get more bang for your buck.
The 1st gens can only go to 128gb, but the 2nd gens can take 256gb.
However, they are slightly more awkward to take apart than a regular classic iPod.
I also have a black 5th gen that still has the stock 30gb hard drive and original battery. But that's at home, so didn't make it into my photo. I use that one for my chilled out bedtime playlist to fall asleep to. At some point it'll be getting a flashmod, but I want to do the 7th gen first.
I have a 4th gen Touch around here somewhere, but it's not in the best condition. Also, the fixed storage means they're kind of uninteresting to me. All you can do to them is replace the battery.
I once read someone say that the best way to enjoy Swans live was wait until they took to the stage, then leave the building and stand on the opposite side of the road from the venue where you could still hear them perfectly without fear of your ears bleeding.
I've never worked on a 4th gen Nano, but am led to believe they're something of an arsehole to take apart, particularly if the battery has swollen. You'll know if it has by a black blob in the middle of the screen. To dismantle them, you have to slide the inner gubbins out of the end, which is basically impossible if the battery is wedging everything tight.
It might be worth picking up a Mini or something. They're fairly easy to refurbish and flashmod. Mine has 128gb currently.
No, I mean the phone’s storage limits how much you can download. If you’ve only got 64gb, then that’s your lot. With the more recent iPods (5G Classic onwards) you can easily drop a 512gb SD card in. I’ve seen 1tb done, but don’t know how stable that is.
I mean, kids learn from copying their parents, so parents who distract their kids with an old iPad are less likely to spend as much time interacting with them. That's no shade towards any parents, btw. I myself am a parent of a kid who had access to my phone from an early age to keep him quiet while I tried to get shit done. He had troubles with socialising at school, and ended up being kicked out of a couple. It's entirely possible he has ADHD (as I do), but he's 19 now, at university, far less likely to be spending his time looking at his phone, and is absolutely thriving.
So I guess I fucked him up for quite a bit there...
Sometimes it's easiest to think about what we have evolved to do, and compare that against societal expectations of us. By which I mean, as little as a thousand years ago, "staying informed" meant being up to date on the goings on in your village or town, with a vague notion of there being a wider world out there which was the purview of other people.
Over those past thousands years, our brains have barely evolved, but the sheer volume of information we're expected to take on, has.
So ask yourself whether you have the capability to keep on top of All The News without it getting you anxious? And if you decide that you can't, then give yourself permission to detach. Listen to one news bulletin a day so you can have a vague notion of events, but bear in mind that there's almost nothing you can do to affect those events. War in Ukraine? What can you personally do to solve it? Not a lot, I wouldn't have thought. Earthquake in Syria? Did you cause it? Can you travel to Syria to help dig people out? Seems unlikely. Hell, even if you were in a different bit of Syria, the chances are high that you couldn't afford to take time away from work to go and offer help.
You're not a bad person if you disengage.
Stay up to date on local news, be mindful of what your friends and family are up to, but you have no obligation AT ALL to 'Stay Informed' if it harms your mental health.
Plex still relies on an internet connection and limited phone storage though. iPods are just there, waiting for music to be put on them, music that you can still listen to even if your internet shits out.
The repair depends on the iPod you have, but as long as it’s a Classic then it’s all much the same, and all pretty straightforward once you’ve got your head around it. The Minis are decent candidates for upgrading too, but you have to really careful not to damage the clickwheel cable. I did that on my first Mini, and almost threw it through the wall…
Watch some of the early Dankpods videos to get some idea of what you can do.
My next project is a 7th gen Classic that needs to be flashmodded. I’m planning on putting 512gb in that one.
DJDarren @ DJDarren @beehaw.org Posts 21Comments 251Joined 2 yr. ago
A good number of iPods can have Rockbox loaded on to them. I did it on my 4th gen, but ultimately preferred the original firmware.