Okay so! I've finally set up my blog... Now what?

Well, after getting zonelets figured out and styling the pages, I also finally finished assembling my modded iPod 5th Gen (video) so I thought I'd yap about that for my first post. I had found myself yearning for an iPod classic again sometime last year. I was craving a way to listen to music that felt more intentional. I love the conveinience of streaming and being able to build my little playlists, but I think my relationship to music has suffered a detriment when it comes to my listening habits. It's almost overwhelming, having endless amounts of music at your fingertips. I also don't like how things can be pulled from streaming services at any time. Not truly owning offline copies of my library didn't sit right with me.

My Nano is stil tucked into my nightstand drawer, but 8gb of storage will do nothing for a library of 10,000 songs. Plus, the batteries on those are extremely difficult to replace and mine still has the stock battery from 18 years ago in it. I'd debated getting a classic years ago before they stopped making them, but never pulled the plug. Now I found myself pining over the prebuilt models on Elite Obselete Electronics, but the $300+ pricetag felt far too steep on what might be an impulse buy. After several months of coming back to that urge, and seeing people mod their own, I decided to take that route. I figured it couldn't be too hard. I've got a tiny ounce of experience from disassembling iPhones and repairing Switch Joycons so I decided to give it a shot.

I decided on a 5th gen/video due to them being easier to open up and supposedly having better sound quality. I knew I wanted a purple faceplate and I really liked the shade of purple that the 5th gen aftermarket ones came in. However, the anodized aluminum of the 6th/7th gen looks and feels far more premium in my opinion. I didn't super love the shade of purple it came in, but I ended up deciding that I wanted to do the metal faceplate instead. This meant I needed to get a 6th/7th gen midframe and swap everything inside of mine over so that the faceplate would fit. I also needed a white clickwheel, new battery, back housing, and possibly an iFlash. The iPod I'd bought had upgraded storage, but I wasn't sure if it was an SSD or flash.

Before I ordered anything, I went ahead and cracked open the iPod to see what it had going on so I could decide what parts I needed. To my surprise and absolute joy, there was an iFlash Quad already installed.

the joyous moment I discovered the iFlash Quad

I ordered a few parts at a time, starting with a faceplate and backplate. I also ended up getting a 3000mAh battery because we love a long battery life. A little while after I'd ordered the faceplate, I saw someone post a beautiful dark purple iPod and I had to have that color. It was miles better than the almost-pink shade of purple they'd had up until now. And it resembled my Nano very closely, which is exactly what I wanted originally, the color just didn't exist.

The original faceplate I ordered vs the deeper purple one

photo mid torment

It actually wasn't too difficult, all in all. The worst part was getting the click wheel to sit comfortable and not wiggle too much. Oh and also when I dropped one of the microscopic screws and it landed on the BROWN SHAG CARPET. I found it though, truly a miracle.

I think eventually I might swap out the bezels on the charging port and headphone jack to white just to match the click wheel more. Maybe if I'm feeling brave enough one day I'll look into adding more, but a lot of that requires soldering sooooo.

The final product compared to my Nano :) The color makes me very happy

here she is completed, slapped some protective film on it and a clear case complete with wizard frog sticker

I've installed Rockbox and loaded it up with a ton of music (only took an entire day to transfer all the files). I'm in the process of recreating my playlists to add as well. I'm really excited to have a dedicated music device again. For over the ear headphones I'm using Bose QuietComfort (in chilled lilac of course). I might grab a pair of wired earbuds for more portability eventually, but we'll see.

Anyway, if you're thinking of getting an iPod, or trying to repair/mod one yourself, this is your sign to do it. I think these devices are super neat and timeless. There's probably a bit of nostalgia blindness behind it too, but I think it can be nice to have dedicated devices to provide a distraction free experience.