Nearly 20 years after its introduction, the iPod Nano is still a perfectly functional music player.
  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    They’re great devices.

    Recently, my partner’s 18yo nephew asked her if she had any iPods (she doesn’t). I took a photo of the eight or so different models that I still have in storage and sent it to him just to gloat. I’m a monster.

    • rmuk@feddit.ukEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      “Hey nephew, look, I know you really wanted an iPod and I gloated about all my iPods and I realise that was childish and honestly I think it’s great that you’re interested in actually owning your media so, look here, I got you a Zune fuck you.”

        • rmuk@feddit.ukEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          In fairness I got a Zune and they were so much better than iPods. Not just in comparing specs, but the user interface: it felt like I was actually browsing a music library, while the iPod was like paging through a phone book. That extended to the desktop software as well.

  • ne0phyte@feddit.orgEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    I just bought an Innioasia Y1, which is an iPod classic clone for $50.

    Put an unofficial Rockbox port on it and installed a 512gb micro SD card. Ignoring the mediocre DAC and comparatively unresponsive click wheel it’s pretty good. I finally have my entire music library with me again and look at my phone less often (both of which were goals of getting an mp3 player again).

    I was big into mp3 players 15-20 years ago and used Rockbox on all of them so this is really nice especially at the price point.

    PS: They are working on a Y2 that improves upon a lot of things. The Y1 was marketed as a kids device but is awesome with Rockbox on it and went viral the past few months.

  • yesman@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    Apple products are great. The Apple ecosystem, not so much. If you’re into FOSS computing and FOSS media formats, you’re not going to have a good time.

      • Übercomplicated@lemmy.mlEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        Fiio is excellent, 100% agree. Everything I’ve ever owned from them has had superb build quality. I don’t like their headphones or desk amps much, but all their portable stuff is, in my opinion, the best available.

      • REDACTED@infosec.pubEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        As a long term audiophile who has spent way too much money on all kinds of headphones and amplifiers, I can only say that I no longer trust audiophile gear. I’ve also had fiio amps, but my point is that they’re all overpriced for the marginal or non-existing improvement you’re getting. I even returned the monolith amp that went for nearly thousand dollars and kept using a “Gamer” amp Sound Blaster G6 due to flexibility. Just use what you find good for you, not what the specification says.

        This reminded me about the article I saw few days ago: https://www.headphonesty.com/2026/01/audiophiles-fail-copper-banana-mud-blind-test/

        • NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.netEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          Oh aye I saw that one as well, funny as anything to see, and I definitely don’t disagree with the ‘find what you like and run with it’ attitude when it comes to luxury gear

          I’m running on the most basic of basic usb headphone amp and dac units, can safely say it’s enough for my ears.

          Fiio’s just one of those companies that make decent gear and isn’t just some clone of a clone in a fancy case with an unknown OS. In all honesty the bonus of having every headphone port type and the output to run them off one device is my main draw to it.

  • djdarren@piefed.socialEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    The clickwheel ribbon cable on my iPod mini broke a couple of weeks ago, so at the weekend a friend of me very kindly donated his own mini to me, so I’m back on my iPod bullshit.

    iPod gang rise up.

    Oh, and if you’re using Linux, or don’t want the hassle of installing iTunes, TunesReloaded seems to be a genuinely great tool.

    I really should get around to refurbing the 5th and 7th gen Classics I have too. They’re more versatile than the mini. But the mini is by far and away the easiest to flashmod.

  • elucubra@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    I was thinking about doing this, getting a storage constrained, apple constrained, obsolete piece of hardware, to do what the phone I already carry does better.

    Oh, wait!

    • Briguy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      “better” is definitely subjective. I use an iPod touch that I leave plugged in my car that I have 17k songs on. It’s so nice to just have something that always resumes where I left off and just works. No subscriptions, no data. I can go on long road trips and not worry about spotty coverage. And best of all, I actually own all the media that’s on it. And my phone texts don’t keep interrupting my music all the tiime

        • FireWire400@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          The regular iPods (non-classic) are the easiest IMO. No glue, no flipping over mainboards and no soldering. The iPos mini is actually the first modell I ever did a battery swap on and it would be just as easy, if it wasn’t for the trim pieces that break way too easily.

  • Pipster@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    I still use my iPod mini plugged into a music centre of the same vintage. I don’t update it though, its lovely having my 2004-5 music capsule.

  • CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    Recently resurrected a nano; it’s 20 years old. Works fine, but I haven’t done the music transfer yet.

    My full size iPod though won’t boot. Just clicks and reboots constantly. I think the hard drive is toast.

      • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘@infosec.pubEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        Thanks. But I’ve tried it. Doesn’t work. It requires a firmware version that is one version higher than what’s on mine. With no way to connect to it, there’s no way to update the firmware.

    • vaionko@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      Here’s what I use. With the hard drive replaced with an SD card and a bigger battery it plays music for 75 hours straight. And with the FOSS RockBox firmware I can just drag my music on it.

    • unphazed@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      My wife still blames me for advising her to buy this instead of an ipod. It wasn’t as easy to use inho. It was drag and drop in file management and didn’t require software, but… ok?

      • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘@infosec.pubEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        I’ve used both, and highly prefer this over any of the ipods of the generation. This is partly because of the drag and drop, but mostly because it didn’t gaf whether the mp3 came from itunes or ripped with Audio Grabber. Ipods all cared, and I had to trick them into playing Audio Grabber files by encoding them to m4a. Absolutely bonkers.

    • Mac@mander.xyzEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      I had a red Sony Walkman E395 when i was in middle school. Not the most high-end player but it was good and I’m still mad it got stolen.

      I still have a functioning iTouch but Apple sucks and the older iTouch isn’t able to do the neat tricks.

  • lemonuri@infosec.pubEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    I bought one of those used for my daughter a couple of years ago. It was quite the hassle to replace the apple firmware win with rockbox, but it’s been working well since then. It’s copy and paste mp3s now instead of using apples spying bloatware just to get a few files onto the device. The battery is not great but still lasts a couple of hours after 15(?) years.

  • Cherry@piefed.socialEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    Weirdly I picked 2 up yesterday. 1st gen I think battery isn’t to bad, I’d almost forgotten the swish around the wheel.

    Also go a gen5 but the battery was shagged! Plugged it in and it went pop.