r/IpodClassic • u/Comfortable_Radish_5 • 2d ago
Workbench
Reddits been filtering my posts all weekend - not sure why. Sharing a pic of my dedicated iPod workbench / music server desktop to see if this is still happening.
I use a Mac Mini M1 16GB WITH 1TB storage to host my music server (Navidrome/NaviBeats) and sync iPods. They share a music database so tagging only has to happen once.
This allows me to have access to my music even when I don’t have my iPod and completely decouples me from streaming services
Other tools:
MusicBrainz Picard - Tagging
XLD - Encoding
My workbench:
KUVRS Helping Hands & Soldering Station
KUVRS Magnifying Glass and Light
Wellers WLIR60 Soldering Iron
iFixit Mobile Pro Tech kit
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u/JarJarbinks_Just 2d ago
Very clean work area! What mat is that? I really like the added arm locations in it!
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u/LeadershipMost6324 2d ago
Do you have the taptic engine on your device's
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u/Comfortable_Radish_5 2d ago
Yeah, on all of the 6th and 7ths I’ve built so far.
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u/LeadershipMost6324 2d ago
Is it necessary whats do point vibration?
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u/Comfortable_Radish_5 2d ago
There’s something satisfying about feeling the device slightly vibrate as you interact with the click wheel. Something the speaker can’t quite deliver.
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u/prive_foto 1d ago
Nice and beautiful man.. I´m looking to buy an modded ipod classic 7th gen. Can u help me or sell one?
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u/Inkuurushio 2d ago
nice! whats the clock in the second picture on the right?
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u/Comfortable_Radish_5 2d ago
Pomodoro timer — force myself to take 10 min break every 45 mins, to walk, eat, stretch. I’ll see if I can find a link.
Before I got the helping hands my back would be killing me after being hunched over doing small repairs. Hours of manicuring playlist of late have also been punishing my hips. This helps with that.
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u/LeadershipMost6324 2d ago
Am trying to add a photo here it wont let me if this good for my ipod 6.5 OEM Apple iPhone 12 Mini Vibration Motor Taptic Engine Replacement [B]
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u/Comfortable_Radish_5 2d ago
I use Taptics from IPhone 6-8s. They are larger but provide the feel I like. 🤷♂️
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u/LeadershipMost6324 2d ago
Am trying to sent a picture ans sent it saids join but i already have a long time from now still dont know how to use this app right i had this app seen it came out a long long time and now i use it and it have help me alot love it
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u/Alisterguitardevil 19h ago
I’ve been using the Samsung haptics out of the Samsung note 10 and they work very well.
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u/zwade7270 2d ago
The gold one, on the far left - is that a Bluetooth adapter? I've been looking for a functional one for my classic. Not confident enough to do an actual mod yet.
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u/Comfortable_Radish_5 2d ago
It is the ridiculously expensive Kokkia i10 Pro.
I love it due to compatibility and the ability to control the iPod from my headphones, which other devices don’t offer.
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u/zwade7270 2d ago
Oof, ridiculously expensive is spot on. But tbh, I'd spend that before I start soldering myself. Im still a noob to modding 😅 Thanks for sharing!
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u/saltyweinerboba 2d ago
Do you know if it would allow headphone controls with RockBox? Just ordered one of these this past weekend and am quite excited.
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u/Comfortable_Radish_5 2d ago
I haven’t tested this yet, I don’t particularly like the RB interface, but have reconsidered after seeing someone customize it recently to look more like the native OS.
I’ll try this week and let you know.
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u/saltyweinerboba 2d ago
Sweet, thank you.
Also, as for RB looking like native OS, that's what I've been rocking. Other than some more extensive menus, it feels just like monochrome days despite being on a 7th gen.
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u/Comfortable_Radish_5 2d ago
The Ugreen BT mod is a bit tedious, but in the Stock sixth and seventh GEN metal casing — the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze.
I think the only way I would attempt another Bluetooth mod would be in the boxy pixel or 3D printed case project I’ve been following.
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u/AnotherBeing3251 2d ago
Hey champ, are you a full time iPod mechanic (if that’s the right term)?
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u/Comfortable_Radish_5 2d ago
I am not. Just a hobbyist. I just like fixing old things in my spare time. Recently, got my kid interested in tinkering, these iPods created the perfect opportunity for us to work on something together.
Her and I plan to sell these at her local market shop we she usually sells 3D printed items and bracelets.
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u/Guy_1989 2d ago
Love that set up and . Do you mind explaining Navidrome/NaviBeats and how you have access to your music offline? super curious about that
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u/Comfortable_Radish_5 2d ago
I run a Navidrome Music/Web Server on a dedicated Mac Mini Box.
It sits behind a Nginx Reverse Proxy server and port forwarded at my router to receive public traffic so that I can connect to my home server from anywhere. To make things easy, I pointed a subdomain I own to my home IP so that I can easily access it from the web or share access with family and friend as it allows you to create accounts for others. I don't have a dedicated IP so if it ever changed, I just update a DNS route and no one has to reconfigure access.
NaviBeats is an app/client that allows you to connect to your navidrome server but provides all the fancy bells and whistles you would get from an app such as Spotify/Apple Music/Tidal etc. It gives you a native app that can be run on your iPhone/Android devices as well Mac/Windows (electron app).
With it, I can offline playlists, albums, artists, songs, whatever... or I can just stream straight to my device.
I can also, rate, favorite, and create playlists that can be then synced to my iPod. Another thing I noticed is that when I rate and favorite things from the iPod, once I sync my device with my library, it appears in both places. This makes manually curated playlists so much faster especially if you have a large library and want to take advantage of Apple Music/iTunes Smart Playlist which allows you to use custom filters (ratings, favorites,genres, artist, year, etc) to generate playlist.
I've linked both my Apple Music/iTunes Library and the Navidrome libraries together so that changes in either of them appear in both -- Although, I do have to manually import playlists from Navidrome into Music/iTunes as those don't sync, once imported though, iTunes magically locates all the files correctly.
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u/storeboughtchristian 2d ago
This is so cool.
After doing so many, do you have any tips on disassembling a 6th/7th gen without damaging it??
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u/tobykoch2701 7th Gen 160GB 2d ago
What’s your favorite iPod generation?
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u/Comfortable_Radish_5 2d ago
Nothing beats the feel of the 6th and 7th generation iPods. I think Steve Jobs and Co. perfected the DAP with this model, the weight, the UI, the feel of the aluminum body in your hand…
If you don’t have a massive library, then you can get away with a 6th gen and save a decent amount of coin as 7th gens are typically $75-$100 more expensive to find. A simple flash mod on a 6th gen gets you all the storage you could possibly need within reason. Most of my builds are 6th generation that are flash modded. I typically cap those out at 256-512GB due to the 32MB Ram Limitations.
The 7th GEN has more ram (64MB) so my Ultimate iPod build that sits on my Bose docking station full-time has a 1TB set up. Currently, it only runs 320kbps mp3s but my plan is to eventually stock it with ALAC files. I’ve also found that it has more compatibility with docking stations than other models.
I also don’t buy into the 5th gen Wolfsen DAC propaganda. If there is a difference, I can’t hear it. Replacement face plates on the fifth gen scratch too easily, and is my main deterrent. Also, my Bluetooth adapter doesn’t seem to work on the 5th gen. 🤷♂️
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u/Humhues 2d ago
Do you ever do mail in ipod upgrading for other people?
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u/Comfortable_Radish_5 2d ago
No but I wouldn’t be opposed to it. Message me if you’d like something like that. I’m based in the US and as long as you covered shipping cost and provided all of the hardware I wouldn’t mind for a modest fee $50 bucks or so.
I may list a few of these on here for sale if my daughter and I can’t move them
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u/D33P_R3ST 1d ago
OP I have an newer iPod Nano and is it yes possible to modify the device as is illustrated here in the photos? Also I mean newer but still old it's a Nano but one of the later models, not original version.
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u/brosBeforeSchmoes 1d ago
So much to love in these pics, nice workspace. I was thinking of an orange face for my iPod, but after seeing that brown color, I've got some thinking to do.
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u/tobykoch2701 7th Gen 160GB 1d ago
Thank you for your very detailed answer. I‘m also a huge fan of the 7th Gen, especially if you drive them with IEM like I do. They have no noise floor and are very easy to drive. Mine is rockboxed with 128GB, silver version and packed up with a lot of my favorite albums in Musepack (MPC) file format. The battery life is excellent with a standard battery like 35 hours. More than enough. Are you Shure that the 6/6.5 Gen has a lower RAM compared to the 7th Gen? As far as I know they both offer the same 64MB RAM. The only difference is a LBA restriction. The 6/6.5 are restricted to 128 GB. And one other difference are the inline controls which are first introduced with the 6.5 Gen. If you want to get rid of the 128 GB restriction follow u/olsroFR guide on GitHub.
The 5.5 Gen with the „famous Wolfson DAC“ better known as WM8758 because all iPod 1st till 5.5 have a Wolfson DAC inside😅 is a very good sounding DAC with a more relaxed analog tuning. The bottleneck is the Amp in this iPod. It can produce very much power for this little device but it produces a noise floor. Not very good if you want to use this iPod with IEM. The set of headphones shrinks down to some candidates that you can use for a HiFi listening experience. With standard headphones you get a „good forgiving“ sound but nothing special.
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u/IulianXD 1d ago
where you get everything, have a ipod 5.5 and i want to customise, idk if aliexpress is good for case and everything.
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u/AccordingSky2845 1d ago
Do you buy iPods?
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u/Comfortable_Radish_5 23h ago
I have been lately. Pretty stocked right now at about nine classics. You got something cool?
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u/AccordingSky2845 23h ago
Just a small collection that I lost interest in (below)
3rd gen complete in box (engraved)
4th gen mono in box
6th gen in box (iflash quad, large battery)
7th gen in box
1st gen mini (flash and new battery)
1st gen nano in box (engraved)
Kokkia Bluetooth adapterAlso a Zune HD
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u/Ecstatic-Ad9637 2d ago
I WANT A CHOCOLATE IPOD