Reviving the iPod Classic Like It’s a Tamagotchi

In the age of Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, TIDAL and other services, it’s easy to forget why owning your music locally is still king.

I pay for Spotify Premium. I love it. It feeds me Japanese rock, obscure French indie, Albanian club remixes… bliss. Until one day Spotify loses the license and half of my playlist is just gray, unplayable dead links. Even if it was “downloaded”.

That was the moment I crawled back into the world of iPods. Actual offline ownership, not Spotify giving me temporary visitation rights to my own favorite songs.

I understand that licensing music costs money and there are also restrictions that interfere with Spotify hosting the songs as well. This is where my fascination and love for the old bricks of the past making a comeback in the best ways.

I started collecting iPods around last year where I bought an iPod Classic 7th Gen 160GB. I bought it as a gift to myself for passing CCSP 🥳. If you go to Ebay now, you will see 7th Gen iPod Classics for around $100-200 in either Okay-ish or Bad condition. If you plan to slap a bunch of new upgrades in it, it’s completely fine to buy those iPods.

Already-modified iPod Classics though can cost quite a bit. Prices can be anywhere from $250-600, which to me, is absolutely insane considering these are +15 years old. But I get it. At this point, we’re basically buying emotional stability in aluminum form. 🙂

I started with 1 iPod Classic, then I found myself making bids on others. Of course, since the market is saturated, it was difficult to compete with the collectors of these digital bricks. Thankfully, I was able to snag 2 more which is great.

The ones I recommend are the iPod Classic 7th Gen 160GB model. The reason being is because the 6 (2008) and 6.5 (2008) used to be software limited. This guide explains more into unlocking the 6/6.5 generation iPod classics. This was a recent development and thankfully allowing more options in iPods. Hopefully, this will saturate the market to where even the scalpers can’t charge insane prices anymore.

Either way, I recommend the 7th Generation because it looks clean with the metal space grey option if you decide it to keep it original. The UI on it is much better when in comparison with other generations, like the 5th gen. It also has a much faster processor and graphics chip.

The only real con to it is the absolute torture it will give to open it up. Once it is open, the case will most likely be bent, and will either have to be bent back into place or a new case can done.

Inside the iPod, you will have a nice look into what is the nicest PCB board you will ever see from 2009-2015.

This is not a build guide, but if you’re curious, these are the parts I personally recommend after way too much research and trial:

• iFlash uDual
• 2000mah ‘Square’ Model
• New Replacement LCD (Optional)
• New iPod case - This is from my favorite supplier on eBay.

Now, one thing to take into consideration is you can find the parts even cheaper on eBay or sites like AliExpress. One thing to note, buy the storage upgrade from iFlash directly and look at the SD Cards that are recommended for the mod.

The iPod is still one of the purest pieces of tech Apple ever made. It lets you own your music, delete the entire internet with a click, and escape the algorithm on command. Honestly, that’s worth more than 99% of “digital wellness” features that Silicon Valley keeps trying to sell me.