Modding An iPod For The First Time

Ifixit please sponsor this guy :D

I started screaming when u nearly ripped the headphone jack connector 😂 Cool mod tho

It’s cool to see this getting a resurgence!! I’ve been hunting down some “seventh gen” classics, in hopes to make myself a 512 gb full purple mod! This is super cool!

when i replaced the battery on my 5th gen last year, i used an old gift card and it worked well

Im doing this shortly with my 4th gen. I've been looking at 5th, too. I really like the form factor and that there are so many different shells available.

I dumpster-dive a lot and I found a box with 6 of these. 3x Black 30GB slim models, 1x white 30GB slim model, 1x Black 80GB model (wide model), and 1x 6th Gen (Aluminum face) slim 80GB. Only 1 of the 30GB black 5.5th gens sort of works but freezes up randomly. The rest either have failed drives or batteries from what I can tell. So stoked to try this. Thanks for posting!

I got a 5th gen when they first came out, ill say for most people the 7th gen is probably technically better sounding cause its easier to EQ to your liking, but I have a great nostalgia for the sound the 5th gen makes, glad that you enjoy it! it had a very unique sound! im planning to buy myself another soon because I really miss it!

Finally got mine all in today! New storage and new battery installed!

I don’t have that luxury of going to a micro center ):

Wow! I'm doing this. I bought two 160 Gb iPod Classics when Apple discontinued them. But my library has grown and doesn't fit in 160 Gb. I bought an iPod touch with more memory, but my library has outgrown that as well. And the iPod Touch interface is sucky. It has a lot of silly features I don't want. Radio? I haven't listened to radio since the 70's. It's always trying to push Apple streaming or iTunes store media on me. The battery can barely get me through a 3 hour plane ride. This is awesome!

Great video. Plus: this motorcycle is amazing 🤩

Great video! I really want to do this exact mod. Although I want to try out rockbox on it instead of iPodOS. You should do a video on how to install rockbox and show off some features too!

when my 6a-gen 160GB died, i popped it open w/o the right tools, and it turned out a lot worse than yours. bad hard drive, never snapped back together right, and i ended up just e-cycling the thing, which i immediately regretted when apple announced they were discontinuing the classic. eventually found a 6a (80) and a 6b (120), now waiting on both these mods and the bluetooth mod. the apparent 128GB limit on them is disappointing, but at least i won't have to worry about janky 16-17-year-old hard drives self-destructing. i'll be sure to use the right tools this time

Been to and fro struggling with my Gen6 and finally wondered if I could use Termite to open the darn thing up, but it only took a kitchen knife to finally let the genie out. Next step is to disassemble the rest; much how to open the connectors. And finally order a new screen, a backplate, a frontplate and a board for SD-cards, and maybe a new battery, though I have one spare. While ordering front- and backplates, some crazy colours would be nice. AliExpress will supply the hard hardware, though choices of colours are a bit limited, but I get things duty- and VAT-free (actually not, but hazzle-free) to Sweden. The electronics, however will be order from OEO. As I commented on the other video, these videos are great. As a rookie you do pay a lot of attention to details any experienced upgrader miss, and details that are important to avoid mistakes and ruining critical details.

Funny you say that about Amazon, I just got myself an Innioasis Y1 (which is basically a clone of the old 120gb Ipod Classic) and they didn't even give me the USB - C cable that was supposed to come with it. So I had to go out of my way to buy a replacement. I was able to get the thing to work but ya still should get what you pay for, and I wasn't going to go through the hassle of having to send the thing back either.

I have the same kit for a Gen 6. I never got it to work. I need to look back into that. But i see there is a kit now for bluetooth and USB-C, Moonlit Connect. Might try that as well as that would modernize everything for me

It's important to note that iPods prior to the 5th/5.5 gen also have a Wolfson DAC, the earphones and audio file are more important in that aspect. Great videos talking about iPod modding though very informative.

Good video mate

Glad I found this video, very well done. I've been debating on getting an ipod or just another cheap mp3 player for when i travel. I also didn't know that Micro Center would price match, and I was JUST at micro center this weekend lol. Question about the iflash: does this unit still only have a "song limit" of roughly 20,000 songs? If so, then 512 might be a bit overkill lol

Great video so once you put it back together, you format the drives in FAT 16? Then plug it into iTunes which recognizes it and restores/loads the iPod firmware?