Repair, Revival

2026-04-27

Almost two years ago, I was in the market for a new MP3 player after I stopped using Spotify. I wanted a device separate from my phone to listen to music on; VLC was fine, but I thought not having music access 24/7 would make me appreciate it more. Also, I'm clumsy and tend to accidentally fast forward/skip songs when I use touchscreen controls, so I wanted something with physical buttons.

With my budget, I could afford one of the various generic players sold on Amazon. The UI looked uninspiring, and I was concerned about build quality, but I could afford them and they looked portable. If I remember correctly, prices for the most popular models tended to be around $30-40.

Around this time, I also watched a few videos of iPod repairs, which reminded me that we had a gen 4 iPod sitting in a junk drawer at home for over a decade. Over the years, I tried to charge it a few times, but it showed an error screen because of the dead hard drive. In my most recent attempt, it didn't turn on at all because the battery was completely dead. For about $60, I could buy a new battery, CF to IDE board and SD to CF converter to replace the old drive and battery, as well as the tools to open up the iPod.

(If you want to flash mod your iPod, 1. make sure to read relevant info about your iPod model!!!! and 2. skip the cheap SD to CF converters and just buy the iFlash SD to CF converter or another one that is known to work consistently. None of the tips I found online could make the cheap one I bought work, so I ended up wasting $10. In fact, you may be better off just buying the dedicated iFlash converter board if one exists for your iPod model.)

Yes, I spent $20ish extra on parts and tools than I would if I bought a new MP3 player, but the iPod I have originally cost hundreds of dollars and has a level of quality and polish that isn't present in a $30 generic player. Not to mention it's repairable and (especially if you have a 5th gen or newer iPod Classic) there are plenty of parts and even upgrades available. I also kept this iPod out of a landfill, which I would value at least $10.

It's also not a "scary" repair at all. If all you're replacing is storage and battery, you don't need a soldering iron or even a screwdriver, just a pry tool to open the back. I had zero previous experience repairing anything and after watching a video on opening the iPod (and referring to iFixit when needed) I was basically all good.

Why bring any of this up?

I've seen a lot of articles recently about people my age embracing old technology like CDs, vinyl records, Walkmans, and iPods, in addition to non-music technology like retro game consoles, film, instant, and digital cameras, and even flip phones.

As someone who's been interested in these things for years, it's nice to see them catch on so I have more people to talk to. I wanted to share my experience because I hope people who are interested in old technology try to keep it out of the landfill.

If you're interested in CD players and want a portable player, try going to a thrift store and looking for used ones before you buy a brand new one. If you own some broken retrotech at home, why not try to repair it before buying a new one? At worst, you'll learn some things before buying the new one. Not only will it be more "authentic" to the time period (if you care about that; it's totally fine if you don't!) but keeping these old things in use keeps them out of the trash.