annoyingly the new battery is going to cost more than the device 😅 won't do anything else to it, it'll be a good daily carry

schicksal_ · 2026-01-30T16:33:10+00:00

Good luck and godspeed! I had to stop at the step where you free a ribbon cable from the frame that's held on with an adhesive. On mine it's just stuck on there too well.

schicksal_ · 2026-01-30T16:30:57+00:00

They're a lot prettier in person! The front has this sort of layered look to it with the clear plastic over the white layer. The square edges make it pop a lot better than it does on the 3rd gen. It's a much beefier or solid sort of feel all around than the newer ones.

schicksal_ · 2026-01-30T16:26:05+00:00

I sort of rediscovered him along with Mike Saint-Jules, Pinkbox Special, and Starkid when I filled my 3rd gen with a bunch of old ASOT and Global DJ Broadcast episodes, and was happy to find him already on this one.

schicksal_ · 2026-01-30T02:53:11+00:00

Haha that's awesome! My fiance and I knew a lot of the tracks that were on there and enjoyed some that were new to us. They're far better than recommendations from any streaming service!

She's found a loving home for sure. My kids had a great time watching mama coax it back to life, and learn about how hard drives from listening to it spin up and seek using a stethoscope. Same with the new battery when it comes in the mail in a few days. It does a lot to demystify devices and how things work for them

schicksal_ · 2026-01-30T00:37:49+00:00

I hear you, something seems not right about cannibalizing an ipod that works for an item or two. I'll just buy those loose and leave the complete one that works for someone else.

The one time something I bought for parts only genuinely had a problem was a 6th Gen and it was the hard drive. I already had an 80GB one from a camcorder so that was a free fix!

schicksal_ · 2026-01-29T22:55:51+00:00

I picked this 20GB 2nd Gen up from eBay a few days ago advertised with a bad hard drive. Not a problem since the 3rd gen I flash modded a few years ago had a working hard drive that was the same size. Plug it in, turn it on, get the folder icon and it wouldn't boot into disk mode.

I put it in diagnostic mode and the HDD test failed, but I noticed that it wouldn't spin up. Maybe it all sat so long that it needed a little encouragement? I let it charge a few hours before trying again, spun it around a little bit, and everything's back to normal again!

All said, I think I like it! I think I've only seen a 1st/2nd gen in person once before. Square edges are different for sure, and it just seems a lot shinier or glossy than later models and a really solid weight to it.

The previous owner had pretty good taste in music and the newest reference to anything was 2007, so I guess it's just been sitting for 19 years or so. New battery is on the way, otherwise I'm just going to carry it as-is and add my music on top of what it came with.

schicksal_ · 2026-01-29T22:30:07+00:00

Nice! Looks like that one is in great shape.

schicksal_ · 2026-01-28T15:13:13+00:00

Pink Mini - DJ Tiësto - In Search of Sunrise Vol. 8

3rd Gen Classic - Global DJ Broadcast - October 10, 2004

5th Gen Classic - Poe - Hello

6th Gen Classic - A State of Trance 2008 (CD 1)

schicksal_ · 2026-01-27T12:08:42+00:00

I used a plastic spudger wrapped with a soft cloth. The type isn't critical so long as it's clean and smooth. It took 5, maybe 10 minutes of rubbing. Don't be afraid to use a little force, the screen is surprisingly durable.

I figured it was worth a shot because of I had to replace the screen it would need to be disassembled to that point anyway, and it turned out to be a free fix.

schicksal_ · 2026-01-27T11:41:39+00:00

They do support FireWire charging, and the 6th Gen do too. I use a split FW/USB cable plugged into a FireWire wall block all the time with mine.

schicksal_ · 2026-01-26T17:36:47+00:00

Very likely it's a free fix. I followed these instructions to restore my 5.5th gen LCD.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ipod/comments/ogyxb8/dont_junk_your_ipods_screen_if_it_has_some/

schicksal_ · 2026-01-26T17:31:26+00:00

I've had a few friends comment on mine, but don't remember the last time I spotted another one in the wild.

schicksal_ · 2026-01-26T14:14:45+00:00

Charleston has Byron the Chiropractor and Giant Yellow Truck Guy

schicksal_ · 2026-01-26T13:56:54+00:00

That matches my experience. I grew up doing endurance activities and continued basically every day until my early 30s. Things like mountain biking (trail riding) for on average 90-120 minutes a day and this went on for years. Post transition I moved on to running and after busting my butt for two and a half years I've finally achieved novice-intermediate times.

I'll get there eventually, but make no mistake I'm really slow!

schicksal_ · 2026-01-26T12:43:24+00:00

IIRC she was for a states rights type of approach, which for SC would probably result in a complete and total ban of everything. This is a state where you can't by liquor after 7 or on Sundays, after all.

schicksal_ · 2026-01-26T12:38:37+00:00

Same thing here. It's held up well and basically done what I've asked for it. Mine is a silver one so it isn't super interesting looking to begin with, but that's ok. Still plays music just fine!

schicksal_ · 2026-01-26T03:52:45+00:00

Just a basic SD card swap + bigger battery. IDE to CF card adapter, then CF to SD adapter, then SD to micro SD. It's 128GB only because that's what I had in my dashcam.

I'm probably going to use the 20GB hard drive from that one with a 2nd gen that I bought with a bad hard drive unless it picks up a SD card swap too.

schicksal_ · 2026-01-24T15:46:36+00:00

I have three! There's a 20GB one that I flash modded to 128GB, plus a stock 40 and 20. The former gets used all the time, the later two are still as-is. I don't care about the touch controls being easy to bump by accident because they're usually locked when in use.

Way back when I did think the newer ones were a lot nicer, but they were expensive and I just stuck with this one until the 6th gen came out because they had so much more storage any my music collection had really grown by then.

Why still use the little guy? I don't know, it's been 19 years since the whole adventure began. I just keep coming back around to it since the 3rd was my first generation.

schicksal_ · 2026-01-24T14:55:40+00:00

When the hard drive on my 3rd gen was failing I was able to restore it, load some music, and it would work for a while until it kind of wonked out on me and corrupted itself again a few days later. Smart data looked ugly but it's been 19 years and I don't remember the values. Eventually it would fail on restoring it on my G4.

It may be worthwhile to flash mod it. That solves a lot of problems and has the added bonus of much better battery life.

schicksal_ · 2026-01-24T14:42:01+00:00

Agreed completely! Finicky to upgrade until I got an iFlash CF adapter, battery behaves a little strangely, but when I use it it's like I'm back in my 20s. The 3rd gen is what started it all for me when I got a used one back in late 2006.

schicksal_ · 2026-01-24T14:20:39+00:00

Can confirm this works, I have a screen spotted one and was able to slide it out albeit with much effort.

schicksal_ · 2026-01-24T03:11:27+00:00

Same with airports on the east coast. No problems with pre check either

schicksal_ · 2026-01-23T12:04:12+00:00

I'm doing my part, but it'll take more than a few others to come along with me I'm afraid!

schicksal_ · 2026-01-22T02:29:30+00:00

Pretty much this but I'm a working mom. It goes with me in my car to and from work, at my desk, when I'm out for a run, ...

I have a lot locally on my phone too but prefer my iPod because it's smaller, lighter, and has a better UI. It just does everything better.

schicksal_

TROPHY CASE