iPod Classic - Rediscovering the Joy of Music
If you're interested in getting an iPod Classic, this section is for you! Believe it or not, iPods are making a comeback despite not being made for well over
a decade at this point. The TL;DR is
Getting the iPod Nano
Like many Millennials, I had an iPod back in high school. When the music players became popular, I purchased an MP3 player from one of my classmates. I forget what brand it was, but it was cheap. I forget what I paid for it, but I think what I got was a 128MB or 256MB player. It was a two-toned grey player and it was alright. But I didn't enjoy it. So I saved up $150 and purchased my first Apple product: a black 1GB first gen iPod Nano.
Going back to the iPod
In December 2025, I caught wind that people were going back to using iPods and getting away from subscribing to music. This is something that I am completely on board with. I've been using Spotify since 2011 (you know, back when you didn't have a username... you had a long account number!) and eventually purchased a subscription for the "benefits" in 2015 or 2016. But as the service has began to enshitify itself, I've been looking to go back to loving music, not what some algorithm thinks I should like.
I've found that when you subscribe to a music service, they push what you should listen to. While I have enjoyed Spotify for helping me discover music, and I have found a lot of music that I don't think I would have found if it wasn't for Spotify, I don't like what the services have become. If you don't pay, you have the luxury of:
- Ads injected into everything from songs to podcasts.
- Limited skips. And funnily enough, the whole reason I switched to Spotify was because I was annoyed by Pandora's limited skips!
- What offline listening? You want music, you better have an internet connection.
- Randomly removed songs. Seriously - go through some of your playlists and see how many songs are no longer available.
- Artists that remove their music. While I am not a "Swiftie", there was a time Taylor removed her music from Spotify (for the right reasons, but it was really annoying).
- Privacy-invasive tracking. As fun as Spotify Wrapped is, it is also a stark reminder of how much they know about you.
So, I started searching the house for my old iPod Nano. I had it up in the attic. Unfortunately, after turning it on for the first time since at least 2010 (based on the songs I had on it), the battery began to turn into a spicy pillow. So unfortunately, I wasn't going to be using it as much as I would like to unless I try to solder a new battery. I'm not that good at soldering tiny contact points! Next best thing was to find a used iPod. I started doing research and this lead me to people who not just replaced batteries, but swapped out the storage from the slow hard drive to either compact flash or an array of SD cards. Eventually, I decided the best way was to get a pre-modded iPod.
I found a seller on eBay that had a "NEW Apple iPod Video/Classic 5.5 Gen Enhanced 256GB-1TB Flash Mod & Big Battery" (actual listing title) and purchased it. It was coming directly from China, but as I obsessed over it, I wondered if I made a mistake. "NEW"? Sure enough, the listing photos showed a "new" iPod in box. I found that there are some scams so I wondered if I got scammed. So I purchased a backup non-modded iPod just in case.
Well, I didn't get scammed. While it arrived in a "new" box, the iPod was expertly refurbished. It was what I paid for.
Using an iPod in 2026
If you're wondering what it's like using an iPod in 2026, here's the truth: it's amazing!. First, it just works. No fiddling with Bluetooth, there's no ads, no tracking, songs don't randomly disappear, and I'm still listening to my favorite podcasts! The only downside is that modern devices have removed AUX ports so trying to use the iPod in the car requires a bit more work (but it can still be done!). But the buses I drive have AUX ports on the radios, so I just connect up my iPod and enjoy my music when deadheading. I also listen to it when I'm at home and working on my computer or out in the garden. Wired headphones are really nice. Short of occasionally getting caught on something, they work and sound better than my airpods.
For music, I rip my CDs and download MP3s from sources. *wink* I use Apple Music on my Mac to create playlists and organize my music. Then I sync it over to the iPod using Finder. For Podcasts, I download them using the Apple Podcasts app and they also sync over to my iPod.
I'll share more about my experience in the future. Maybe I'll do a 1 year update in December/January.
What iPod Should You Get?
Deciding what iPod to get is a personal choice. Some will go with an iPod they grew up with just for the nostalgia factor. I went with the iPod 5.5 Gen because it can play videos, photos, has more memory so it can handle more songs. I did get it in classic black since I've always loved Apple's black products. But if you want, you can always buy different cases to change the color. From what I've seen though, an iPod 5.5 or 6th gen are the best. Nano's can still be good, but they are at bit tricky to mod because of the size.