What you need to know
- A YouTuber has turned an iPod Classic into a Spotify streaming machine using a Raspberry Pi.
YouTuber Guy Dupont has turned a 17-year-old iPod Classic into a streaming machine using a Raspberry Pi.
As reported by Gizmodo:
There hasn't been much attention paid to the iPod since the iPhone arrived, and that's a crime, because it was a brilliantly simple device with a wonderful user interface. To help make it relevant again, Guy Dupont gave a 17-year-old iPod a much-needed upgrade with the ability to wirelessly stream Spotify so that it plays music once again without ever needing to be connected to iTunes.But this is not a hack akin to jailbreaking an iPhone and side-loading some custom software to add more functionality. Even the last models of the larger-sized iPod Classic lacked wireless capabilities, so to upgrade a 17-year-old iPod to access Spotify required Dupont to gut everything inside the MP3 player except the iconic click wheel on the front.
In the video, Dupont takes out the iPod's innards in favor of a Raspberry Pi Zero W, which he interfaced with its click wheel. He also added an LCD display and even a motor for haptic feedback, as well as a 1000mAh battery. Then, through Python, Dupont recreated the iPod's scrolling interface, making it compatible with any digital audio format and able to wirelessly stream Spotify. It can even be used to search for songs, although good luck typing with a click wheel.
Check out the video below:
