u/crtnthngs

I've been building a replacement motherboard for classic iPods. This clip is a 3rd gen iPod streaming Apple Music over WiFi, with the original screen, buttons and clickwheel. The iPod is playing audio to a Bluetooth speaker off camera.

It uses MusicKit on the web. It's so much better than the Spotify API, but it's quite power hungry as it needs a whole web browser running to work.

A bit about the board:
- It's a drop-in replacement for the iPod 3rd/4th gen. No soldering, and it's fully reversible.
- It uses all the original iPod parts except the battery and hard drive, so it still looks and feels like a classic iPod.
- WiFi for streaming, plus Bluetooth audio for wireless headphones and speakers.
- A HiFi DAC (CS43131) through the original headphone jack.

Also working on a lower power board that only does offline playback but adds WiFi and Bluetooth.

Still working on stations and radio, but so far it works great.

Sign up for updates to learn when it's ready: https://www.crowdsupply.com/certain-things/sprout-pi-mainboard

More demos here: certainthings.studio/sprout

Hello! I've been working a replacement motherboard for iPod mini, 3rd and 4th (mono) generation iPods.

https://www.crowdsupply.com/certain-things/sprout-pi-mainboard

I’ve also got a site for it here with a few more demos: certainthings.studio/sprout

It uses all the original iPod parts (except the battery and hard drive) so it keeps the monochrome charm of the original.

It’s also a drop in replacement so no soldering and fully reversible.

What it adds:
- Bluetooth audio
- WiFi
- A HiFi DAC (CS43131) through the original 3.5 mm jack
- USB-C for charging
- Digital audio out
- SD card storage up to 2TB
- Local music via drag and drop
- Music streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify on the bigger version (working proof of concepts, but streaming APIs are constantly changing)
- Target battery life of 40 hours on the 3G/4G and 20 hours on the mini, from my testing so far

There are 2 versions:

Sprout Pico is offline music playback with Bluetooth and WiFi. This is the only one that supports the mini.

Sprout Pi adds a Raspberry Pi Compute Module Zero for more powerful features like music streaming. Since it’s a Linux computer though you can run what you like on it. I’m working on a dual architecture approach with this one, so local music playback can all happen on the RP2350 while more power hungry features can use the Pi CM0, so it can squeeze out as much battery life as possible.

I tried really hard to keep the original feel of the classic iPods, so from the outside it’s almost impossible to tell the motherboard has been replaced.

Launching soon on Crowd Supply if you'd like to sign up for updates and learn more.

Would love to hear what features you’d want to see included!