Nice project. $249 seems a bit high, but I guess it’s like the Fairphone, they can’t save as much as the large manufacturers do.
Holy f*** $250? Wow well it is not for me then :(
I’m genuinely curious if someone’s published a BoM cost breakdown, I’m wondering if there’s a couple of super high tickets items in the like the scroll wheel and custom PCB cost.
Hopefully people take the source and release a full walkthrough on doing this with an entirely off-the-shelf design. I’ve got a full electronics workshop and two 3d printers and would LOVE to assemble my own music player with open source designs.
While I’d prefer a sort of iPod-like alternative to high-end DAPs like FiiO or Astell&Kern make, this is nice too. If it just had a balanced audio jack, it’d be perfect.
OpenNugget 🐍
Tembra, his music downloaded. Darmok and Jalad with the AUX cable.
Shaka-khan, when the beat drops
I will always prefer my iPod Mini with extra storage, new battery and Rockbox like this guy did, and the reasons are:
- better overall build and audio quality
- way cheaper (70-80$ vs 249$)
- better software support (Rockbox is FOSS and has been going on for ages and it’s not gonna stop)
- it actually upcycles old hardware instead of buying new devices and creating more e-waste
- nostalgia value +100 points
Brings back fond memories of rockbox on my sansa.
Rockbox was the shit.
Breathed so much life into my iRiver. And I always had to defend the thing: “it’s older than iPods! It can’t be an rip-off”
Rockbox *is…
It’s still going.
Genuine question : Why use that instead of storing your musics on your phone ?
I prefer an MP3 player over my phone. Here is the one I use. Why I like this one:
- Dedicated device designed for music.
- Hardware designed to play high quality music. (Think using Ubuntu vs Ubuntu Studio for music production)
- Dedicated buttons instead of all touch screen.
- More options for integration with other devices or systems
- No distractions. Phones nowadays demand our attention for every little thing. Every app, no matter what it is, has notifications.
- The Bluetooth is better.
- You can literally hear the difference in the quality of the music if you use good quality headphones/ear buds. The same song, same file, will not sound the same if it’s a good quality FLAC.
My phone doesn’t have a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Cute, but what problem does this solve? Regardless of what you feel about any particular platform, consolidating multiple pieces of functionality into the highly integrated smartphone platform was a major step forward in mobility. This just feels like a regression.
It comes with a 3.5mm audio output for starters.
Below you will find my highly researched list of advantages over the typical smartphone:
- Headphone jack
- Mucho storage space
- Works without internet connection
- Free software purity (I don’t know, ask RMS)
- Coolness
Tbf you can still get a phone with a headphone jack, and with a ton of space. Not that you need a crazy amount for music anyway.
Also confused about the internet connection part. Even if you only use music streaming services, most let you download your music for offline listening.
I’m okay with the idea of a piece of tech meant to do a single thing, do it well for hours on end on one charge, while not spying on me in creative ways
The only reason i’d consider this is if the soundcard was premium with DAC and amp included. Otherwise that piece of junk brings nothing to the table. Yes this thing has it, but its nowhere near premium.
Nobody said it was.
This is insanely priced, particularly when you see that it literally loses on everything but battery life compared to the original iPod 5gb, let alone the Classic.
Not quite. It has 1TB sd card storage. That’s far, far better. And it has wifi and USB not just FireWire. Ram is less sure but how much ram do you need for playing tunes?
