After years of faithful service, my 5G iPod is finally dying.

[Fausto]

RIP.


So, what's the new hotness? I'm eyeballing the classic, but am open to suggestions. It's been a long time since I looked at mp3 players. I pretty much don't give a shit about games, apps, all that stuff. Just want capacity for a decent price and a decent user interface.

 

[Saint Nick]

Get a Coby mp3 player.

 

[Numenorean]

We're barely on 4G and you claim you have a 5G device? And have had it for years?

 

[Fausto]

We're barely on 4G and you claim you have a 5G device? And have had it for years?

G = generation.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

RIP.


So, what's the new hotness? I'm eyeballing the classic, but am open to suggestions. It's been a long time since I looked at mp3 players. I pretty much don't give a shit about games, apps, all that stuff. Just want capacity for a decent price and a decent user interface.

So HOW is it actually dying? If it's the battery and/or the Hard Drive you can replace those for a low price. If not, I think you should look at an Apple refurbed iPod Classic 160GB. You'll save $40 and get the exact same thing minus the packaging.

 

[darkewaffle]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2156506

I had the same question a while back, my iPod still feels like it's on it's last legs but it's still working so I've yet to make a decision. But there's some decent suggestions in that thread too.

 

[Fausto]

So HOW is it actually dying? If it's the battery and/or the Hard Drive you can replace those for a low price. If not, I think you should look at an Apple refurbed iPod Classic 160GB. You'll save $40 and get the exact same thing minus the packaging.

The battery is not holding a charge all that well, but everything works (or worked) fine. I use it mostly in the car, so it's charging while I use it.

What is happening is strange lags where the touchpad doesn't work, blank screen lockups, and all sorts of other strange behavior. I'm going to try to restore it later today via itunes, but thought I'd ponder an upgrade in the meantime. It's only 30 gigs which I find to be a bit small.

 

[Fausto]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2156506

I had the same question a while back, my iPod still feels like it's on it's last legs but it's still working so I've yet to make a decision. But there's some decent suggestions in that thread too.

Doh, I am guilting of threadmaking without searching. Thanks.

 

[Anubis]

if you need a lot of storage and none of the other crap the only option is an ipod classic

no one else makes one with anywhere close to the amount of storage the classic has

and because of that i dont have an mp3 player

 

[KlokWyze]

My $25 Sansa MP3 player has outlasted all my friend's iPods. Not as pretty though!

 

[PlasmaBomb]

We're barely on 4G and you claim you have a 5G device? And have had it for years?

Available in 30, 60, and 80 GB from Oct 2005.

 

[LordMorpheus]

The battery is not holding a charge all that well, but everything works (or worked) fine. I use it mostly in the car, so it's charging while I use it.

What is happening is strange lags where the touchpad doesn't work, blank screen lockups, and all sorts of other strange behavior. I'm going to try to restore it later today via itunes, but thought I'd ponder an upgrade in the meantime. It's only 30 gigs which I find to be a bit small.

Just pop a new (larger) harddrive in there, maybe a new battery while you're at it, and I bet it'll be like new.

 

[Fausto]

Just pop a new (larger) harddrive in there, maybe a new battery while you're at it, and I bet it'll be like new.

You wouldn't happen to have a link to Idiot's Guide to Replacing the Hard Drive In Your Ipod would you?

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

The battery is not holding a charge all that well, but everything works (or worked) fine. I use it mostly in the car, so it's charging while I use it.

What is happening is strange lags where the touchpad doesn't work, blank screen lockups, and all sorts of other strange behavior. I'm going to try to restore it later today via itunes, but thought I'd ponder an upgrade in the meantime. It's only 30 gigs which I find to be a bit small.

If it's lagging and won't respond it's the Hard Drive. As for not holding a charge, it's the battery. Both of those are the most common problem with them and it can be fixed easily, but you also have the option of going for what amounts to a new 160GB iPod Classic for $210. If you have the money get that one. If you'd rather save you can do the repairs yourself and have the iPod being in a condition similar to when you first bought it apart from the scratches.

 

[sm625]

I been using a $9 cigarette lighter socket usb flash mp3 player/fm transmitter for 2 years now. My last one lasted 3 years and costed $15. That's $23 for 5+ years and well over 1000 hours of music/podcasts. ... Oh I've also gone thru 2 usb flash drives, but they dont get used just for music so I dont know how to amortize that.

 

[hanoverphist]

my first gen nano finally took a dive too. worked great, the battery has lost a lot of its oomph but i could still get about 6 hours on a charge. i let my daughter use it, and bamm the screen is half dead. it still works, you just cant see whats playing or what menu youre looking at.

 

[Fausto]

If it's lagging and won't respond it's the Hard Drive. As for not holding a charge, it's the battery. Both of those are the most common problem with them and it can be fixed easily, but you also have the option of going for what amounts to a new 160GB iPod Classic for $210. If you have the money get that one. If you'd rather save you can do the repairs yourself and have the iPod being in a condition similar to when you first bought it apart from the scratches.

What kind of drive do I need? 2.5"? Looks like ATA100? Can I upgrade to a bigger drive?

 

[Oyeve]

Get the classic 160gb. I have been using mine for 3 years and love it. No one comes close to the capacity. I would be all over another decent device if it had over 100gb of storage.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

What kind of drive do I need? 2.5"? Looks like ATA100? Can I upgrade to a bigger drive?

No. They use 1.8" PATA Hard Drives with ZIF connectors. As long as you can find one with those exact specifications it'll work perfectly. There's something to keep in mind, though: you have a 30GB iPod, which means it's the thinner model. They made it thinner by using a one-platter HDD, so if you want perfect compatibility with your iPod's casing you need to make sure it's one platter instead of two. You can check for that by looking at the height, which is 5mm for the one platter models.

With all that in mind, you can get these drives new for cheap. A 30GB drive will run you around $35, while an 80GB drive will run you $50-60. As for the battery, that runs from around $15-30. All in all, it should be a lot less than $100.

 

[Fausto]

No. They use 1.8" PATA Hard Drives with ZIF connectors. As long as you can find one with those exact specifications it'll work perfectly. There's something to keep in mind, though: you have a 30GB iPod, which means it's the thinner model. They made it thinner by using a one-platter HDD, so if you want perfect compatibility with your iPod's casing you need to make sure it's one platter instead of two. You can check for that by looking at the height, which is 5mm for the one platter models.

With all that in mind, you can get these drives new for cheap. A 30GB drive will run you around $35, while an 80GB drive will run you $50-60. As for the battery, that runs from around $15-30. All in all, it should be a lot less than $100.

Awesome, thanks for all the info.

 

[TheStu]

ifixit.com will be a good place to start, if not to order the parts from necessarily. They have the guides and tools you will need to crack that sucker open, and you can use them for comparison points for the battery and hard drives.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Awesome, thanks for all the info.

If you're thinking of going this route, it's best you get the Hard Drive from a reputable eBay seller and the battery from a site like iFixit and RapidRepair.
The reason is that the HDDs are cheaper from eBay and the battery is about the same price from those sites and you get an opening tool so you don't scratch your iPod.

Links:

30GB Hard Drive
80GB Hard Drive (1), (2), (3)
580mAh battery (1), (2)
Instructions on how to replace the Hard Drive and battery

Replacing these is extremely easy since neither the HDD or battery are soldered in and use 'standard' clip connectors. You just need to be a bit delicate when handling them. The total price for both the 80GB HDD and the 580mAh battery should be around $70.

 

[NaOH]

Hmm, could i use that 80GB in my 30gb ipod 5g? Would be a nice upgrade to have all my lossless in my car, would never need CDs again.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Hmm, could i use that 80GB in my 30gb ipod 5g? Would be a nice upgrade to have all my lossless in my car, would never need CDs again.

Yes. Since it's old I'd advise you get a new battery too, though.

 

[exdeath]

The battery is not holding a charge all that well, but everything works (or worked) fine. I use it mostly in the car, so it's charging while I use it.

What is happening is strange lags where the touchpad doesn't work, blank screen lockups, and all sorts of other strange behavior. I'm going to try to restore it later today via itunes, but thought I'd ponder an upgrade in the meantime. It's only 30 gigs which I find to be a bit small.

Data storage device is worn out. Replace HDD. You'd lock up and lag and stutter all the time too if half your brain had holes in it! Same thing is true of PCs... it's always the damn storage device. Those shitty spinny things are 50+ year old "technology".

Sometimes it's not about the cost of getting a new better device even if you don't care about the cost. It's about taking care of a loyal friend who's hurting

I've never been fond of discarding and abandoning electrical and mechanical things. Even if I've moved on to newer and better, I'd still fix it up and find it a good home.