An argument can be made that the finest, most iconic piece of consumer technology to pre-date an on-board internet connection was the click wheel iPod Classic.
It didn’t have Wi-Fi and the only music you could access was manually transferred from your iTunes app on a Mac or PC. Although Apple discontinued the range back in 2014, it remains a beloved piece of gadgetry to this day.
However, what if, just what if you could turn back the clock and add a little Wi-Fi magic to the iPod Classic? And what if you could stream music from Spotify rather than, say, playing locally-stored MP3 files?
Well, one developer, took up the task, modifying an 4th-gen iPod Classic from 2004 with Wi-Fi and adding a version of the Spotify app within the classic iPod menu layout. The cutely-named sPot is the brainchild of developer Guy Dupont (via 9to5 Mac) and offers Wi-Fi streaming, as well Bluetooth connectivity in order to connect to a pair of wireless headphones or a Bluetooth speaker.
The headphone jack remains, but is only there for decorative purposes, and the lock switch is now a power button that ensures the 1,000mAh battery isn’t running the whole time. As you can tell by the image, the display has been replaced with a full colour screen too, so you can see the Spotify black and green branding in all its glory.
Instead of a click, when you spin the wheel, Guy’s added haptic feedback. Not sure how the purists will feel about that though. You can see the method behind the magic in the video below. If you fancy hollowing out that iPod Classic casing, here’s how it’s done.
So, how did he do it? Well, first of all he gutted the iPod Classic’s internals and replaced them with a Raspberry Pi Zero W (which has built-in Wi-Fi) and a Micro USB connector instead of the old 30-pin connector. Then he built a version of the Spotify app that resembled the interface we knew and loved from 17 years ago.
That app was built using Spotify’s very own API, so it offers access to all of Guy’s artists, albums, and playlists. There’s a regularly-refreshed new releases menu, while it’s also possible to search the entire Spotify library using the click wheel.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
