Ask HN: What can replace my iPod for podcast listening?

Re:Ask HN: What can replace my iPod for podcast listening? by manomanowicz on Friday November 06, 2020 @03:58AM (#25006146)

MY recommendation would be a modified iPod 5th or 7th gen Classic if you don't mind the larger size. These iPods can be upgraded with larger batteries and flash storage instead of a hard drive making them long lasting and robust.

You can do the modification yourself on iPod with a broken hard drive or buy one on eBay already modified. (Tip: The 5th gens are easier to modify than the 7th gens since they come apart a lot easier.)

Personally, I use a 5th gen Classic with 32GB of flash and a new battery. I modified it myself with a compact flash card and a new battery. It's been in use for about 3 years and I've had no real issues.

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Re:Ask HN: What can replace my iPod for podcast listening? by dalke on Friday November 06, 2020 @07:26AM (#25007123)

Thanks for the pointers! My backup plan if I can't find something new is to get a used nano. I hadn't considered a Classic.

Alas, I'm in Sweden so eBay + shipping + customs adds a chunk, but maybe I can find someone here who does that.

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Re:Ask HN: What can replace my iPod for podcast listening? by jacobush on Friday November 06, 2020 @04:15AM (#25006245)

How do you copy podcasts and such to these old iPods? iTunes is being deprecated right?

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Re:Ask HN: What can replace my iPod for podcast listening? by patrickk on Friday November 06, 2020 @04:50AM (#25006430)

Foobar2000 with an iPod add-on[1] and a podcast add-on[2]. You don't need iTunes directly, but probably an older version of iTunes in the background for compatibility when syncing. Oldapps.com has you sorted for that.

I personally use a modded 5.5 gen for daily listening, it's vastly superior to using a smartphone. It has a huge memory and unbeatable battery life. With cheap replaceable batteries and SD card boards, it should essentially last for years/decades. The firmware is much simpler than iOS, so it doesn't matter that it's not maintained, it simply works.

EDIT: OP is using a Mac, so I'm not sure if this is feasible. It does work well on Windows though.

[1] https://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_dop

[2] https://www.foobar2000.org/components/view/foo_podcatcher

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Re:Ask HN: What can replace my iPod for podcast listening? by andyjohnson0 on Friday November 06, 2020 @04:22AM (#25006280)

Replace the firmware with RockBox and it presents itself as a normal USB storage device. Just drag and drop the files.

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Re:Ask HN: What can replace my iPod for podcast listening? by physicsguy on Friday November 06, 2020 @07:59AM (#25007272)

Syncing music still works fine on Macs/Windows. I'd actually go as far as to say that on Mac it's an improvement, becasue you just have a 'Music' app and a 'Podcast' app, and when you plug in an iPod you can see it in Finder.

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Re:Ask HN: What can replace my iPod for podcast listening? by spondyl on Friday November 06, 2020 @04:17AM (#25006252)

It's perhaps more like elements of it seemed to be integrated into Finder so it'll mount as a device and you'll see the familiar iTunes style sync UI

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