Transition from iPod Classic to new non-Apple player Including Playlists
January 23, 2019 3:52 PM Subscribe
I need to transition from my beloved iPod Classic to a new, probably non-Apple player. I know lots of them will play AACs, Apple music files, but I want to keep my playlists. Is there a device, software overlay or other ecosystem that will make this possible? More inside.
The headphone port on my iPod Classic is now kaput, and I've dipped my toe into hi-res music files using another player. I know that many current non-Apple music players can play AACs, Apple music files, but is there another brand that will let me not only play my songs and podcasts but that will integrate the playlists I've been building over a decade of music nerdery? I'd REALLY rather not rebuild from scratch; from what I understand the available software for building playlists directly on other manufacturers' software really is terrible.
I've gotten used to walking around with about 130GB of music and podcasts in my pocket, and I really don't want to have to give that up, or pay $500+ for another 160GB Classic. My life makes it easier if I keep my music player and my phone separate. Are there solutions for me? Buy a decent player and use someone else's software to organize files and copy my playlists?
(Note to mods: I saw a similar post from last year that covered some of the same ground, but the inclusion of playing hi-res files is a new wrinkle, and I'm hoping that enough has changed that this might bring in new info for me.)
The headphone port on my iPod Classic is now kaput, and I've dipped my toe into hi-res music files using another player. I know that many current non-Apple music players can play AACs, Apple music files, but is there another brand that will let me not only play my songs and podcasts but that will integrate the playlists I've been building over a decade of music nerdery? I'd REALLY rather not rebuild from scratch; from what I understand the available software for building playlists directly on other manufacturers' software really is terrible.
I've gotten used to walking around with about 130GB of music and podcasts in my pocket, and I really don't want to have to give that up, or pay $500+ for another 160GB Classic. My life makes it easier if I keep my music player and my phone separate. Are there solutions for me? Buy a decent player and use someone else's software to organize files and copy my playlists?
(Note to mods: I saw a similar post from last year that covered some of the same ground, but the inclusion of playing hi-res files is a new wrinkle, and I'm hoping that enough has changed that this might bring in new info for me.)
I feel ya. To my knowledge theres not a great solution that elegantly reproduces itunes smart playlists as well as play counts, other than the itunes ecosystem. Using something like beets to clean up the music library does make it easier if you are reproducing full albums as a completist, after switching out of itunes control.
My classic went south similarly. I was able to salvage the headphone jack port a couple times via compressed air and a stripped qtip with rubbing alcohol to clear out dust/corrosion, but the switch eventually failed as well.
You can replace just the headphone jack but it is a pain to open the case without making a mess. I did this thing and it was not fun. My click wheel eventually went, too, then the hard drive. These are also fixable. A broken ipod classic does have significant value on ebay for folks interested in repair, if you are thinking about offsetting the cost of replacement - 500 is outrageous.
I hear you about wanting to keep things separate, but I ended up with a 256GB iphone for an obscene amount of money. Getting a new iphone rather than a 5 year old refurbished classic from an unknown third party was a good call for me, with the extra 100Gb storage and big screen as a nice bonus. There's no rule that says you have to use an iphone as a phone, though.
posted by enfa at 6:34 PM on January 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
My classic went south similarly. I was able to salvage the headphone jack port a couple times via compressed air and a stripped qtip with rubbing alcohol to clear out dust/corrosion, but the switch eventually failed as well.
You can replace just the headphone jack but it is a pain to open the case without making a mess. I did this thing and it was not fun. My click wheel eventually went, too, then the hard drive. These are also fixable. A broken ipod classic does have significant value on ebay for folks interested in repair, if you are thinking about offsetting the cost of replacement - 500 is outrageous.
I hear you about wanting to keep things separate, but I ended up with a 256GB iphone for an obscene amount of money. Getting a new iphone rather than a 5 year old refurbished classic from an unknown third party was a good call for me, with the extra 100Gb storage and big screen as a nice bonus. There's no rule that says you have to use an iphone as a phone, though.
posted by enfa at 6:34 PM on January 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
Oh hey, this thread hasn't closed yet, so: Apple announced a new 256 GB IPod Touch today. 400$USD and has a proper headphone jack.
posted by enfa at 5:38 PM on May 28, 2019
posted by enfa at 5:38 PM on May 28, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by guywithnoear at 10:41 AM on January 24, 2019