Look. We already have a little computer in our pocket. Besides Apple can go fly a kite with their DRM audio files. Just let me own my phone.
this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2026
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Technology
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YES MORE PLASTIC BULLSHIT pleeeeeeaasse I need another tracking device that's already superceded by having a phone! and remember: no headphone jacks
Remember owning stuff?
Uh, yes? I have all the mp3s I want to listen to on my phone (and my NAS),I don't need an Ipod for that.
While you're not wrong, and at the moment I am the same, there is also something very appealing to me about decoupling music from my phone.
Really? There’s something appealing to me about decoupling my cellular modem from my phone; I used an iPod Touch instead of a smartphone for years (with Wifi and VoIP).
At this point I have zero interest in a dedicated audio player.
And if I wanted one… my watch holds more MP3s than the original iPod did. I can just play music from my watch.
Or my graphing calculator.
Or, for that matter, my over the ear headphones which have a microSD slot.
Yeah, that's totally fair. I prefer wired listening devices and want less "smart" things in my life. At the moment my music library is about 180GB so a bit much for the smaller available offline devices, and mostly FLAC so the DAC needs to be powerful enough. Absolutely a me problem, as I mentioned in another comment my hobby rabbit hole into audio makes the full decouple very appealing to me.
If you're moderately tech-inclined, its not super difficult to set up a streaming music server that you can access from anywhere. The most basic solution that almost anyone can spin up is a cheap NAS (or always-on PC), and setting up a VPN between your phone and router to access your library.
From there you can add complexity by configuring a true music server like Navidrome, adding web-facing access, erc
After typing this, I realized maybe you meant completely decoupling music from your phone, not just decoupling the storage
It is?
Yes, but not one made by Apple.
Bring on the Zune!
Theres a metric ton of open source clones.
Also plenty of low tech Chi-fi options like Fiio/Snowsky.
Please I need a list
I got the itch to have a separate music player from my phone. Became very interested in the Innioasis Y1. It looks like a late model iPod nano (before they went touchscreen; it has the wheel). Bought it and then put the RockBox firmware on it (no simple task if you use Linux, let me tell you). I love it. It's made me more intentional with my music. Plus I'm acquiring CDs and burning them to my laptop to transfer over to the Y1.
Hmm okay cool, I have been pretty on the fence about just buying a Gen1 Nano with the upgraded storage and roxbox preinstalled, but this looks solid too. Everything work on it with RB?
From what I can tell. I did get much better battery results from doing RockBox after a factory reset. (Initially switched it over after having loaded my music onto the device; battery was no good and there were some weird quirks with the file system so I decided to fully reset the device, installed RB, then loaded my music. Noticeable difference!)
I never had a cable subscription (that I paid for), nor have I ever subscribed to a streaming service (I had Prime for years for the shipping, not the content).
I own things, and I like it, much to the chagrin of the tech bros.
An iPod classic with Bluetooth support, SD card support, and with zero Apple input would be great.