List of Tools I Used During the iPod Month

I've gotten a lot of questions about a lot of the gear I used during my iPod month. Here's links to everything I used.

Electronics

5th Gen 80GB iPod Classic from eBay - you can get one other places, but this was the seller i used

Grado SR60X Headphones - loved these headphones, but they're a little bright out of the box

Larger Earpads for Grado Headphones - increases the bass sound of the headphones

Camp Snap Digital Disposable Camera - no screen, no settings, just a great stylized digital point and shoot camera

Sony Handycam HDR-CX240 Camcorder - no link, but you can pick one up used for cheap. 1080, no settings, built in battery, usb charging. Love this thing

Smith Corona Sterling Typewriter - Again, no link, and this isn't even electronic, but I got this on ebay, put a new ribbon on it, and it was good to go. Really really loved typing on this. Still trying to find excuses to use it!

Materials

Leuchtturm1917 Notebook - Most notebooks are all the same, and this is no exception. I didn't specifically order this, I just had one that I hadn't used in years and I started using it in June again

Small Notebooks - Some people swear by the Field Notes brand, but I don't see the big difference. These are just over $1 each and they work great

Pen Loop Holder - Basic, cheap, and I'm putting these anywhere that I need to have a pen.

Zebra G301 Pen - This is my go to pen and has been for years

Everyman Pen - This was a gift during the month and is my new favorite pen that lives on my big notebook

Dumb-i-fied iPhone

Blank Spaces Minimal App Launcher - This is the app I used to make my homescreen a minimal as possible.

Matte Screen Protector - This softens the pixels a bit

Other than that, the trick is to turn your phone black and white (Accessibility>Display and Text Size>Color Filters>On), delete every single app, turn off notifications for everything other than calls and texts, then further disable by going into "Screen Time" and setting downtime from 10pm-9:59pm to ensure nothing gets through. I also used "Content and Privacy Restrictions" to disable the browser, and disabled "tap to wake" so when you pick your phone up, you have to click the side button to turn it on

Filming Gear

I filmed this series primarily on my iPhone 13 Pro, with the exception of the camcorder and the main desk camera, which is a nicer Sony that I use for all my other videos. However, there were a few other things that helped make it look and sound good

DJI Osmo Mobile Gimbal - fantastic gimbal for stabilizing your phone

DJI Mic 2 - I'm obsessed with this thing, sounds great, and it just works

This series was edited on Final Cut Pro, which is what I've used for a long time.

Books

"Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture" by Kyle Chayka - This was the book highlighted in Week 1, and who I interviewed for it. All about how Algorithms have made our world all the same, and in ways that you may not even realize.

"Hip Hop is History" by Questlove - Great follow up to his previous book "Music is History" and also to the Grammy's Hip Hop 50 tribute. Honestly this book is worth it for the story at the beginning ALONE. This was released during Week 2.

"Shop Class as Soulcraft" by Matthew B. Crawford - this was a "if you know, you know" that was quietly in a few shots, but I read during Week 3. It's all about the value of working with your hands. Discovered this book through Van Neistat, who also had a huge influence on my during this series. Didn't feature this book directly but it definitely had an influence on me.

"Digital Minimalism" by Cal Newport - this was featured in Week 4, and was the "oh my god I can't believe I just been living this book" book. Gonna re-read it immediately because it's that good. I could talk about this book for a very long time, but I'll spare you that length here. I tried to get an interview with Cal Newport for this series, but heard back from his team that he was unavailable for interviews for the rest of the summer, which, considering the principles in this book, made sense.

iPod Modding

iPod modding is it's own world, as I have discovered, and there are many new parts available, many additional mods that you can do, and a lot of support documentation online. Again, I started with an 80GB 5th Gen iPod from ebay (listed above) and then got almost all of the parts from Elite Obsolete Electronics.

This includes the click wheel, center button, faceplate, 3000 mah battery, iFlash SD card adapter, and microsd cards.

They were out of the black backplates when I ordered, so I got mine from a seller on AliExpress.

For the laser engraving, the design was done by Ace Barro, and the engraving done at Vanguard Audio Labs. There's more to this story, so stay tuned.

Here's the bluetooth adapter I got as well.

iFixit Pro Tech Toolkit - This has so many more tools than what I needed, but now I've been bit by the tinkering bug and I'm glad I have it for future projects.

iFixit Magnetic Repair Mat - Great in case you drop a screw, it's not going anywhere

I then installed Rockbox as the alternative software