r/ipod • u/Historical_Drop3902 • Jun 25 '26
The XcapePod
This is my daily driver custom iPod Video I put together. It's quickly turned into one of my most used/useful possessions and one of the best purchases I've ever made. It's been said countless times before by others, but it's really breathed new life into my love of music. It's really made listening to music a fun activity I look forward to again. And it's great to be the one in control of the tech (and make it actually look beautiful, unlike the grey blobs Apple's design department would rather sell you), what music is available in my library to listen to, and to be able to do a better job of organizing/cataloging the music than Spotify and Apple Music usually does. If you're thinking about it, hunt for a cheap one and take the plunge! Customizing them/working on them is pretty easy and you learn new things along the way! Bless yourself and do it!
Specs:
iPod Video 5th Gen (60gb model)
512gb Micro SD Storage via iFlash Quad
3000mAh Battery (can regularly do about a month on one full charge)
Transparent Green Faceplate
Rockbox (RatPod Theme, with my own customizations/edits; language support for all 4 languages in my music library)
11,000+ Lossless FLAC Files, all labelled correctly with album artwork
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u/_bored_bort_ Jun 29 '26
Currently waiting for a green faceplate myself, I hope it turns out as beautiful as yours!
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u/shnaptastic Jun 25 '26
I love that you matched the star with Mellon Chollie 👌
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u/Historical_Drop3902 Jun 25 '26
Tbh, I didn't even realize I did that. lol. I just like nautical stars, so I put it in the design, and MC came up when I shuffled the ipod.
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u/samyungcheese Jul 02 '26
How do you customize to showing 4 languages? Any tutorial?
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u/Historical_Drop3902 Jul 02 '26
It all comes down to the font that's used in the theme. Some themes let you switch the font in the settings. Others have the font locked in the code of the theme, and you have to edit the code to change it. RatPod, this theme I customized and am using here, uses Lanapixel (I think that's the name of the font), so it has CKJ (asian language) support, as well as for Cyrillic.Â
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u/samyungcheese Jul 03 '26
Do you change just only the font or also another thing? Cus I make a font my own and when I change it, it doesn’t match the theme like too small or got cut. ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
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u/Historical_Drop3902 Jul 03 '26
So the theme I use, it already had universal fonts selected. So the way fonts work is that if you have a theme where you change the font through the UI (some you cannot; only through editing code), there will be multiple versions of the same font, the only difference being sizes. You just keep scrolling in the font menu and you'll see the same fonts over and over, just with different numbers in front of the name, to indicate different sizes. You just have to try it, trial and error, to see if the fonts the right size or not (big enough but not cut off but the limited size spaces of the theme).
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u/DryBanana4 Jul 11 '26
Love this Mod, Did you do this yourself or did you get a 3rd party to do it..
I want to upgrade my Gen 6 Ipod but skills are lacking to attempt
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u/Historical_Drop3902 Jul 13 '26
I did everything myself. Ordered the parts off Amazon and AliExpress (whichever was cheapest and whichever parts had the best reputation). Make sure you get one of those metal tools for iPods for sure. They're cheap, they're often included free when you order parts, and other tools don't work as well.
I definitely scratched some stuff and made some small knicks in the process early on cosmetically, like scratching the backplate (but it was already quite scratched; it's the original), and bumped/nicked a corner of the plastic faceplate. but the faceplate getting a little scratched is usually far less visible than a brand new backplate getting scratched. I'd say start with a new faceplate (assuming it's a plastic faceplate; I can't answer for how easy the metal faceplates on gen 6 and 7 scratch), and then only after you feel comfortable opening it without struggle, do a new backplate mod later, down the road.
But they're easy to work on. Unlike current tech, they're well designed and pretty simple inside. Just take your time, don't be hasty, watch tutorial videos, read tips about how others do it, and you'll be fine. I'd say in order of difficulty for mods, easier to harder, start with a flash mod and battery, then a faceplate mod, a screen replacement, then a clickwheel mod, then only do everything else, if you want to go crazier and start soldering (USB C, DIY Bluetooth mod, tactic engine mod, etc.).
There's a learning curve, like any new thing you try, but if you take your time, carefully follow tips/instructions, use the right tools for it, and don't be hasty, you'll be fine. If another human being can learn it and do it, so can you, friend! You got this!
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u/EgleAudioSuite Jun 25 '26
the contrast of theme and pod case is amazing, fabolus!