I couldn’t find any sort of pinout for a 6th gen iPod classic and had to trace out a few pins myself. So I just need to buy a replacement connector and some magnet wire. Once I’ve got the connector and get it all soldered in I’ll post pictures and where the test points are located so if someone else has ripped out a trace or two of their battery connector can fix it as well.
A minor update
Replacing the screen on the Zune is still on hold. Not much a choice in the matter since I’m having some trouble finding a replacement screen. I could always just buy another one for parts on the ebay but that seems a waste.
However, I do have another pet project on my hands. I found a logic board for a 6th generation iPod classic in my junk drawer. The battery connector is gone as well as a trace. But it does still seem to work. At least enough to be stuck on the battery charging screen when I connect it to my PC. So all I need to do is find where that trace leads and solder in a bodge wire. Shouldn’t be too hard…I hope, the trace is tiny and I’m not even sure if it’s 100% needed. It looks like it’s just for a temp sensor. It also could be for balance, but I doubt it since it’s just a single cell. Here’s to getting it to work. Cheers~
iPods, Zunes, and the resurgence of dedicated media players
Is it just me or has there been quite a resurgance of dedicated media players? I can’t even find parts or broken media players for cheap any more. I’ve been trying to find just a logic board for a 6th generation iPod classic and oh wow how the prices have gone up. Logic boards are now about the same price as a whole “for parts” player these days.
Even the lowly RCA K@zoo which was my first mp3 player I ever had is being sold in the 30$ range. For a mp3 player that only has 32MB of storage and only supports up to 512MB SD cards this is quite a bit.
Is this a resurgence in popularity causing scarcity, driving up the prices? Is it the lack of parts? I think it’s a bit of both. Scarcity of parts was slowly driving the prices up, but with the new resurgence of dedicated media players it’s caused what’s left in the way of parts and used players to become even more scarce.
I’m hoping it’s not going to get as bad as what happened with minidisc players. Remember those? If you’re from the USA, probably not. They were more popular in Japan but had a cult following here in the USA. Portable minidisc players go for quite a lot now with basic models easily hitting the 100$ mark for a simple netmd model.
Oh well though. At least there are plenty of CD players. For now at least.