The other day, I found my Creative Zen Touch MP3 player in a drawer. It must have been sitting there unused for at least 5 years, so I thought I’d spark it up to see if it still worked. Luckily, I still had the mains power cable.
I plugged it in and it whirred and clicked, whirred and clicked, whirred and clicked. I thought that it had given up the ghost. A Google search warned me of a failing hard drive. It also suggested poking a paperclip into a small hole to reboot it. Hey presto, after a few reboots, it started working after a fashion.
The battery is shot, so I have to keep it plugged in. It will not turn off unless I pull the power plug. The slide selection thing only works for a short while after a new reboot, so I cannot really choose what I listen to but random shuffle works fine.
So, as long as it’s plugged in, I hear a random selection of the 3,000-odd tracks that I must have loaded on it pre-2006 (I am pretty sure of this date). There are a lot of Word/Now Hear This CDs on it, and a lot of Uncut CDs too, as well all sorts of bits-and-bobs. I am WFH at the moment, and it’s great – I stick it on and hear some things I don’t ever remember hearing before and some old favourites. I can always re-shuffle.
I do like the juxtaposition that shuffle throws up. Not long ago, I heard something by Spoon (Written In Reverse), followed immediately by Waiting For A Star To Fall by Boy Meets Girl. Now, as I write I have Laurie Anderson followed by … (wait for it) Never/Ever by The Black Angels, from an Uncut CD.
… and now, as I post, The The’s Uncertain Smile.
Random play is great, as is discovering and rediscovering songs. I found Bole2Harlem from a random play of a Now Hear This cd. Sadly they only released one album, but it’s a good one.
What was the Laurie Anderson?
I have 2 iPod Classic 160GBs. An original model and a slightly slimmer Rev.B model. Both still working, I think. I ought to put them on charge to check that and then see if anyone will buy them.
Not been used for quite a while as I no longer listen to music on the move and my phone could do the job better, probably, if I did want to.
I have a brand new one, still in shrink wrap if anyone is looking for one!
I used to love my I-pod. I still have a 256 sitting in a dock, neither much used since I accumulated more tracks than I could fit on it. Still (as now, prompted) gaze at it wistfully, thinking I may fire it up and see what is on it: I seem to recall a playlist of covers.
On topic, rather than Twang’s unboxed, does anyone have experience of the frankinsteined extra capacity machines that were available? And still are. With 1TB capacity. Worth a punt or buyer beware?
The main issue I gather is that although the hard disk has been replaced by some form of memory card to increase the capacity, the amount of physical RAM on these devices hasn’t changed. RAM is used to store the track index and so on, and hence you’re likely to reach the limit on the number of tracks you can store before running out of storage. If you’re using Apple Lossless files it won’t be as much of an issue.
I have a later model iPod somewhere with a broken hard drive. When I last looked into replacing the storage a few years back, this particular model couldn’t yet be upgraded for obscure technical reasons.
The little hard drives in some later iPods use Apple’s own interface that nobody else ever used*. No more unused HDs of that type left in the wild, I think.
*Not ATA or SATA-compliant.
These upgrade kits use some form of solid-state drive – either a microSD card, or an M.2 SSD. There’s also a ribbon adaptor available for iPod models that use the uncommon CE-ATA interface that Apple used on some devices.
The issue with my iPod was down to the addressing mode the iPod firmware used to talk to the drive, which limited the capacity of replacement SSDs to 128GB – lower than the iPods existing capacity. Apparently, this can be overcome by installing third-party firmware on the iPod instead.
Still use mine every week. It plays on my Jean Michel Jarre speaker in the living room. Perfect for dinner parties. Still love it.
“Pass the port, will you? That was a jolly fine Barolo by the way. Crikey, is that the Steven Wilson Atmos Dolby Surround Sound Remix of their first album?”
Jean Michel Jarre made a speaker?
Licensed his name for one, probably.
I recall it was quite an object to behold.
Ah, you went to THAT party then?
Oh yes. I’ve been a spectacle wearer ever since.
I have around 20 iPod Minis (I haven’t counted them) that I inherited from Carolina, late of this parish, and a few she gave me while she was still alive (with a docking station so I could use them). I’m very slowly working my way through them – some are full of music, some are either empty or doesn’t work anymore, but I’ve discovered many new-to-me artists and been reminded of some old favourites in the process.