Special: I deleted Spotify and got an iPod

on ethical music engagement

In the fall of 2025, I bought an iPod Classic. Since I started creating turntable, I’ve been thinking a lot about my relationship with music, which has been shaped almost entirely by streaming. I’m not quite hopping on the going analog train, but I’m interested in examining my engagement specifically with music, the thing I purportedly love most in the world. How do I value it, or devalue it, with my extreme consumption? How can I sustainably alter my behavior to better reflect my ethical position?

The iPod is an iconic device. It momentarily dominated the music scene with its sleek design and intuitive UI, built on the nuance of a court case that ruled mp3 players to be legal while the format itself existed in a gray area, the RIAA looking for a scapegoat for the piracy crisis and failing to find one in tech. The first iPod could hold 1000 songs; I checked my streaming stats before I started this project and I listened to nearly this many songs last month.

The iPod Classic 5.5 I bought had a 10 gigabyte hard drive and worked fine when I received it, but I was interested in modding. I’d learned this term on TikTok, where people were showing off their bright pink terabyte iPods with modern charging and Bluetooth. iPods are made of simple, modular technology that can be taken apart and replaced with modern components with a magnifying lens and a pair of tweezers.

my modding setup

For me, and for many young people who grew up with streaming and iPhones, the barrier to moving away from Spotify is that there is no viable 1:1 alternative. I could switch to Apple Music, but I’d still be participating in a system that ultimately devalues the labor of artists. I could start buying all the music I’ve ever heard and liked, but I’d have to move out of my apartment. These ethical issues feel so large and unsolvable that I often started thinking about switching, got overwhelmed, and decided to pay for another month of my subscription.

There are also limitations to the iPod itself. I like to listen to music while I work out, and have become very reliant on my AirPods. In a perfect world, I’d like a huge amount of storage to best approximate the vastness of the streaming catalog I interact with. The old 30 pin connectors are hard to find and feel inconvenient in an age when audio, data, and power all flow through one port.

I am crafty (I knit, collage, etc) but I’ve never ventured from software to hardware. The stakes feel higher, harder to undo a misstep once made. In some of the videos I watched, people were holding soldering irons and I immediately clicked away, sweating. I was afraid of damaging a piece irreparably, having to start over with another iPod, or ordering all the wrong parts off Elite Obsolete, a website whose 2008 UI makes it feel very trustworthy but very intimidating.

I decided to work with moonlit.market, a British company that sells iPod modding kits. I wanted to minimize the points at which I could mess up, but I also felt like the kit had the modern options I would have chosen anyway. The kits are a good option for those looking for an accessible entry point to modding, a camp I figured many Record Store users would fall into. They upgrade the device with USB-C charging, hugely increased storage capacity, and Bluetooth compatibility, my three main modification interests.

pre and post mod

Spotify removed consequences for expansive listening, and I believe I benefitted from the nonexistent barriers to exploration. But the work I do through streaming is to build ever wider, not deeper, and I see ways in which my taste could benefit from a more serious and intentional period of listening. I chose the following albums to download on my iPod this week, and deleted Spotify.

1. Middle Cyclone - Neko Case

2. Raspberry Moon - Hotline TNT

3. The Bends - Radiohead

4. choke enough - Oklou

5. For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver

6. Foxes in the Snow - Jason Isbell

7. Heaven or Las Vegas - Cocteau Twins

8. Cardinal - Pinegrove

9. Electric Hour - Sword ii

10. Fantastic, Vol. 2 - Slum Village

I made my record choices quickly, downloading whatever came to mind that I 1) already owned physically or digitally and 2) knew I’d want to hear at any given time. It’s a mix of old, reliable favorites and albums I’ve been meaning to give a proper listen.

I’ll still listen to the radio on the way to work, NTS sets throughout the day, or music in other people’s cars, but my personal listening will be limited to the iPod for a week. I want to see how many lyrics from these records I can memorize, what new feelings I can wring out of the songs I’ve known forever. I’m excited to note where there’s joy and frustration in the process as I adjust to imperfect, incomplete on-demand access. I’ll update you on my experience in a week.