I’ve always wanted to get on the dedicated music train, but I can’t get over no wireless headphones and no streaming. So I made a drop-in replacement motherboard for the iPod mini, 3rd and 4th generation iPod.

I’ve reverse engineered the original LCD, so it keeps the original display and click wheel. Externally the iPod is unchanged, apart from a USB-C port.

Inside, there’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a Raspberry Pi Compute Module Zero, an RP2350, and a CS43131 DAC. The Pi runs Linux, so Spotify and Apple Music work, but it’s also just a small Linux computer so you can run whatever you want on it.

There are two versions: Pi and Pico.

Sprout Pico is built around the RP2350 and is focused on local playback. It gives your iPod Bluetooth and WiFi. This is the only board the iPod mini supports.

Sprout Pi adds the CM0 on top of that. The RP2350 still owns the hardware and can run independently, and the CM0 adds Linux for things like Spotify and Apple Music. So when you’re just listening to local music, the Pi doesn’t need to be running at all. The aim is to keep the flexibility of Linux for streaming while maximising battery life for offline listening. This dual processor split is still a work in progress but planned for the next revision.

Would love to get your thoughts, and any features you’d like to see!