For nearly two decades, vintage Apple iPods have been dormant in desk drawers, victims of dead batteries, obsolete charging cables, and retired iTunes libraries. Now, a London-based hardware startup called Certain Things is changing the narrative with Sprout, an open-source replacement motherboard that drags early-2000s music players kicking and screaming into the modern wireless era. Rather than merely swapping out a spinning hard drive for flash storage - the traditional route for hobbyist modders, Sprout replaces the entire internal logic board. Available for the iPod 3rd generation, 4th generation, and iPod Mini, the drop-in circuit board requires zero soldering, allowing users to reuse their original chassis, monochrome displays, and iconic mechanical click wheels. Beneath that retro exterior, however, lies an entirely new digital architecture powered by the Raspberry Pi RP2350 microcontroller.
The upgrade transforms vintage hardware into a surprisingly capable modern audio player. Sprout introduces Bluetooth connectivity for modern wireless earbuds like AirPods, a high-fidelity Cirrus Logic CS43131 digital-to-analog converter (DAC) for pristine wired listening, and a universal USB-C port for rapid charging and drag-and-drop file transfers. Furthermore, a built-in microSD slot supports up to 2 terabytes of storage which is enough room for roughly half a million songs across formats like FLAC, ALAC, and Opus.
For users seeking even deeper functionality, the higher-tier Sprout Pi variant incorporates a Raspberry Pi Compute Module Zero, unlocking Wi-Fi connectivity. This enables direct podcast downloading, AirPlay streaming, and most ambitiously, cloud music streaming via platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, all navigated through a custom-written firmware that faithfully mimics the classic click-wheel interface. By combining the tactile nostalgia of early Apple design with 2026-era connectivity, the open-source Sprout project offers a compelling antidote to modern notification fatigue. It’s a dedicated music player that does only one thing, but does it exceptionally well. The release date has not yet been announced officially, anyone can sign up for notifications over on Crowd Supply.
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