ESP32 Adds Bluetooth to an iPod Nano

The iPod Nano was one of Apple’s masterworks, but it’s really tied down by its dependence on wired headphones. At least, that’s what [Tucker Osman] must have thought, as he spent an unreasonable amount of time designing a Bluetooth mod for the 3rd gen Nano. And it’s a thing of beauty — temperamental, brutally difficult to build, and fragile in use, but still beautiful. And while some purists try to keep their signal analog, [Tucker]’s coup d’etat is to intercept the iPod’s audio signal before the DAC chip, keeping the entire signal path digital to the Bluetooth speaker. Oh, and he also managed to make the volume and track skip buttons work, back across the wireless void.

Now we know you’re itching to use the beautiful instructions and source code at the link above, and try to replicate this hack. And if you *really* want to, go for it. But know that the soldering required is a nightmare, the case needs modification to fit the extra board, and the resulting device has a battery life measured in minutes instead of hours. But since when has that stopped us? And if more iPod hacking is your thing, check out [Tucker]’s other project!