iPod 5.5 Gen Review In 2026 – Not Just Nostalgia

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Whilst the iPod 5.5 has its idiosyncrasies that can be frustrating at times, it's a small price to pay for a pure, unfussy music companion. Be prepared to mod it to get thebest experience!

The Good

1. All your songs available without WiFi
2. Love the scroll wheel for navigation
3. Offers a distraction-free listening experience

The Not So Good

1. Battery life needs upgrading
2. Quite chunky

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Need-to-knows

• A great way to free yourself from music algorithms and AI
• Forced to download songs, meaning they’re always available
• 5.5 is the one you want for the best modding experience
• Battery life needs a 2026 update

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I think I’ve just broken my ‘new’ iPod.

While adjusting my seat belt, it ejected itself from between my legs and crashed onto the plane’s floor beneath me.

It had battery life remaining, I’m sure of that. But now it won’t turn on, and no combination of button pressing and waiting is making that Apple logo reappear.

I appreciate this isn’t the best way to start my 2026 review of an iPod, but it does neatly illustrate what I’m letting myself in for here. It’s also going to make this 13-hour flight back to the UK a bit of a pain in the backside.

If you’ve reached this page, it’s because, like me, you’re desperately trying to return to a simpler, less algorithm-and AI-recommendation-fuelled music experience. You know, the one we used to enjoy in the 2000s, 90s, 80s, and, if you’re older than me, way before that. The iPod is just one way you can seep back into that world.

You may have gone the whole hog and ditched your streaming service subscription (I haven’t, incidentally). You may have been buoyed by your recent purchase of a vinyl record player. Or maybe your mate won’t stop banging on about reviving his old CD collection. Whatever your reason for getting back into the iPod in 2026, you’re not alone.

Research conducted by Back Market last year revealed that nearly half of Brits surveyed were planning to buy a vintage device. Whether or not you agree that the iPod is ‘vintage’, those people were clearly set on reigniting an important part of their past. And that’s what the iPod is so good at doing.

I have an exciting plan for my iPod, which I’ll get to later, but in the meantime, these are my thoughts on how Apple’s discontinued music player plays in 2026.

The iPod I’m using (and why)

My iPod of choice is the 5.5th generation with 80GB of storage. The latter will become irrelevant, soon, for reasons I’ll explain later, but I’ve picked the 5.5 for a very specific reason. I must also thank the lovely team at Back Market for sourcing this one for me (head there for all of your pre-owned tech requirements!).

There are countless versions of the iPod to choose from and a wealthy stock of pre-loved examples out there. However, the one that’s in highest demand by anyone who wants the best possible audio quality is the 5.5. This is because it contains a Wolfson DAC (digital to analogue converter), which Apple replaced in future generations with… something not quite as good.

I have no interest in using iTunes with this iPod, because that locks me into Apple’s ecosystem for my music collection. Anyone who’s been following this journey will know that, a couple of months ago, I began re-ripping my CD collection to FLAC files. It was imperative that those files could be played from any compatible device and copied to any form of storage without the involvement of iTunes.

Guide: How To Mod An iPod

That left my iPod in need of a new operating system, and for that, I turned to the iPod modders’ favourite, Rockbox. It replaces the iPod’s standard software, but in return, it will play back pretty much any kind of audio file. More importantly, it’ll categorise your music library, on-device, once you’ve transferred the files via cable (just drag-and-drop like you would to an external drive – no software required).

Rockbox goes far deeper than this, but the basic principle it offers of iTunes-free music management and playback is all I need.

Oh, and if you’re wondering which earbuds I’m using, I plumped for the utterly brilliant (for the price) Soundmagic E11C.

Thanks, Baby Driver

On my flight out here, I re-watched the film Baby Driver. Its main protagonist, Baby (real name: Miles), has found himself caught up in the criminal underworld operating as an expert getaway driver. To get himself through each job – and to drown out the tinnitus he’s suffered since the car crash that killed his mum – Baby listens to music. Played via one of several iPods he owns.

“I got different iPods for different days, and moods,” says Baby to love interest Debora.

More: M4 iPad Air review

I remember watching Baby Driver when it was first released in 2017, and I recall immediately wanting an iPod again – and promising myself that I’d buy one, eventually. Baby’s obsession with music (It’s a great soundtrack – so good, in fact, that I had to venture out and buy the vinyl last weekend) is inspiring, captivating, and makes you feel entirely insufficient in the music collection department.

Watching that film in 2026 evoked the same emotions, only this time, I had an iPod of my own poking out from the seat pocket in front of me. Looks like I eventually came good on that promise, eh?

What I like about the iPod in 2026

I think we all remember Apple’s ads for the iPod with the dancing silhouettes and their iconic white earbuds. “A thousand songs in your pocket” also remains one of the smartest marketing slogans ever. Testament to that is the way in which the iPod is still revered today.

It was, arguably, Apple’s first properly personal device. The iPhone simply killed it. As soon as Steve Jobs revealed the first version of the now world-dominating smartphone in 2007, the iPod’s days immediately became numbered, regardless of how much you loved yours.

MacBook Neo vs MacBook Air

Good news. If you buy an iPod today, I think you’ll find that it has actually retained most of what made it so wantable and personal all those years ago. Sure, it’s a bit chunky (particularly in 80GB form), and there are some issues, which I’ll get to, but it’s still a beautiful little capsule that contains all of your music.

I even like how beat-up the iPod looks, quickly. Mine had, I think, been refurbished, and the infamous shiny rear casing was a sight to behold once I’d ripped off the protective film. Two days later, it was scratched to hell, as was the screen. That’s ok, though – it’s mine now, and those marks tell different stories.

Using the scroll wheel in 2026 is fascinating. It feels its age in terms of tactility and responsiveness (it’s a bit unpredictable at times), but it remains such a clever and simple way to interact with a handheld device that doesn’t have a touch screen. It’s another example of Apple’s industrial design at its forward-thinking best.

More: M5 MacBook Air vs M4 MacBook Air

The greatest thing about the iPod in 2026, though, is that it offers a completely distraction-free user experience. Notifications don’t exist. There’s no internet connection. You can’t multitask. While scrolling through your music collection, that’s all you can see; no recommendations, AI-suggested radio stations, or reminders that there’s a more expensive membership tier you’re missing out on. Just find what you want to play, hit play, and the resulting music is all that will happen until you press stop. Or skip.

It’s incredible for travel, too. There’s no need to think about which albums and playlists you might want to download before jumping on a plane. Just make sure you’ve copied the latest collection of your music across, and you’re good to go. It’s all there. Always.

I’m in love. Again.

What I don’t like about the iPod in 2026

My iPod immediately showed its age when I first started diving into my music collection.

It feels mechanical. You can actually feel it doing stuff.

Until 2014, most iPods had proper, mechanical hard drives inside them. ‘Spinny hard drives’, as they’re sometimes called. ‘Spinny’ because they literally spin a platter around which contains your music. That isn’t all they do, though. Just like any spinning hard drive, the one inside my iPod has to fire up first.

This waking procedure, whenever the iPod hasn’t been used for a certain amount of time, provides a very quiet version of the medley we used to hear emanating from our computers when they too had spinny hard drives. It’s almost imperceptible, but it’s there: a short buzz and beep as the drive awakes, the gentle whirring of the platter as it picks up speed, and the pitter-patter of tiny metal feet as data is sourced and loaded.

I appreciate that there will be generations reading this who have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about.

However, I’d completely forgotten about this, too. Having spent so many years since the death of the iPod enjoying the silence and immediacy of solid state storage, holding a device which vibrates and clicks away to itself while fishing out A Grand Don’t Come for Free was a bit disconcerting.

Check out my list of the best headphones!

It’s slow, too. I haven’t figured out how long you have to leave it for the drive to go into sleep mode and therefore require another awakening the next time you want to change tracks, but it isn’t very long. This sometimes results in a frustratingly slow browsing experience. It’s my main gripe with the iPod as it is now, and the one thing which I can’t wait to change.

The rest of the items on my list of don’t-likes are rather tepid. The 30-pin adaptor is hilariously big (did we really put up with it for that long?), but the discovery of a USB-C-to-30-pin cable on Amazon at least means I don’t have to suffer the USB-A end.

Battery life isn’t great. Don’t get me wrong, it’s pretty admirable when you consider there are actual moving parts in there, but it definitely needs bringing up to 2026 standards.

Then, there’s music curation. I’m deep into this now, and have made buying CDs and ripping them to FLAC files a monthly occurrence. Mark my words, though – it can get expensive, and there’s a lot of faff involved. You really have to commit to this.

Next steps

It’s time to reveal what I have planned for my already-beloved iPod 5.5.

I’ve never been a ‘modder’. The closest I got was building PCs in my late teens, but that put me off faffing around with tech I don’t really understand for life. The good news when it comes to iPod modding is that it has developed a huge community and, consequently, a wealth of parts, guides, and idiot-proof assistance.

Hopefully.

I’ll be undertaking three modifications on my iPod, and they’ll result in a significantly upgraded device and a far better user experience. Unless I screw any of it up, of course.

That mechanical hard drive will be replaced with SD storage, the battery will be swapped out for a super-mAh unit, and the front and rear casing will be replaced (I think – I still need to give this final part some thought because I do like the look of it currently).

How to rip CDs to FLAC

I appreciate that leaves me with a ‘Trigger’s broom’ situation (one for the UK audience, there), but boy will it be an iPod on steroids.

Conclusion

I’m impressed by how little the iPod has aged. The input method is dated, the mechanical storage is otherworldly, and the screen resolution would never grace any modern device, but the iPod still feels like a device for today.

More than that, it feels like a device that lots of us need right now. I’ve made no secret about the fact that I struggle with the AI-infused world we’re living in now. As much as that technology helps me, it also scares me, and when it comes to my passions – music easily being the biggest one – it angers me.

This iPod has already taken me back to a much simpler time, and that’s why I’ve immediately fallen in love with it. Again.

If you’re considering doing the same thing, I wholeheartedly recommend it.

I’ll let you know when the modding process begins.

UPDATE: It’s not broken. Got home, plugged it in…battery was flat. Although it doesn’t appear to be holding a charge now. Better get on with that modding process.