I am looking for an audio solution that doesn’t require the attendance of my phone. I like the look of the Sony Walkman and it seems to tick all the boxes. I have one important must before I commit to buying: is it possible for this device to be truly offline? I don’t want this thing to ever talk to the outside world or to be emitting radio waves next to me while I sleep
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For that kind of money you can buy a pre-modded iPod classic with all the bells and whistles, including a brand new battery that’ll last you ages on a single charge
- Costs well under $350 (that was the listing I found on amazon in USD)
- Can be loaded up with music without Apple software
- Can completely replace the iPod system software with Rockbox or a couple other FOSS firmwares
- Will have a great DAC for your headphones
- Literally does not have any radios of any kind (unless you specifically mod it to have BT)
- Isn’t $350
- Has a great amount of storage (2TB+ depending on which gen classic you pick)
- The Clickwheel
- Will have way better battery life than the Walkman if you have an extended battery mod
- Have I mentioned it’s not $350?
Also, the Sony page for that Walkman (at least the one I saw) openly touts the WiFi capabilities as a feature, you probably don’t want it if you’re paranoid enough to not want any radio waves coming out of it
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I have a Sony Walkman which I really love. However it is loaded with content using Sony’s own Music Centre pc/mac app. While the Walkman unit itself has no wireless connectivity beyond Bluetooth for headphones or external amp, I am pretty sure that it will send usage data back to Sony when connected to this app. I haven’t tried to load music via another method so it may be possible.
Edit: I didn’t mention that I have the NW-A55L model which doesn’t have the wifi feature of the model referenced by the op. Also, my Music Centre app is on a totally isolated pc with no internet connectivity.
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This sounds amazing. Do you have a vendor you recommend? It looks like there are several.
They mentioned Amazon, obviously there are many sellers on amazon, but you can probably just pick a well known and reviewed one.
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this site is one that commonly pops up among iPod collectors and modders, they sell both parts and pre-modded iPods. but as @exaCORE said you can find lots of options on amazon and elsewhere
I rather buy a good bluetooth speaker 
You really piqued my interest with this one. I don’t know how this managed to pass me by. I love those old Classic iPods. I found a place online selling what I need. Thank you for this
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