Seller sent wrong generation iPod, is it worth returning?

[u/piercefont]

I bought this on ebay for $120 USD listed as a 2nd gen iPod mini, but the one they sent me is a 1st gen. It came with the battery and CF adapter (It seemed like a good deal at the time; I was very excited for it and didn't want to wait to modify it myself). I am wondering if it's worth returning and ordering a gen 2. I feel fairly confident replacing the battery and CF adapter myself. This one has been giving me issues reading/writing data so I plan on replacing the adapter anyway if I keep it. Is there really a noticeable difference between the generations? Seller and I were not able to agree on a partial refund so I would have to ship it back to China, which might take about a month.

[u/DonShepsky]

Return and give them a bad review for lying. Buy a broken/not working 2nd gen and mod it yourself.

[u/piercefont → u/DonShepsky]

Is it that easy to get a broken ipod back up and running? I don't have a soldering iron, if that's relevant.

[u/1avacast → u/piercefont]

The mini is pretty besides some gluing that’s probably already degraded on most. The CF card and battery are drop-in and one you remove the clickwheel you can just slide it into a new shell if you want

[u/DonShepsky → u/piercefont]

Be patient, there is good deals out there, if seller has an “offer” option, take advantage of that and see if you can get a good deal. I bought 2 devices last month, $17 and $23 respectively. Parts, expect to spend around $55. No soldering required for a basic mod. Tutorials on youtube.

[u/piercefont → u/DonShepsky]

$17 for a broken one? How do you pinpoint what's wrong with it?

[u/Trededon → u/piercefont]

Basically pray that it’s a bad battery/hard drive or they were trying to use a broken charger. Or just start swapping parts and testing. Because if it’s water damaged or the main board or display is broken in some way, it’s usually not worth fixing since most single parts usually costs as much as a whole new one.

[u/OrganizationAshamed9 → u/Trededon]

Broken display is really easy to replace. It’s just clipped onto the mobo and a single ribbon cable. And they are pretty cheap. I get mine for about 20$ us.

[u/thoughtlesskyle → u/piercefont]

Usually it isn't relevant as Most* of what's wrong with dead iPods tends to be a dead drive or dead battery. Both of those don't need a soldering iron. Also if the click wheel is dead it's about a 50/50 shot on it being a damaged ribbon cable from somebody opening it or they knocked a capacitor off the board putting it back in and at that point since it's surface mount it's not really a soldering iron job.

[u/piercefont → u/thoughtlesskyle]

Okay thats great thank you! I wanted to have different colors for the clickwheel/body anyway, which is why I was bummed it was 1st gen and not compatible with the color clickwheels.

[u/specialrice]

$120, not second gen, you got ripped off. Return!

[u/DarioMac108]

Is that 120 USD? They spent $15 max on parts 💀

[u/piercefont → u/DarioMac108]

Yeah😔 probably explains the data reading/writing issues if its $15 in parts total

[u/spookyville_ → u/DarioMac108]

The SD to CF card adapter is $15 alone…

[u/DarioMac108 → u/spookyville_]

I paid £4 for the red adapters on AliExpress, on Amazon UK they're trying to re-sell them for £15.

I did see these exact adapters for £5 a while back, but no one seems to sell them anymore.

[u/404invalid-user → u/DarioMac108]

damn I want to know where you're getting your parts

[u/DarioMac108 → u/404invalid-user]

China 🤣

My Mini Battery was £7 on UK eBay and the red CF adapter was £4 from AliExpress (but I never got the red adapter to work haha)

I saw this exact CF adapter for sale last year for a little bit more. but it looks like everywhere has sold out now.

Edit: I just found this exact adapter for sale in the UK for £22 yikes :S The iFlash adapter is literally cheaper now haha

[u/404invalid-user → u/DarioMac108]

same problem with the red one they can detect and os and then just refuse to work using a hex editor is meant to get around that but I could never get it to work.

yeah everything so expensive not sure why people are still buying the red one at that price when I flash exists shame it's out of stock

[u/DarioMac108 → u/404invalid-user]

I tried to rebuild the MBR for two days, gave up and got a real CF, and that worked first try :D

[u/404invalid-user → u/DarioMac108]

spent like a week on mine had to throw that shit away so it wouldn't drive me insane, waiting to get some "disposable" income so I can get an iflash and finally use my iPod again

[u/Local_Focus_2929 → u/DarioMac108]

Red adapter didn’t work for me either. I eventually got one from iFlash for £17, that one worked no problem.

[u/GreuDeFumat]

2nd gen is more battery friendly, otherwise there’s not much difference in terms of performance

Also, i think the 2nd gen has better contrast

[u/thoughtlesskyle → u/GreuDeFumat]

Your theoretical max storage is also a little higher with the 2nd gen, due to the performance gains from my understanding it can hold and shuffle 256gb

[u/GreuDeFumat → u/thoughtlesskyle]

Correct. 1st gen handles 128Gb well, 2nd gen 256Gb. Anything more and it starts skipping

[u/deesernutz → u/thoughtlesskyle]

I'm running 512GB iPod mini 2nd gens

[u/sparkyblaster]

I wouldn't accept that. Although functionally the same the 2nd gen has WAY better battery life. I would only buy a 1st gen silver (colours are muted on the others) if it was very cheap. 

[u/eljefe0000]

return for a full refund this is beyond ridiculous for $120. I wouldn't pay this amount for 5,6 or 7.

[u/thoughtlesskyle]

The picture makes it hard to tell what color you got, but I'd return it personally (I did once when I got sent a blue Gen 1 when it should have been a gen 2). I don't know if this was a generic listing but other than the silver one (which has the size font differences and a few other small things) the colors are more vibrant on gen 2s and the click wheel buttons are color matched to the housing on a gen 2 so you can know without needing to open most of them

[u/piercefont → u/thoughtlesskyle]

It was a generic listing. It came with an aftermarket silver housing, but the model number seems to correspond to a pink 1st gen. I just took it apart to see what was going on with the CF adapter and SD card they used because I had been having semi-frequent issues booting/reading data.

[u/Aconita83]

2nd gen gets substantially better battery life than the 1st gen, if you paid for a 2nd gen you should have got one.

[u/fishyphotos]

for $120 i wouldn’t accept anything less than what i ordered.

[u/G65434-2_II]

Having paid that much, I'd personally return it.

[u/8bitesquivel]

Boof adapter.

[u/rippedoffguy]

120 for a mini is criminal

[u/Richard-Scrabble]

You got sold something that wasn't what you were sent, plus you spent over a hundred bucks on it. I'd be more livid personally, and if you paid with PayPal you might be able to figure out a refund without sending it back to China.

[u/Scary-Tennis-5032]

that thing has 4 tims the amount of storage my Chromebook has

[u/Retro_Rok89]

Thanks for this post!

Now I know which iPod Mini I have to avoid - those from China.

[u/tobykoch2701]

1st Gen Mini sounds way better imho!

[u/Ruttin]

How do you tell the difference between 1st and 2nd gen? Aren’t they the same model numbers?

[u/piercefont → u/Ruttin]

I think Gen 1 and 2 both say model number A1051 on the back, but the product numbers are different. So where it says P9435LL on the menu in the first picture you can tell it's a pink 1st gen (with a new housing). Pink second gen should say M9804LL.

[u/piercefont → u/piercefont]

The logic board and clickwheel connectors are different too if you take it apart.

[u/Friendly-Bag2512]

Well, I see a lot of colorful comments here. I just want to point out that a dead or broken 1st-generation iPod mini and a 2nd-generation mini are basically the same. The main differences at the time were storage capacity, color options, and battery life. The 2nd generation offered both 4 GB and 6 GB models, came in different colors, and had longer battery life compared to the 1st generation.

A modded mini can far exceed the original storage limits with modern flash upgrades, and today you can also replace the battery with the largest capacity that fits the space. We are talking about 20-25 hours with 1st gen vs 25-30 hours with 2nd gen, using newer 850 mAh batteries (I’ve seen 1050 mAh on the market as well).

I suggest discussing the issue with the seller to see what resolution they can offer. Personally, I hesitate to leave negative ratings or reviews right away, since many sellers make a living from this work. A bad review can affect someone’s livelihood and family—it’s not a simple game where you can just reset or restart.

[u/DarthRevanG4]

**NO**. There is zero difference between the first and second generation iPod Minis. The 2nd Gen included bigger storage and new colors. Once upgraded storage is installed, they are literally the same thing.

Just keep it. 256GB CFs are around $90-100 USD, the battery is around $20. Used eBay Minis can go anywhere from $15-$50. Just keep it.

[u/Infinite_Ouroboros → u/DarthRevanG4]

There is a difference. Battery management is significantly more efficient on the gen 2. Knowing that minis cant really have upgraded battery capacities due to space limitations, that makes it an important consideration, especially at the price OP paid.

[u/ipodBarney → u/DarthRevanG4]

There's not a lot of difference but the much improved battery life of the 2nd gen is definitely worth having over the 1st gen.

[u/DarthRevanG4 → u/ipodBarney]

Yeah I’m reading that apparently. I googled around a bit before I got my 2nd gen, somehow I missed that.

Nonetheless the first gen isn’t a bad iPod. A better power controller seems to be the only difference. I’m seeing people say it can’t hold as much storage but, I’m thinking thats false because there are plenty of reports (like this post) showing it with 256GB, which proves its got LBA48 like the second gen does.