Thrift stores and garage sales can be great places to find old tech devices that still have plenty of life left.Not every gadget you find in a thrift store is worth buying, but there are some devices that could be worth snagging at the right price.Classic iPods Storage upgrades and Rockbox can make iPods even better It's not unreasonable to say that the iPod changed the way that we listened to music.
Instead of listening to a single album on a cassette or CD, you could carry hundreds of albums at once on an iPod.The iPod wasn't the first MP3 player, but it was the product that brought the concept to the masses.Old iPods can still be worth buying.
Just because a device has a dead battery or failed hard drive doesn't mean it's useless.On some models, you can add new batteries and replace the hard drive with flash storage, making the old iPod even better than it was originally.You don't have to stick with the stock firmware, either.
Rockbox is free, open-source software that adds new features to an iPod, including support for additional audio formats, customization, plugins, and more.You can turn an old iPod into a high-capacity, distraction-free music player.Not every iPod is worth buying, so check whether the model supports upgrades and Rockbox.
Also look for damage to key components like the screen or click wheel.A Nintendo Wii Homebrew software lets a Wii do much more The Nintendo Wii was hugely popular in its day, but it's yesterday's news.The Nintendo Switch has surpassed Wii sales, and old Wii consoles occasionally end up in garage sales or thrift stores.
If you spot one, it may be worth buying.A stock Wii is still a great console with a huge game library, but the Homebrew ecosystem makes it even more appealing.Homebrew software is independently produced software that the manufacturer didn't build or approve.
This means that with an old Wii, you can run community-made Wii games and utilities.You can use emulators to play games from older systems on your Wii or make disc backups you can access via USB, so you don't have to switch discs every time you want to play a different game.Homebrew even offers online gaming, bringing back a feature Nintendo no longer supports.
Later Wii revisions dropped GameCube hardware compatibility, so look for the original RVL-001 model if that's important to you.You should also check key parts such as the disc drive and controllers.An AirPort Express Apple's obsolete router can add AirPlay to old stereos The AirPort Express was Apple's small Wi-Fi base station.
The product line was discontinued years ago, but you may still be able to find one secondhand.If you do, it may be worth buying, but not necessarily to use as a router.The real value is that Apple added AirPlay 2 support to some AirPort Express models.
Since the device has a 3.5 mm analog/optical audio output, it means that you can hook it up to powered speakers, an amplifier, or an old hi-fi system.You can then use AirPlay to stream music from your Apple devices such as your phone or your Mac and play it through the connected audio equipment.It's a simple way to add AirPlay to old audio equipment, which you can then make part of your multi-room setup.
Not every AirPort Express supports AirPlay 2.For AirPlay 2 support, you'll need an 802.11n AirPort Express base station running firmware 7.8 or later.Even the oldest model supports the original version of AirPlay.
Old Kindles Jailbreaking makes unsupported Kindles useful again Close Amazon has dropped support for several older Kindle models.You can no longer buy or download books from the Kindle library or use the Send to Kindle feature with these devices.If you need to factory reset the Kindle, you can no longer re-register it.
Understandably, many people with older Kindles are upgrading and giving away their older models, assuming them to be mostly useless.However, if you jailbreak an old Kindle, you can still get plenty of life out of it.By installing software such as KOReader, an old Kindle can actually become more useful than it was when running only the stock Amazon firmware.
Not only does KOReader support more document formats and offer more control over how your eBooks are displayed, but it also has a ton of plugins.You can do everything from adding an AI assistant that can explain the meaning of words and phrases to using OPDS to browse your local Calibre library from your Kindle.Check that the Kindle model you're buying can be easily jailbroken before you buy.
Also watch for issues like damaged screens.Some old routers OpenWrt-compatible routers can do a lot Routers are a terrible source of e-waste.Many of us get a router through our ISP, and when we switch suppliers or upgrade, we get sent another router.
The process continues until you have a boxful of unused routers.While some ISP routers can be repurposed as Ethernet switches or used in other ways, a router that supports OpenWrt can be far more useful.OpenWrt is an open-source Linux operating system designed for networking hardware.
You can install it on compatible routers and use them in ways beyond what the manufacturer intended.For example, an old router running OpenWrt can become a useful travel router.You can connect the router to your hotel Wi-Fi, then connect your devices directly to it.
When you stay at a different hotel, you only need to connect the router, and your devices can connect using their stored credentials.You can also use an old router as a VPN router to protect all connected devices, or set up a dedicated network for your smart home devices.You can use it as a wireless bridge or access point, or even set it up to block ads and tracking across your network.
Don't buy any router you find, assuming that it will run OpenWrt.There's a searchable list of compatible devices that you can use to check if the router you find will work.You ideally want at least 16 MB of Flash memory and 128MB of RAM.
The right model matters more than the price None of the products above are worth buying just because they're cheap.The trick is knowing which models can still be useful.Not every old iPod or router is worth buying, but a quick web search can usually tell you whether it's worth buying and whether it's being sold at a fair price.
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