Sprout Pi Mainboard is a drop-in replacement logic board for iPod 3rd‑gen, 4th‑gen, and iPod mini units that preserves the original case, monochrome LCD, and click wheel while modernizing the internals. Two variants are offered: Sprout Pico, driven by a Raspberry Pi RP2350 microcontroller for instant-on playback of local music and podcasts, and Sprout Pi, which uses a Raspberry Pi Compute Module Zero to add streaming (Spotify, Apple Music), apps, and AirPlay. Hardware highlights include a Cirrus Logic CS43131 hi‑fi DAC feeding the original 3.5 mm jack, Bluetooth audio for AirPods and wireless headphones, USB‑C for charging and digital audio, Wi‑Fi, and a microSD slot supporting up to 2 TB. Supported codecs include MP3, AAC, ALAC, FLAC, and Opus, and battery targets are ~40 hours (3G/4G) or ~20 hours (mini) on prototype cells.
Firmware recreates the classic clickwheel interface - including Cover Flow, search, and podcast features - written from scratch, and adds casting/streaming functions (Google Cast, AirPlay; streaming app availability may vary with service APIs). The board installs without soldering using original ribbon cables and a screwdriver. Sprout is fully open source: hardware under CERN‑OHL‑S v2, firmware under MPL‑2.0, and documentation under CC BY 4.0. Working proofs of concept existed as of September 2026, and a Crowd Supply campaign will launch for preorders and source publication on GitHub.
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