My attempt to build a ShrekPod

A photo of a prototype music player with a keyboard next to it

You know these two most widespread flavors/flavours of English, right? Well, there is among others that weird Aussie spice that I lately fell into. In the rabbit hole of DankPods content I found the one video that really resonated with me. In that video, the host built a functioning iPod from scrap parts lying around. I thought if I could do something like this by myself. I had almost all the parts needed!

Motherboard: old Raspberry Pi from 2014.
Hard drive: old external USB HDD which also appears to be from 2014.
Battery: a power bank or even an 18650 batt with some circuitry.
Screen: a cheapo from China.
Sound output: I decided to go full fancy and bought an audiophile FIIO DAC and amplifier.

The Goal:

To build a portable music player from scrap parts I found here and there. It has to have a mechanical hard drive, a screen, and a set of controls. It must fit in a pretty case. It must be easy to use.

Current progress:

It runs. It plays music. It works off a battery. It has a screen, however the image is borked. It does not have any buttons so external keyboard is necessary. It displays default cmus interface which is complicated to say the least. The hard drive does not fit inside the current case, all storage it has is the SD card with system on it. In addition, it totally looks like something I wouldn't bring to an airport.