Building an iPod from "scratch", is it worth it?

limpport · Post by **limpport** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 12:06 am

Seeing that we are the iPod generation, I was thinking about how much an iPod costs, and thought, "Woah. Wouldn't it be cool to build your own iPod, and save money doing it?"

I did a little research and compiled a list of all the parts I would need, and where I could get them the cheapest. A grand total of about $230 for a 60gb video, including original earbuds and computer-iPod cable is what I found.

Do you guys think it's worth it?

schmellyfart · Post by **schmellyfart** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 12:33 am

I'm assuming you're talking about buying the individual ipod parts and then putting it all together?

That is how I aquired my 3g ipod w/a 10 gig hard drive. It may be ghetto but for $110 I can't complain. All I did was buy a 3g ipod off of ebay w/ no hard drive, buy a working hard drive for it, then put it all together and bam! There we go, a reasonably priced ipod.

But to answer your question, yes, I'd say its worth it.

Post by **Sparkfist** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:48 am

There's a nice and not too expensive way to have a nice iPod. Go to ebay and look for an iPod Mini with no hard drive, a broken hard drive or whatever. Order at the same time a 4GB or 8GB Compactflash card. Once you get them both and you know the battery and screen for the iPod are good, put the CF card into the mini. When you connect it to iTunes, go and hit the "restore factory settings" or something like that. This will give it all the folders and DB files. This will cost you about $100+ but it's a nice way to have a something like a nano.

MrTroy · Post by **MrTroy** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:08 am

(Ignore me I said Something stupid)

usbcd36 · Post by **usbcd36** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:50 am

You HAVE to get it partitioned correctly first. If you don't have all 3 partitions sized correctly, it won't be recognized as an iPod. If you use a drive that wasn't first used in an iPod, there will be no partitions, and you will have to do it yourself.

How to use a normal hard drive with your iPod. The partitioning instructions are near the end of the instructions part and the beginning of the comments. If you want the page linked THERE, you'll have to go the Wayback Machine route.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 12:05 pm

Sparkfist wrote:There's a nice and not too expensive way to have a nice iPod. Go to ebay and look for an iPod Mini with no hard drive, a broken hard drive or whatever. Order at the same time a 4GB or 8GB Compactflash card. Once you get them both and you know the battery and screen for the iPod are good, put the CF card into the mini. When you connect it to iTunes, go and hit the "restore factory settings" or something like that. This will give it all the folders and DB files. This will cost you about $100+ but it's a nice way to have a something like a nano.

Thats a sweet idea, the CF card would increase battery life, too.

Unidentified Assilant · Tue Jan 16, 2007 1:59 pm

I'd like to use a Ipod & CF Card, that would own so much.

usbcd36 · Post by **usbcd36** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 2:32 pm

I read somewhere that CF cards don't work (properly?) with iPod minis. I know that the Microdrives don't work with digital cameras, though (they aren't recognized).

Maybe they just didn't have it partitioned correctlyâ€¦

Either way, if you're going to try it out, find someone with a working iPod mini, then connect it to your computer and check how it's partitioned. Without that right, iTunes won't even recognize it.

Post by **Sparkfist** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 2:51 pm

http://homepage.mac.com/jason.parry/mini8gb.html

Here's where I read about using a compactflash in a mini as a replacement. And a fair waring to anyone wanting to do this, the Mini doesn't have a color screen so you're stuck with only music, no photos or videos.

limpport · Post by **limpport** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 3:14 pm

schmellyfart wrote:I'm assuming you're talking about buying the individual ipod parts and then putting it all together?

Yepidoodle.

Sparkfist wrote:http://homepage.mac.com/jason.parry/mini8gb.html

Here's where I read about using a compactflash in a mini as a replacement. And a fair waring to anyone wanting to do this, the Mini doesn't have a color screen so you're stuck with only music, no photos or videos.

I thought I saw somewhere that had color screens for your mini, but I'm not 100% sure if it was actually talking about minis.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 4:35 pm

On the replacing the hard drive with a CF card idea, wouldn't it be possible to get several smaller cards and just swap them? I'm asking because smaller flash media is usually less than larger (i.e. get four 2GB for less than 8GB).

Metroid fan · Post by **Metroid fan** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:26 pm

Should be possible if you power it down first then switch the cards.

usbcd36 · Post by **usbcd36** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:52 pm

Taking apart the mini is not as easy as the full size iPod. You have to pry off the top and bottom (they're glued on), then take out a few tiny screws. Then you need to unplug the click wheel, slide the assembly out, unwrap the CF card from its protective casing, unplug it, then plug in the new one and reassemble the whole thing once more. Maybe something to do once or twice, but not when you're out and you realize that the tune you want to listen to is on the other card.

Oh, and don't forget about electrostatic discharge.

vskid · Post by **vskid** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 8:53 pm

Couldn't you make a CF slot for it though by chopping the up the back plate? Then you just turn it off and swap the cards.

usbcd36 · Post by **usbcd36** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 9:02 pm

You could cut through the back, pull the ribbon cable out the back, and make guides to hold the card in place. Try it and see if it works.