Using iPod docks with Droid via an adapter

posted Jun 16th 2010 6:00am by Mike Szczys
filed under: android hacks, ipod hacks

Standard connectors in portable devices would be great for the consumer, but then you wouldn’t purchase separate peripherals for ever portable you buy (lining the pockets of the companies licensing said peripherals). [Thijs] isn’t taking it lying down any longer. Realizing that the shape of the connector is one of the only things standing in the way, he built an adapter to use iPod docks with Droid. The hardware consists of a USB connector, audio jack, iPod connector, and a magnet. After working out the wiring it was just a matter of building a chassis using polymorph material. As you can see above, his expensive dock has no problem playing nicely with Droid because of his handy work.

Comments [14]

tagged: adapter, connector, dock, droid

14 Responses to Using iPod docks with Droid via an adapter

CircuitMage says:

June 16, 2010 at 8:54 am

Was just thinking about this last week…

Just the info I needed! Thanks. Maybe some day I will get around to doing something like that…

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darus67 says:

June 16, 2010 at 9:18 am

This looks like a job for Makerbot Man!

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flyfer says:

June 16, 2010 at 10:09 am

I thought ipod docks used line-level connections and not right/left audio.

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Rick says:

June 16, 2010 at 12:32 pm

This mod is a way to reroute audio and power connections from the dock connector, but it doesn’t enable any advanced features that is supported by the serial protocol on the dock connector.

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therian says:

June 16, 2010 at 3:12 pm

if you hate nonstandard hardware just stop buying it, yours grandparents was smart enough to boycott why cant you?

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Ho0d0o/Heatgap says:

June 16, 2010 at 3:30 pm

Very simple hack. The Droid car adapter uses like two small magnets to trigger the phones “car mode”.

Very informative none the less.

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Mikey says:

June 16, 2010 at 3:53 pm

“Standard connectors in portable devices would be great for the consumer, but then you wouldn’t purchase separate peripherals for ever portable you buy (lining the pockets of the companies licensing said peripherals). [Thijs] isn’t taking it lying down any longer.”

Ummm… Isn’t this the opposite of that? Making things work with the iPod’s closed design/adapator really seems like it’s working to line the pockets of the people who designed that propriatary adapter and license it, to me.

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seth says:

June 16, 2010 at 3:59 pm

i think it’s genius for those of us who had once, as you say, lined the pockets of one of the big companies, but now chooses to use a different device, but still has those proprietary devices and wants to still use it with the new device.

i say, good show for putting together a very simple to follow diy for doing this.

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Eric says:

June 16, 2010 at 10:35 pm

huh, I would have added a 3.5mm stereo jack to the proprietary device. heck, most of these have them already I think.

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Ryan says:

June 16, 2010 at 11:01 pm

I already have done this kind of connection with my droid and my car! I have a standalone unit that plugs into the factory head unit and impersonates a cd changer. Problem is it is for a ipod, so I made the same adapter in the article. Works great, even the steering wheel controls function to change songs on my phone as they did in the past with my ipod.

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Nick says:

June 17, 2010 at 7:41 pm

@Ryan, do you have a writeup on how you did this? My car comes with an iPod connector as well, and I would love to be able to use my steering wheel controls.

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twistedsymphony says:

June 18, 2010 at 10:23 am

GAH… why the hell haven’t they made one of these adapters for the Zune yet!

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Squirrel says:

July 5, 2010 at 7:29 pm

@twistedsymphony
ipod connector to dock:
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8035

zune connector to zune:
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8608

then just google the pinouts and wire the correct pins and bingo!

..might want to double-check the ipod part, pretty sure I got that right but not positive.