Martin Fielder did most of the hard work when it comes to using the iPod Shuffle without iTunes. All you have to do is copy the music over to your Shuffle like a normal mass storage device. Then run the database builder which takes care of all of the dirty work. Ohad took care of the final loose ends for Windows users by converting the Python script to an exe. Head over to his blog to pick up the zip file and start managing your own music, because… well… you’re not an idiot.
jim younkin is at it again. earlier this month he created a pair of cordless ipod shuffle headphones. now he’s out with an upgrade: shufflephones 2.0 — new hotness edition.
what i like about the second hack attempt is that he added another audio connector. this could be used to connect to a stereo or to share music with a nearby friend. it’s a pretty functional little headphone mod.
for version 3.0 — kickassness edition, i’m hoping to see the shuffle control interface mounted externally to the headphones so that you can switch tunes without taking the phones off. hack on, jim!
flamingballofwreckage sent us a link to instructions for using a standard 3.5″ hard disk with your ipod. after making the adapter, there is another howto for formatting the drive so that it will be correctly recognized by the device.
‘but j,’ you say, ‘that 3.5″ drive would make my ipod simply ginormous!’
yes. yes it would. but with a proper case, a small power supply, and an rca plug adapter, the ‘ipod super’ could be a really cool 300gb audio station that isn’t much bigger than a portable cd player. that’s an awful lot of music and data storage in a tight package.
think car audio. think brick sized dance party. think media pc case mod. or think different — and tell us about it.
while most shuffle owners don’t know it yet, in a year or two there will be a lot of folks wondering where their battery life went. applecare’s battery replacement service for normal ipods is available for the low, low price of $99. think they will have a cheapo shuffle battery replacement service? think different.
we mentioned earlier that someone posted photos of an ipod shuffle disassembly. the previous disassembly left a few key questions unanswered, namely:
do you need to butcher the buttons to take your shuffle apart?
will the average joe be able to replace the battery?
what else is under the hood?
can it be cleanly reassembled?
this howto will attempt to answer these questions while disassembling the shuffle in a non-destructive manner.
Continue reading “Howto: Nonviolent Ipod Shuffle Disassembly”
i saw this just moments after posting yestrday’s article, so i’ve been itching to get this one up before everyone has read it already (apologies to those that have). here’s a quick howto that shows you how to make a raid 0 array out of 4 ipod shuffles. is it just me, or does this one look an awful lot like that weird boomerang from krull?
the basic setup is applicable to normal usb flash drives as well. it’s not super fast, but it does allow you to use several devices as a one single, larger drive. there’s really nothing stopping you from making a software raid array out of anything. take the floppy disk array as an extreme example.
this hack instantly reminded me of looking at stereo images at grandma’s house when i was a kid, and though it’s been all over the net today, i know how absolutely everyone here loves ipod hacks so much
it’s begun. you may have seen news of the ipod shuffle disassembly on engadget earlier this week, and now the mac mini is subject to hacking as well.
to begin hacking an ipod shuffle, follow the disassembly photos here.
to begin hacking a mac mini, view how to safely open the case here.
regarding the shuffle disassembly, i’d recommend you don’t remove the navigation pad if you ever intend to reassemble the device. as for the mac mini, supposedly opening and servicing the machine won’t void your warranty.
unless you break something.
happy hacking and make sure to send us your creations. we’ll be posting our own, so it only seems fair. if you can’t find the time to create, send in any ideas you have and we’ll put our team of highly skilled hackers to work.
here are some examples to get the ideas flowing:
mac mini media player
external battery pack for the shuffle
integrated shuffle or mac mini car audio or navigation system
the most mini mac mini
