iPod Mini Autopsy

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Posted by CmdrTaco on Thursday February 26, 2004 @07:35AM from the eat-that-warranty-man dept.

tritone writes "Some fearless soul has disassembled his iPod mini and provided pictures and commentary about the process. This really does seem to be an autopsy since he managed to kill it in the process. That's $249 well spent in the pursuit of knowledge. See the full report at www.ipodlounge.com."

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$249? by 2MuchC0ffeeMan · 2004-02-26 07:38 · Score: 1, Interesting

wait, he spent $249 on this, when he could of spent ~$299 on the full 15gb version

i think the mini-ipod will be a complete flop, too price for too little.

--
Runnin' On Empty .... I'm Still Alive
Auto Applications by Enze6997 · 2004-02-26 07:39 · Score: 5, Interesting

If there was an easy way to create some kind of direct hot swappable drive slot for this hard disk that you could switch between a PC and a car you could really do some crazy in car audio mods for cheap. Have the i-pod display and controll buttons mounted somewhere in the car and then just wire in the audio to the Aux audio input for the stereo. It would be a not only easy mod but a cool looking one if done right.
Consider it buying the microdrive. by raygundan · 2004-02-26 07:41 · Score: 4, Interesting

Those 4GB microdrives retail for a LOT more than $250. It would be a good deal based on that alone, but as an mp3 player, you can do better in the space per dollar department.
Re:We Need Help... by bobbabemagnet · 2004-02-26 07:44 · Score: 5, Interesting

My group at Oregon State University is currently working on a device that uses an old hard drive from an Ipod. We have successfully interfaced with it, and can read and write from it at blazing speeds using an FPGA. See our web site here:

http://classes.engr.oregonstate.edu/eecs/fall200 3/ ece441/groups/g15/

If you have more questions, send me an email (also listed on the web page)

Bob
4 GB CF extraction.. by steppin_razor_LA · 2004-02-26 07:46 · Score: 5, Interesting

I read this site yesterday after seeing a link in the Slickdeals discussion forums.

It sounds like extracting the 4GB CF isn't much of a problem.

People have been able to put it in a CF reader and get it working fine on their computers.

A number of people have reported problems getting the CF to work with their cameras or other CF devices working in the iPod. I suspect that this has something to do with how apple formatted the disk and will eventually be solved.

For those of you laughing at iPod mini buyers -- they could probably sell the 4GB CF cards for a profit.

--
Evolution: love it or leave it
1. Re:4 GB CF extraction.. by cflorio · 2004-02-26 07:58 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  There is a discussion over at dpreview.com that details the trials of trying to get the removed microdrive to work with cameras, etc.
  Maybe someone in the slashdot community could contribute to the thread over there with some ideas on how to get it to work?
Re:all that work and no 4gb camera friendly CF by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-26 07:46 · Score: 4, Interesting

From the comments in the page:

I took one apart also... The Hitachi drive works fine in my Sandisk USB reader. I can delete partitions and reformat it, etc. However, my Digital Rebel just turns the Red CF light on and sits there.

By Kent Marshall on Feb 23, 04 4:17 am

It looks like you can get the 4gb microdrive for $249 afterall.
Site slashdotted by broothal · 2004-02-26 07:50 · Score: 3, Interesting

This happens every day. A story is posted on slashdot that links to some site.
Site is brought to its knees.

Now - how about a slashdot-cache like google cache? It's not fair to punish the guys that post interesting stuff on their website like this story.
All links in the story would then link to the slashdot-cache and leave the original site alive.

And - aside from saving the sites some trouble, it would enable those of us who came in late to see how he dismantled that ipod.
1. Re:Site slashdotted by ajs318 · 2004-02-26 08:51 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  The problem with caching sites is that it would lay Slashdot open to prosecution for copyright infringement. On the other hand, not caching results in overloading other people's servers -- and could even lay Slashdot open to prosecution for aiding and abetting misuse of a computer. Of course, it's a defence to a crime that you did it to prevent a greater crime being committed elsewhere. But this is the point where the lawyers go into a feeding frenzy .....
  
  The valid reason against caching is that a page could contain highly dynamic content. The less valid reason is that it involves making a copy of the information {as does everyone else who views it}.
  
  Perhaps the solution is a meta-tag that page creators can use, which would permit Slashdot {and others, if they so desired} to cache their site? This would require a deliberate act on the part of the cache-ee, and thus amount to explicit consent; but precisely by virtue of that requirement, it would nullify its own effectiveness. It's your classic paradox situation .....
  
  --
  Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
Replace that microdrive? by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-26 07:58 · Score: 5, Interesting

Would it be possible to rip out the 4GB microdrive, put it to good use in a camera, and replace it with a 512meg solid-state CF card? Would give you a non-skipping iPod mini that can interface with iTunes, and plenty of space to go work out with it. Plus the cheap microdrive.
Re:We Need Help... by Apiakun · 2004-02-26 08:02 · Score: 5, Interesting

Well, in the case of the iPod mini, the hard drive retails for $500 whereas the iPod mini is half of that. I know of a few digital camera junkies that are considering buying the iPod just for the hard drive.
Re:We Need Help... by sensate_mass · 2004-02-26 08:09 · Score: 4, Interesting

Because the drives retail for twice what the whole ipod goes for by itself. Currently, it's possible to make a profit by buying the ipod and selling just the drive on ebay.

--
--- Submission is feudal.
Re:We Need Help... by bobbabemagnet · 2004-02-26 08:12 · Score: 5, Interesting

We considered this. It was actually cheaper for us to buy a defective iPod off of ebay than to get it from the OEM. The iPod hard drive was fine, it was another part of the iPod that was defective. Also, since we were using the battery as well, this was a package deal that saved us a LOT of money over buying the parts from manufacturers directly. Finally, we only needed to build a prototype, so getting the parts like this was preferred to begging the OEM to sell us single parts rather than in bulk.

bob
Re:Well... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-26 08:15 · Score: 5, Interesting

HAH, Thanks for the slashing guys... my server is barely coping ;) I'm going to have Apache recompiled to allow MORE connections. See if that helps... I doubt it ;) And yes, the site runs on a 1st generation iPod. ;) We had problems using the 3G iPod... Linux didn't like the touch wheel.

Dennis Lloyd
Publisher/owner
iPodlounge.com
Re:More like murder by divide+overflow · 2004-02-26 08:19 · Score: 4, Interesting

>Actually, dissecting something while still alive is called a vivisection .
>But, yeah, you can call that murder.

Actually, murder is intentional. I'm sure the accused didn't intend to end the life of his iPod. Therefore I think this would qualify as negligent homicide or involuntary manslaughter.
Somewhat related question by ktulu1115 · 2004-02-26 08:24 · Score: 4, Interesting

Please don't mod this offtopic, as it is a relevant question...

For those iPod owners out there: What has been your experience with the device as far as strength/stability goes? As in... Does a drop off a table crash the heads? I am looking into purchasing one possibly, but my main use will be for snowboarding and if it's not gonna be able to take some abuse (obviously it will be in my jacket but still subject to vibration and the occassional wipeouts), I would rather go with a solid-state one. Any feedback would be most useful.

--
# fuser -v /dev/attention | grep work
#
1. Re:Somewhat related question by Wooo · 2004-02-26 08:57 · Score: 4, Interesting
  
  I do a lot of rollerblading with my iPod here in the streets of New York City and I've had my fair share of wipeouts. The trick is to get a case similar to this one which provides non-slip rubberized sides and a nylon face and backing. I've dropped my iPod while standing up, fallen on it, crashed into various obstacles etc. and my iPod is still working perfectly to this day.
  
  Just make sure to get a case which will offer some shock protection, the standard case which ships with the iPod wasn't really meant for any contact sports.
  
  --
  
  When life gives you lemons, you squeeze the lemon juice into your enemies eyes and steal his apples.
$249 for a $500 $ GB CF card by JT_Palmer · 2004-02-26 08:31 · Score: 2, Interesting

Not a bad deal when you think about the fact that a regular Hitachi 4 GB Compact Flash card cost close to $500 by itself.
Re:More like murder by Golias · 2004-02-26 08:33 · Score: 4, Interesting

The sad thing is, for killing an iPod, it was a wasted opportunity. Everybody already knew that they contained a battery, 32 MB of RAM, and a small HD.
If you are going to kill an iPod just to show how '1337 you are, please do something useful: Reverse engineer the iPod Docking Connector!
I really want to know what all the pin-outs are on that thing. For example, I'm convinced that some of them double the functions of the remote-control interface on the top of the iPod, but I don't want to send current through random pins on the base of my preciousssssss just to figure it out. A lot of us would like to build our own iPod accessories, but need the data from such an experiment to do it. (Apple will not tell you jack if you are not Belkin Technology, Inc. I'm far from the only one who has asked and been shot down.)

--
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
Re:We Need Help... by jcr · 2004-02-26 08:42 · Score: 2, Interesting

So why didn't you just go buy the same HD for less money?

Two words: quantity purchase.

If you placed an order for 100K+ units, you could probably get about the same pricing that Apple does.

-jcr

--
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."