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iPod Mini Custom Installation In A Ford Explorer

Posted by timothy on from the all-the-trimmings dept.

Johnny Mozzarella writes "MacWorld has a nice write-up on Jesse Melchior, an amateur special effects artist and filmmaker, who used his skills to create a custom installation that is worthy of an iPod mini. The article outlines the materials he used such as latex, plaster and dental acrylic to create an integrated dock complete with blue LEDs and Apple logo in his Ford Explorer."

18 of 344 comments (clear)

  1. Why not go all out? by Drooling_Sheep · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If you're going to do something this fancy, why hamstring yourself with the 4GB mini?

    1. Re:Why not go all out? by M.C.+Hampster · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Riiiight. Are you going to carry that around rig around?

      The advantage of creating a dock for a portable MP3 player is that you can take your music with you, but still have a nice way to listen to MP3's in the car. Plus, your risk of theft is decreased if you can remove the $500 piece of equipment from the car.

      --
      Forget the whales - save the babies.
    2. Re:Why not go all out? by falcon5768 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      very simple.... whens the last car trip you have taken where you get even remotely close to playing 1000 songs? I sure havent come close with my 5gig 1st gen

      --

      "Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."

    3. Re:Why not go all out? by baudilus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why not indeed. I had a 6GB Creative Nomad Jukebox, and filled that up QUICK. I now have a 40GB iPod and love it.

      It's easy to gather up 10,000 songs when you have a CD collection from two generations of people; not to mention the downloads (purchased *and* free). Ripping CDs and stuff, I currently have 1760 songs, and that's without all the comedy routines and prank calls that i've downloaded, and I'm not even doen ripping CDs. 1000 songs? bah.

      The question "How often do you have a car trip where you can play 1000 songs?" is simply missing the point - the point is not playing that much music, the point is, when I want to listen to Disturbed, I can. If I want to hear Tribal Tech, I can. If I want to hear Black Eyed Peas, I can. And I don't have to fumble through 100 CDs while driving to do it. The point is choice, not volume.

      Think about it.

    4. Re:Why not go all out? by Halfbaked+Plan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually, it's a way of saying 'I have a library card' and 'cakeboxes full of CDRs were on sale last month.'

      --
      resigned
  2. Great... by Jin+Wicked · · Score: 4, Insightful

    (joke)Just what we need, another jackass in an SUV with a blinky detachable electronic gadget to operate while driving and try to get everyone else killed.(/joke)

    Seriously though... that seems like a lot of wasted space. It also looks like it would be too easy to accidentally bump it out of the little holder while driving.

    --
    My Webcomic: Asylum on 5th Street
  3. Re:Watch that counter roll! by KirkH · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's hosted on mac.com, so I'd bet it'll last quite a while. :P

  4. Ummmm by metalhed77 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The point isn't how much you listen to, but giving you how choice as to how much to listen to. I have 3000 songs in my library. I listen to several repeatedly over the course of the day. I skip over many of them too. Some people don't listen this way, but i'd rather have my whole library at my fingertips. I never know which song i'll want to listen to next.

    --
    Photos.
    1. Re:Ummmm by plumby · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So it's more sensible to have to decide in advance what you fancy listening to, than to be able to decide at any point? How does that work then?

      I sometimes go away from home for 2 weeks at a time. It's great to be able to decide "ooh, I just fancy a bit of mellow jazz to calm me down 'cos the plane's been delayed again"

      The other week, I had an 18hr trip back home, and got through probably 14 hrs of music (which is getting on for 250-300 different tracks on that one day alone).

      Of course, I could cope with listening to the same tracks over and over again, or decide in advance which 1000 tracks I'm most likely to be in the mood for, but why bother when I can carry my entire collection in my jacket?

  5. Re:Ugly and tacky by otis+wildflower · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is not a troll. This whole install looks grafted and cheap.

    The _real_ solution is to have a widget that treats the iPod as a CD changer, ala Phatnoise.

    That would probably run at least $100 tho, as it'd need to be basically an iPod without the screen, drive and controls...

    I'd buy one in a second tho if it were compatible with any firewire ipod and the becker/HK trafficpro.

  6. The standard for what is "News" sure is sinking by wowbagger · · Score: 2, Insightful

    OK, this guy does some plastic fabrication that anybody with some time can do, and he gets on the main page.

    So, if I submit my photos of my '04 Grand Marquis, wherein I have not ONLY added a 30G Neo35 MP3 player, but a Kenwood dual-band transciever plus two extra speakers for it, the antenna for the Kenwood, a second battery, extra power points, a battery isolator to charge the secondary battery, a second power distribution panel, would that make the front page?

    --
    www.eFax.com are spammers
  7. Re:that still won't get me to buy a ford by Enigma_Man · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The real Mini, or the new BMW biggie?

    -Jesse

    --
    Nothing says "unprofessional job" like wrinkles in your duct tape.
  8. Re:As these things go... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    are all geeks cynical idiots? have we lost the simple appreciation of little things in life?

  9. Re:Archos by jhoffoss · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Yeah, watching movies while reaching through the steering wheel in your camaro to mess with your Archos is totally safe. Whereas fiddling in that dang console is really hazardous. Why else would car manufacturers put stick shifts down there, within easy and comfortable reach of the driver's right hand...and just imagine, if it were down there, your passenger could change the music while the driver...drives! How dangerous!

    Seriously though, how about watching the road instead of how many RPMs your Z28 is whining along at?

    --
    Linux: The world's best text-adventure game.
  10. Re:Battery problem by pballsim · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Once this is done, the Explorer becomes like the iPod. When the car's battery runs down, you replace the whole car.

    I throught this was already a "feature" of Ford. Or do the cars even last *that* long...

  11. Re:SIZE!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Am I the only one tired of the tricked out computer fad? Lets take something that already uses too much power, add lights, over clock it, add more fans and cooling devices, LCD readouts, etc etc etc. It'd be nice to see a trend towards low power consumption computing.

  12. Re:Battery problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I think he's talking about custom engraving, but even that's wrong. In that case, they'll pull the back off yours and put it on the new one. But that doesn't stop the trolls from repeating it!!

  13. Re:SIZE!!! by theLOUDroom · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yes I know there is a roll-over risk with my truck as with anything that is fairly tall and narrow. but If you know how to drive there isn't a problem.

    Yes it is. It limits your vehicle's cornering ability. It doesn't matter how well you know how to drive, you vehicle's handling capabilities are severely handicapped. Should something bad happen, you have less potential to do something about it than someone driving a decent car.

    Besides if you know how to drive, you shouldn't need a 4WD SUV to feel confident on a ROAD.
    I feel perfectly confident driving down the road in a CAR, except when somebody else is next to me with their suburban battle tank.

    --
    Life is too short to proofread.