How does one implement the below? Doesn’t it require you to have the iPod connected to a power source independent of the battery like a power adapter and to your computer at the same time? How does one do that? Thank you.

"Another way to use an iPod sans battery is to use it as a music source for iTunes on your computer, at home or at work. If you manually copy music to the iPod (which you can still do, even without a battery, as long as the iPod is connected to power), you can then connect the iPod to any computer running iTunes and play its music back, browsing, using playlists, or simply selecting songs, exactly as if it were an iTunes music library on that computer."

My first gen is about to become "the wife’s" Touch.

1. you can take it abart and use it as a wallet. it holds cash or cards.

2. use it as a piggy bank. the slot at the bottom is great for puting coins in.

3. paint it! nothing looks better on your desk then a tydye ipod.

4. take it abart and put a cheap mp3 in it. kinda dumb but looks funny.

5. take it abart and put a phone in it.

6. (this is what i did) if you have a big enof ipod you can fit a phone and an mp3. budget iphone! this as the two above takes some doing. so eather know what your doing or move on.

7. two words. fire crakers

thats about all i came up with

I did a variation on your backup hard drive. I found a slick little USB 2.0 case for $12 and put the iPod 20 GB hard drive into it. I now use it as an Ubuntu Linux drive for my work notebook computer. Even the Grub boot loader is on there, so the IT guys from work cannot see any personal files. It works great.

zafo

Recently my Shuffle took a turn for the worse, and wouldn’t retain files. They would simply dissappear randomly! Quite an odd situation…

Anyhow, I am lucky enough to have an Apple store near me, so I decided to take it there to see if the folks at the “Genius Bar” could assist me. After a 45 minute wait, my name finally came up!

After a couple questions and quick examination of the ipod, the Genius Bar associate ran to the back room and quickly returned with a brand new 1GB Shuffle, still in the wrapped box! Yes, he completely replaced the iPod for me!

I know the iPod was purchased IN EXCESS of one year earlier, so I don’t honestly know why he completely replaced it for me!?!?

Was he just lazy, and didn’t want to deal with it? Is it because it was only a cheap Shuffle? Or maybe they will just replace your iPod if you have the motivation to bring them the old one? I don’t know!

Before turning your dead ipod into some odd science experiment, consider bringing it to an Apple store! You may get lucky like I did!

Mike J
Author of “Vexation Fixation”
Vexation Fixation
Fixing some of Life’s Common Problems!

Go along to Rockbox.org and install that on your iPod.
Its most useful feature, if you install the voice pack, is speaking menu’s. Yup, thats right. It will speak the names of menu items, albums (well, folders actually) and the names of songs and playlists out loud. So you can use the ipod ‘blind’.

I was given an ipod with a broken screen, and it was the first time I owned one, so I never got a chance to learn the menu layout. After installing the rockbox beta and the voice pack, and following the other couple of simple steps for setting up the ipod for speaking file names, i now have a useable ipod without a screen.

They’re not yet out of beta though, so if you’re a bit wary hold back. But if you’re like me with nothing to lose on an already broken ipod, give it a try!

Other (Tongue-in-Cheek) Uses for a Dead iPod:

o Use individual dead iPods as paperweights.

o Or, tie about 5 dead iPods together, to make a functional (and classy!)
doorstop.

o Or, tie about 50 dead iPods together, then tie them to one end of a sturdy
rope or chain to make a nifty boat anchor.

o Or, use a dead iPod to measure the height of a tall building. Here are two
ways to do this:

————–

How to Measure the Height of a Tall Building
Using Only a Dead iPod and a Tape Measure

1. On a sunny day, stand the dead iPod on end, on the ground, in the vicinity
of the building.

2. With the tape measure, measure the length of the dead iPod’s shadow on
the ground.

3. Measure the height of the dead iPod.

4. Measure the length of the building’s shadow on the ground.

5. Using your above measurements and the principle of similar triangles, you
can compute the height of the building:

Building height / building shadow = dead iPod height / dead iPod shadow

Solving for the building height gives:

Building height = (dead iPod height X building shadow) / dead iPod shadow

————–

How to Measure the Height of a Tall Building
Using Only a Dead iPod and a Stopwatch

1. Go to the top of the building.

2. Drop the dead iPod off the top of the building.

3. Using the stopwatch, measure the length of time, t, that it takes for the
dead iPod to fall from the top of the bldg to the ground and smash to
smithereens.

4. Using your above time measurement, and knowing the acceleration due to
gravity, g, you can compute the height of the building:

g = 32 feet per second per second = 9.8 meters per second per second

Building height = 1/2 g * t * t