iPod Resurrection with CompactFlash, Part 2

It's alive!!! Muahahaha....

Well folks, the iPod project is finally complete, and I'm happy to report that the operation was a success! For those who need reminding, the hard drive inside my old iPod (bought in 2006) died earlier this year, and I got the idea from some web articles to replace it with a 32GB CompactFlash card, with the help of an adapter.

But first a relatively brief run down on what took so long to get it done... A few things, really: First, once I initially opened up the iPod, I figured out that I'd purchased the wrong type of adapter to install the CF card with. That turned out to be an easy fix, as I contacted the Amazon merchant I bought it from, and they graciously and easily arranged for an exchange for what I needed. Secondly, not 15-20 minutes after realizing I had the wrong adapter, I messed around and broke the connection that attaches the hard drive ribbon cable to the iPod's logic board. More specifically, I accidentally tore the dang thing off! That pretty much ruined the logic board, so that sent me on another online search for someone who sold replacements. That search led me to iRepair.com, which offered one at a fair price. Thirdly, after the new parts arrived... I got caught up in other things in life, I suppose. Then this past week, I got into some weird sleep patterns, causing me to find myself awake way earlier than I wanted to be. Since I was up and about by 7 a.m. yesterday with not much to do, I figured it would be a perfect time to see if this project was finally going to work...

Let's get it started

The actual job itself was about as straightforward as one could hope for, as long as you start out with the proper tools, which I fortunately did. Since messing around with logic boards was new to me, I looked for some help, which I found at iFixit, another helpful site for do-it-yourselfers. The job started with opening up the iPod (again) with my plastic "spudgers"; special tools that allow you to open the case without scratching or otherwise damaging it. They usually come in a pack if you purchase a new iPod battery, which I was replacing as well, since I had the thing opened up anyway.

Opened up, minus the battery

Once opened, the Torx T6 screwdriver was all that was needed to remove the old logic board. Screws removed, I then had to remove two ribbon cables from the logic board - one connected to the iPod display, the other to the click wheel. There's actually a third, the one that would be connected to the old hard drive that I previously mentioned. But since that was the connector that I ruined, the cable was already out. I always try to learn from my mistakes, so this time I was VERY careful with the other connectors, haha.

Left to Right: iPod screen, top shell, old logic board

Installing the new logic board was a simple reversal of that process. From that point I installed the new battery, which simply consisted of plugging the connector into the logic board, and setting it in place. Next was attaching the CF adapter to the hard drive ribbon cable, then inserting the card into the adapter. That was pretty much it, other than closing up the iPod. Not much to it at all, except...

New battery, logic board and CF adapter installed

Since the CF card took up considerably less physical space than the hard drive, it sort of rattled and flapped around inside, when you shook it. To remedy that (and avoid any potential disconnections from vibration), I re-opened the iPod, cut out a small piece of cardboard to use as a cushion, taped it to the inside of the iPod's metal back cover, and closed it up once again. Sure enough, that did the trick. There's a noticeable difference in weight; the iPod definitely feels lighter in my hand without the hard drive in there.

CF card installed and cardboard in place

Once all re-assembled, I fired it up, and I got the initial Apple logo on the screen that told me that it was powering on, at least. Then my only concern was to see what it would do once I connected it to my Mac. Once connected, the computer recognized it right away, giving me a screen in iTunes, wanting to "set up" the iPod. A text field on the screen said "TRANSCEND" for the "name" of the iPod, which is the actually the brand name of the CF card inside.

Plugged in

I changed the name to "Scott's iPod" - obvious, but works for me.  Anyway, once I clicked "Done", I noticed oddly that it was reporting being formatted for Windows.  I can only guess that since most (if not all) media cards are formatted for use with Windows, that's what it chose for the iPod.  However, to avoid any potential conflicts in syncing with my Mac, I decided to "restore" the iPod, and see if that fixed the formatting. I did so, and the computer instructed me to disconnect the iPod and connect it to an external power charger to complete the process. Connected to the charger, the screen showed the Apple logo once again, along with some weird progress bar at the bottom. Once it was done "progressing", I re-connected it to the Mac, and the format showed up as "Macintosh", this time.

iPod set up & ready to go!

To test it out, I transferred over some Al Green music. Transfers were nice and speedy. Operation of the click wheel through the menus was fine as it was before, and music played just like it should. I haven't connected it to my car stereo yet, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work there as well.

Installing a flash-based memory card with no moving parts, this iPod should last me years and years to come. Battery life should be much improved as well, as it was never all that great when running on the original hard drive. I'm really glad that this worked out though, mainly because I'm attached to this particular model of iPod. Since it's an older model, it's perfect for use in my car. No more carrying around a boatload of CD's!

Besides, in the very near future who knows, one may not even be able to purchase an iPod that only plays music. I also own an iPod touch, which I like a lot. The extra features of this iOS-based iPod (wi-fi, e-mail, web, apps) make it very powerful and useful in many ways. But I suppose I'm "old-school" as well, being the kind of person that prefers simplicity in many cases. A great device that performs one task very well, suits me just fine. An iPod touch in the car would be definite overkill. With the iPod touch at home, and my newly resurrected 2006 iPod in the car, it seems I will once again have the best of both worlds.

Success...

Amazon & the Future of The Cloud

Another weekend is upon us.  Like most weeks, it felt like I wasn't gonna make it to the end...  Anyway, I thought I'd check in once again with a thought about the future.

With the state of things in 2011, one has several options when it comes to purchasing music. However, the advent of digital distribution of music has made it all too easy to simply give an online merchant your credit card number, and *VOILA*, you're downloading one or more albums' worth of music to your computer (or mobile phone!) within a matter of minutes. Along with high speed broadband connections, they have made it so convenient for us, that not very many of us need or even want to purchase CD's anymore - be it online, or "brick-and-mortar". I'm not telling you anything you don't know already, I'm sure. This is simply a setup for my recent experience in purchasing music online, which was a bit different from my other experiences in recent times.

You see, it all started with the recent release of the new album by Radiohead, which has been a favorite band of mine for some time now. Like many other album releases before it, once again I was confronted by several choices in regards to purchase. I have been an iTunes member since 2005, and it quickly became my primary source for purchasing new music, like so many other folks out there. But as a somewhat older music fan, I still like the (now) old-school method of buying a physical product (almost always a CD these days), which typically comes with artwork and "liner notes" that detail track lists and lyrics, along with musician, producer and other studio related credits. Once I have the CD, I can then export the music into my computer via iTunes. Not to mention that with a CD, I'd also have a physical back-up of the music, should something happen with my computer. These days, if there is a new release by a "favorite" artist of mine, I find myself weighing the pros and cons of buying a physical CD, or buying a download from either iTunes, or more recently, Amazon MP3. For less "important" artists, or those whose music I'm just discovering, I almost invariably go the download route. My method of music purchasing in a nutshell...

The other night, I finally decided to look into buying the new Radiohead album, as it had already been out for at least 2 weeks or so. Digital download or CD? I hadn't decided yet. It was at that point, I discovered an offer that I couldn't refuse... As the first option, Amazon had the physical CD available for $9.99 - a pretty decent price for a new CD in 2011. This particular album is only 8 tracks long, so that may have something to do with it. Anyway, they also had an MP3 download of the album available for $5.99!  I was pretty amazed at such a deal!

Amazon had recently launched their Cloud Drive and Cloud Music Player for their members. You get 5GB of Internet-based storage, free of charge. For those not aware, "cloud" is a modern synonym for "the Internet". I believe you can upload any type of files you wish, but along with the Cloud Player, they are advertising it as a new way to store all your digital music in one place, so you may access it from any computer, or mobile device. If you purchase MP3 music from Amazon, you have the option of having it automatically stored in your Cloud Drive, with the additional option of downloading the music to your computer, so you may have your music both there, and "in the cloud".  Additionally, Amazon MP3 purchases do NOT count towards your Cloud Drive's capacity; only files that you upload from your computer.  Pretty cool!  They have paid options available for more storage. For those of you with Android smart phones, there is an Amazon Cloud Player app available to play your music.

The thing that sealed it for me to buy the MP3 version of the album was Amazon's offer to not only sign me up for their new Cloud Player service automatically, but upgrade my Cloud Drive capacity from the standard free-of-charge 5GB, up to 20GB, for a year. That's pretty major, in my opinion. Checking with iTunes first just to make sure before I commit, they are currently charging $9.99 for their AAC digital files of that particular album, with no "digital booklet" - another thing I look for when considering a new music purchase. iTunes offers a digital .pdf file of liner notes and credits for many of their albums - Amazon does not. However, Amazon still got my credit card digits for this one. Sorry iTunes, but this offer was simply too good to pass up...

So this is my very roundabout way of saying that I eventually went with Amazon MP3 for this purchase, in part due to my intrigue with the offer of 20GB of free cloud storage for a year. How I plan to actually use this 20GB, I don't know, but I'm sure some opportunity will come up before the year's through, haha. Apple has been long-rumored to announce some sort of cloud-based version of iTunes, but it has yet to materialize. With this new cloud service from Amazon, I'd say an announcement from Apple can't be far behind.

The subject of cloud storage and cloud computing is big in the tech news world these days, and it's quite apparent with introductory deals such as these, companies like Amazon are looking to be early facilitators of this new technology that allows users to store and access their data. It looks as though we, the public, will very soon be relying less on our personal computers and mobile devices for data storage, and more on companies willing to host (and hopefully backup!) our data. Meanwhile, these companies will be finding new ways to make some dough off of us (either on the front or the back end), for the use of these services. Yes, these certainly are changing times...

Cloud Drive - Mostly empty, for now

Cloud Player