Kill your iPod (part II).
When it comes to audiophiles all is but lost.
With the advent of MP3, the idea of lossless audio seemed to have fallen upon deaf ears. Enter: FLAC, the Free Lossless Audio Codec, it compresses waveforms by finding similarities (like bzip), not by changing the the waveform itself (mp3 et. al.).
When it comes to playing FLAC on a portable, a HD based one is the only way to go because of the increased size of FLAC files -- roughly 1/2 the size of the original uncompressed stream. FLAC players are listed on the FLAC website, but as far as I see it there are only two choices for gapless MP3 and FLAC playback:
I chose to go with the Rockbox on a 4th Gen. 20GB iPod due to it's availability (which is due to the iPod's extreme popularity) and it's ubiquitous accessories. Unfortunately many accessories do not yet work with Rockbox as the Apple Accessory Protocol for newer models has not yet been hacked.
For installing Rockbox, that was easy so I won't go into details, the instructions for the 4G iPod can be found here, other installs are similar.
I did however want to upgrade the HD and the Battery to breathe some new life into this aging device.
I got the 20GB iPod from eBay for $100. To upgrade to a 40 or 60GB size, you'll need the thicker back plate to accommodate the thicker hard drive. The back plates can be had on eBay.com for $10-20. You may even be willing enough to buy a 40 or 60GB iPod in need of a new hard drive for much less than $100, then you already have the right size unit. I got the hard drive from AddOnGear.com for $115, they also have several iPod parts. The battery I got on uBid.com for about $10. It's a lithium-polymer 1200mAh replacement, the original was a 630mAh lithium-ion so this should give quite an improvement.
It is worth having the plastic tools that came with my battery to open the case of the iPod for any upgrades or repairs. But before opening the unit, turn the hold button on to avoid it powering up during surgery. Start by getting one of the plastic prying tools wedged in between the iPod face and metal back plate in the center of the iPod's side (between the display and click wheel). Move it down a bit and then put in the other prying tool. Move both towards the opposite corners and the unit will pop open.
Carefully remove the old back plate by disconnecting the ribbon cable connecting it to the circuit board.
Carefully remove the ribbon cable from the hard drive.
Take off (and save) the rubber bumpers from the old hard drive, then remove the foam using a razor blade.
You can see the difference in size between the old 20GB hard drive and the new 60GB one.
This is why we need a new (thicker) backing plate.
To remove the old battery first unscrew the two torx screws at the bottom of the circuit board, near the docking port, highlighted below in green (hopefully using a torx screwdriver that came with your new battery).
Carefully remove the battery connector (outlined above in red). This was the hardest part of the whole job for me -- be patient! Once the connector is free, pull the cable from behind the circuit board by going around the side.
Now very gently pry the battery out with a small screwdriver (this tool probably didn't come with your new battery). The battery is held to the back of the click wheel with soft glue so be careful and go slow!
Install your new battery in the same way you removed the old one -- but in reverse.
Now for what I feel is the most important step -- cover the new drive in aluminum foil. Yes, it's geeky, but also very effective. I actually did this the day after because the 60GB drive was putting EMI noise into my headphones that I was not getting before with the 20GB. So in some reassembly pictures you will not see the foil present.
After wrapping the drive in aluminum foil, leaving the ATA connector exposed of course, cover it once with saran wrap to act as an insulator, in case this very conductive aluminum touches any parts of the circuit board. You can use scotch tape to secure either or both the foil and the saran wrap. Then put the rubber bumpers back on which should additionally help secure the foil and plastic wrap. Reattach the Utah-shaped foam piece using double-sided scotch tape or the glue of your choice.
Reattach the new disk drive to the ribbon cable and then reconnect the ribbon cable from the new back plate to the circuit board.
Carefully snap the whole thing back together, then charge it. It will probably display the apple support URL until you re-initialize the hard drive (format it etc.) in iTunes for Windows. Then proceed to install Rockbox using the link at the beginning of the article. Now you have a 60GB FLAC player for less than $250... enjoy!
