wood ipod
wooden ipod by josh d
josh d from australia has taken apart an ipod mini unit and rebuilt the case using nothing but natural wood and screws. the design uses no glue and the click wheel is attached to the sensor via double sided tape.
wooden ipod
wooden ipod
making of ipod 
wooden ipod
making of wooden ipod
making of ipod
wooden ipod
via ilounge
wood electronics (24 articles)
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WHY?
Why not? This is hilarious!
Wonderful piece!
What do you mean “why”, and what do you mean “hilarious”? Because it looks really neat (Not funny). Why do electronics come in cases that are something more complicated than just a simple shell around the internal parts? Because it looks neat. This project is just a different take on the materials for th iPod design. I can’t believe you’d ask “why?”. That question is hilarious.
I can’t believe you took something seriously on the internet *gives you a chill pill*
What’s next, a steam powered model?
Thats truely awesome! Excellent wood working.
Nice to see out of the box thinking but what about thinking ahead! problems:
1. the clickwheel would not be ‘normally’ responsive as the default design
2. warping of wood with temperature and humidity causing problems to the clickwheel, LCD display, even possibly the circuit board. Don’t leave it in the car for an afternoon…
3. if it gets wet the wood will warp and will splinter
I am sure there is more I am not thinking of such as how heat cannot escape via the case b/c wood is so much more insulating.
Despite lack of true usefullness, it does look nice.
Good craftsmanship – but to quote an earlier writer – why?
Can you explain to me what a “natural screw” is? Do those grow on screw trees?
might not be too long and the above mentioned problems are solved and apple are selling the eco-ipod…
it’s just style , that’s all of it. don’t think seriously about it. someone love wood design more than plastic case, after all.
is so good
i wanna get it
i subscibe to designboom to see cool designs-to see something outside of the square we live in.
this ticks all the box’s.
one of the best ‘dress ups’ for this well known icon.
going by some previous comments,obviously some people are quite happy to miss the point and follow the mass’s of boredom and repeditiveness.
His warranty won’t be covering it now! haha lol It is pretty cool though!
I sense a mild (not made too obvious, as a compliment) conceptual twist, remembering those wooden high-end stereo set popular before pods and mp3’s.
Nice.
I want one for me!!!
aparently from all the above. Design is for everyone and anyone. Not all people are the same. Not all people like the same thing. Not all design is made to solve problems or be smart, and I am sure the non-likers of this wooden ipod (including myself) have the occasional not so functional piece in our collection of rubish. Emotive is a way to design and try to get reaction from people. Bottom line anything goes! You like it… Good… U don’t then Too Bad. The guy crafted out some fun. Share it or just be indifferent. Its too Fascist to make everyone see things through your own logic. There are more logics than our own
wow! how beautiful! if electronics came in such gorgeous cases, I would be far more interested in them.
Dude, that is just too cool!
RT
http://www.anon-tools.tk
Next time, can you make an ipod case out of spam?
Awesome! This is a business opportunity, this page needs to have a way for people to place orders and buy this!! Act quickly man.
~Rob
http://www.mytextsecret.com
This is art … he has taken a ubiquitous piece of modern culture and turned it into something singular.
Very cool.
Oh, I agree, a Spam iPod would be sweet! And mildly nauseating.
now weights as much as a zune
I greatly appreciate the out-of-the-box thinking this design represents. It’s beautiful, and to those asking “why?” I ask, why not? Because no one told him to? Nothing new and innovative happens when you get permission or approval first.
Most people who can’t see value in what is unique have been subject to too many years of public schooling. This limits ones ability to see the value in expressing individuality. I, for one, love it:-)
this is cute..^^
I think it is lovely. I love the integration of technology and nature. Very cool.
That’s amazing
Very nice – will you sell this piece?
That looks nice, and the craftsmanship is good too. 🙂
One thing that came to mind, though, is that I’d think the click wheel would no longer be sensitive to touch. For the click wheel to be responsive to touch, the wood would have to conduct the skin’s capacitance through to the actual click wheel.
hm does not look to bad, but i would not buy one.
OMG I WANT ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WOULD TOTALLY BUY ONE!!! TWO…. MAYBE THREE!!!!! I wish they sold them =(
Don’t understand the criticism. I think it’s beautiful! nice work!
the answer to everyone’s “why?” is so simple! Because he thought out of the box, he saw a different picture, maybe a bigger picture. In my opinion you can’t design or be a designer if you let the question “why?” get in your way! so the question is “why not?” and the answer to that is because it would simply sell being different than the rest!
all the other factors that involve more technical diffuculties, such as the heat problem mentioned before or decaying of the wood, or contact with water, etc… leave that to the engineers man!!! that’s their job! obviously working together with them, but mostly their job!
other than that i think this model would definetly sell, it’s definetly or would mostly be seen as a style, a very especific style that would definetly go with apple, since they always have been looking for out of the box projects!
VERY AWESOME!
steampunk
google it.
btw. This ipod is great.
this has been around for years
just plain awsome…laptop next?
AWESOME
Talk about steampunk! this is what abe lincoln would use.
looks great !
good work
”Next time, can you make an ipod case out of spam?” MeatSpin….i bet you love a mans spam chunk right up your chuff. Or a big chunk of wood rubbing against your leg. Other than that i love the ipod case.
its a good redesign of the case, i like it great job.
good idea, eveything on wood!yeah, fuck the planet!!!!
Tsuji Ayano FTW
Do that with an iphone and I’ll be impressed 😉
dude?!? its not serious till you make wooden headphones…
and wooden wires to match the wooden headphones.
Hiya all!
I’m glad some of you enjoyed my little wooden ipod. You seem to appreciate the exact same reasons why I wanted to make the mod in the first place. As I said, I love wood, making things and just having fun with little projects. For the others who asked ‘why?’, that’s totally understandable. Some things simply aren’t to everyone’s taste. As for a few questions that were asked, I’ll do my best to answer them:
The click wheel –
It actually works really well now, pretty much as perfectly as the original click wheel did. The wooden clickwheel I shaved down from a block of wood ended up being aroun 2mm thick (the original plastic wheel cover is around 1mm thick), and I was happily surprised when I placed the wood wheel on the sensor and it picked up my finger just fine. The whole capacaitive process works totally fine. I guess it’s the same principle as how you can often operate your ipod through a layer of denim while the ipod is in your jeans pocket.
Heat –
I actually didn’t even think of the heat factor while I was making the wood mod for the mini. But I haven’t had any troubles with the wood ipod so far. And I knew I was making it with a sensitive material from the beginning, so I treat it like a wooden guitar or other wood instrument, eg: not leaving it in a hot car or letting it get wet.
Use –
When I decided to make the wooden mod, I didn’t want to make some prop that didn’t work perfectly, or something that you never actualy use for fear of damaging it (like fine china that paranoid grandmas never even take out of the cabinet). I did this mod SO I would enjoy using my old Ipod mini again. So I made the wood shell a little thicker than I would have liked purely for structural strength, brass ends caps instead of wooden end caps for durability, and kept it all dismantleable so I could service or replace parts in the future. I keep it in a nice soft felt case now too and I use the little guy every day.
Buisness –
Ah yes, some people I’ve showed have immediately shouted that I need to market the wood cases. It’s not really my mindset to make money off the mods, but I’m going to investigate it a bit further. If only to be able to offer the chance to get a wood ipod mod for their trusty fave ipod to those who like the idea. I’d need to streamline the making process though, because it would take me forever to make them by hand again!
Sale –
Sorry! The piece isn’t up for sale, I’d probably cry with despair if I let it go after all the time I’ve spent on it. But the above mentions that I’m looking into possibly making them available down the track, so there’s hope.
Steampunk –
Ahhh steampunk. I suspected that my ipod wood mod might get that association from some, but I actually made it from brass and wood simply because I love both of those materials themselves and together. There’s no association to steampunk, and I sort of feel sorry for wood and brass that now when they’re seen together they get labelled as such. Boo hoo!
Wood headphones –
I stopped myself at the point of making wooden heapdphones even though I still REALLY want to make some. I just have to roadblock my tiny ocd tendencies and move onto other projects. So this is all the wood ipod paraphenalia I’ll make for now.
Thanks again for all the comments and constructive critisisms everyone, I’m glad some of you appreciated it and enjoyed checking it out.
See ya!
Josh D, (australia)
too bulky eww.
everyone takes the non-functionality too serious… pretty sure everyone has newer ipods than that!!!
Forget the warranty folks…this will bring a ton of money from a collector, and why not? Human design ingenuity at it’s best. I wish I had Josh’s talent to re-think the iPod, not to just CG it but actually doing the job. Kudos.
Can termites eat that?
No… the wood is treated
Oh dear: it’s IRONIC!!!! Duh!
Bizarre, sad, but predictable that some people ask “Why?”.
Think of recreating Stonehenge from recycled plastic, or sculpting a Bugatti Veyron from pasta… this is not particularly athletic, conceptually speaking, but nonetheless proves too challenging for some who consider themselves party to a design sensibility. *sigh*
Thank you Josh D for demonstrating a delightfully Australian larrikin sense of humour. Sorry to the humourless denizens of elsewhere who “just don’t get it”.
omg i would totally buy this!!!!!!!
This is a beautiful piece of work Josh.
beautiful! also, it rocks that you’re from australia 😛
There is no point to this, it is just another gimmick. What foolish people you are who have fallen for yet another stupid idea!
If they sold theses as kits I think folks would purchase them. I would!
Can you discuss the brass plates?