iPods have been around for a while now. Its immense popularity also mean there are a lot of broken ones out there on Craigslist and EBay. The economics of fixing vs buying new is a little unclear with iPods as the price of the new ones keep dropping.
However, we did manage to pick up a broken 60 GB 5th generation Video iPod up on Craigslist for $50. At that price, it was worth fixing.
The seller had spilled tea on it and fried a portion of the circuit board. The iPod will boot up, sync, and do all the other iPod things (calendar, games, etc...) It just will not play music, display images, or show videos. The iPod itself is a little banged up, but hey... did we say it was $50?
To fix the problem, we went to our buddies at PowerbookMedics (source of the Pismo G3 Powerbook CPU upgrade ) and got a 5th Gen motherboard for the iPod. Some folks thought it would fun to give the unit a little personality and got a red U2 click-wheel at iDemiGods.com. Both of these companies have extensive parts for defective iPods. Just make sure you know which version iPod you are trying to get parts for, as they are probably not interchangeable.
This iPod restoration project will begin in July. We'll do both the repair and the click-wheel swap at the same time, but may go back in and upgrade the storage if we manage to find a source for an 80 GB drive. So if you have a dead iPod or want to pick one up on EBay and fix it up, this upcoming RainyDayProject will be perfect for you. [Permalink] - Wan Chi Lau
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