Compact Flash iPod?

A lot of people don't know that they can take their older, hard drive-based iPods, and put a compact flash card (yes, like in cameras), and use that in place of a hard drive.

For those that don't know: a hard drive is what holds the music in the iPod (at least all generations leading up to the Nano and iPod Touch, iPhone). While it can hold a large amount of songs, it has moving parts in it, which makes it more likely to break.

On the flip side:

Most of the current iPods (except for the iPod Classic) all have flash memory. What this means is that there is no moving parts, battery life is generally excellent, and you can drop your iPod from high up and it won't quit working immediately.

Therefore, I propose: do both!

I've seen these claims online and can't wait to try it out, but apparently you can use a compact flash card as real flash memory inside an iPod. It does require an adapter, but it's totally possible.

The benefits of flash memory:

- Increased battery life
- Harder to damage
- Faster
- A damn good excuse for an iPod project

I'm going to try it out. I'll use an iPod Mini, an 8GB compact flash card (twice the storage the Mini came with) and an adapter, and probably a new battery just to make sure everything works fine.

Using eBay, you can get an compact flash adapter and card for about $25, and the battery is only another $5. The broken iPod I bought was $20, so altogether I estimate:

8GB compact flash card - $22
CF card adapter - $3
iPod Mini battery - $5
Broken iPod Mini (hard drive) - $20

All prices are with shipping included.

In the next couple of weeks I'm going to be ordering the parts and keeping you updated. I can't wait to put this baby together!