iPod surgery, flash upgrade

Want an iPod nano, but stuck with a fourth-gen player? One crafty DIYer has figured out a way to remove his iPod’s hard drive and replace it with an adapter, which can accommodate plug-in flash memory cards.

Mark Hoekstra, of GeekTechnique.org, put his iPod through some radical surgery to be like it’s smaller brother. This update isn’t the cheapest to do, but it does have some great benefits. With a solid-state flash drive, you don’t have to worry about skipping and there are no moving parts so it will last longer. There is also the obvious battery gain because, again, no moving parts = less power.

It’s a cool little hack, but a pricey one and not recommended for the first time modders out there. Mark hopes to get the special adapter into production so everyone can use flash cards in their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th generation iPods. No price has been released, you just need to drop him an email if you’re interested.

**Do we even need to mention that this will void your warranty?

Project Page [Geek Technique] via [TUAW]