DVD Drive iPod Dock

I noticed recently that my DVD drive wasn’t getting much love, but my iPod Nano was getting loads of use and needs charging all the time. An idea came to me suddenly one day that I should put the two together and make a simple dock for my iPod from my DVD drive and some materials I have lying around the place.

Credits for this go to the guys over at thepcreport.net where the original guide can be found

It doesn’t look the best, but at least it’s really cheap to make. Here’s how you can make it:

Materials

• An old DVD or CD that you don’t mind cutting up
• The plastic iPod docker that came with your iPod
• iPod charging/transfer cable
• The iPod iteslf
• Knife/scissors/pliers for cutting DVD
• Sandpaper for sharp edges
• Permanent marker
• Blu-tack or similar adhesive
• Tape
• Oh, and your DVD drive (laptop DVD drives won’t work unfortunately; neither slot-loading drives)

Step 1: Prepare

Collect materials in a clean work space. You might make a mess cutting the DVD so make some room

Draw, on the shiny side of the DVD, a rough outline of the underside of the iPod dock. You only need some of the plastic coming through the other side of the DVD, so take a look at the above pic for an idea of what to draw.

You may not get it right the first time, this is understandable and you can easily make adjustments when you get to the cutting process

Comments

[hunterbait93]

I made an instructable more or less like this ages ago for the dead computer contest, yours does look better though, mine was a bare minimum dock that actually went into the computer, i just couldn't get all the stuff I needed for making the cord internal.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-a-cddvd-drive-iPod-Dock/

[Paul Chops]

You should have used the Chronus USB PCI Card it has an internal USB port. And 4 External ones.

[axoth]

nice idea but when i made mine it didn't
work entirely for my ipod touch dock

the ipod touch dock adapter was too big for the dvd drive...

[Paul Chops]

Jeez what iPod you got?

[Paul Chops]

im gonna do a similar thing but instead of Putting it in the CD-Drive im gonna use a nibler and put it in the top of my actual computer, then i will buy a chronus USB PCI card (it has an internal USB port) to connect it.

I dont like having my CD-Drive open like that, BUT its a great idea!!

[izzi303]

 That is such a nice drink holder!

[Kryptonite]

Nice! Looks good and easy to do.

I'd just be careful; it could get snapped off so easy!

[scorpus57]

Understandably people will be worried that their drive will get snapped off. Just to test it out, I applied quite a bit of force to my DVD drive (the same one as above) and I couldn't get the tray to snap off. I put a roughly 4kg brick on it and it still didn't snap off. Seems pretty tough

[legano]

yeah, i use my DVD drive to hold bricks, too.

[louwhopley]

 I'd say be carful of the ipod snapping of when the drive accidentally closes. :)

[Kryptonite]

Wow, that's alright. I bumped mine and ruined a cheap but good drive. $50, goodbye!

[gmjhowe]

 Personally, I would have given both the CD and dock connector a nice layer of black spray paint, make it all tie in nicely.

Otherwise, nice work!

[Yerboogieman]

Congratulations on being Featured on Lifehacker!

[Davidl3]

 this was featured on lifehacker

[technoguy94]

Hmmm...how hard would it be to make one that is Zune compatible?

It cant be that bad for the drive, and if you accidentally closed it, most drives would probably 'bounce' back open once your iPod or cable hit the DVD drive.

[Bongmaster]

as long as ure cd drive doesnt decide to close the drawer ;) then its goodbye dvd drive..
personally i wouldnt put anything other than a disk in the drive, or leave the thing open to let dust in. or own anything apple XD but thats just me ;)

now cutting a hole in the top of ure pc case (if u can) and feeding the wire out the back , or to an internal usb port would make a kool mod. integrated dock ;)

[pitty]

That's a great idea I might just do that.

[dpatridge]

 Use a nibbler to enlarger the hole. The case moding people use them for enlarging holes in sheetmetal. Radio Shack has them for under $11 when I did a Google search for a nibbler.

[pyro1324]

 i have the same case as you! so i'm totally gonna make this!

[kelseymh]

Very nice!  Simple, easy, no complicated tower hacks, but it makes your system look much more interesting.