Mod your 4G iPod with internal Bluetooth

For the extreme tinkerer and iPod aficionado, we present to you what appears to be the first ever internal-Bluetooth enabled iPod. Using a flash-memory-modded 20GB 4G iPod, a Jabra A120S Bluetooth music adapter, some clever wiring, a little drilling, and some good old-fashioned elbow grease, one modder has taken things inside his DAP to dizzying heights which can only be referred to as "the next level." The mod has its catches of course -- first you'll have to kick the hard drive to the curb in favor of the more space-conscious flash memory, and you'll need to be pretty handy with a soldering iron and voltmeter, but if you've got the mettle (and this how-to guide), you should be rocking the new Mortiis album wirelessly very, very soon. Check the read link for all the step-by-step goodness.

[Flashpoint @ Jan 1st 2008 8:36PM]

I've never used a soldering iron and I've never used a voltmeter. BUT, TRUE STORY... I had a aiportcard-less G3 Ibook so I was able to add wifi with:

#1 a USB wifi adapter
#2 an 8 inch USB extender cable
#3 a roll of transparent duct tape.

When I was done, my ibook actually looked COOL - like some shit the government would use to spy on citizens.

About 5 days later the hard drive stopped working
:-(

Now I have an HP TXmodel tablet.

[Tom @ Jan 1st 2008 9:44PM]

Good for you?

[Baba Booey @ Jan 1st 2008 8:42PM]

Or...buy a Samsung YP-P2, Insignia NS-DV4GB(t?) with micro sd, Insignia Sport 2 or 4gb with micro sd, or an insignia Pilot 4 or 8gb with an sdhc slot.

[Chuckles McGee @ Jan 1st 2008 9:07PM]

Props on mentioning the Samsung bluetooth players. I have a Samsung T10- integrated bluetooth- just amazing with the Motorola S9 headphones. When will Apple catch up?

[applefreak @ Jan 1st 2008 9:21PM]

u beat me to is...
I have a Sammy P2

[michael @ Jan 1st 2008 11:46PM]

Yeah, I wish Microsoft could do this for the Zune. Maybe in Zune 3...

[carterman @ Jan 2nd 2008 1:51AM]

Amen. I love my Insignia Pilot 4 GB with 8 GB SDHC and Bluetooth. The only player I think I would like more would be the Samsung P2 with the touchscreen and Bluetooth, and hell, I've got the Best Buy PRP, maybe next year I'll switch out my Pilot for that, or something.

[Student Driver @ Jan 2nd 2008 10:38AM]

Heh, yeah, I love my 8GB (with 4GB SDHC) Insignia Pilot as well. I have the Motorola S9 and S705 and find it hard to *not* use Bluetooth; it's so handy. I am selling my 5G 60GB iPod (which replaced my 3G 40GB) because it was too clunky with the TEN Technologies Bluetooth adapter.

There are a lot better choices now, and even if Apple threw Bluetooth in for free they still wouldn't be better (not that it matters, of course).

[GumbyX84 @ Jan 2nd 2008 11:31AM]

Right there with you. I got myself a Samsung P2 a few weeks ago and couldn't be happier with it. Cheaper then an IPod Touch and only required a minor hack (changing a text-based config file when updating) to get UMS working on it. The newest update is out for the player that allows it to work as a bluetooth headset with your cell phone (with bluetooth support of course). Makes it work similar to an IPhone (kinda) without the expense contract. Makes me a very happy consumer. Samsung has got me hooked on their products now.

[uagent @ Jan 1st 2008 9:07PM]

Convenient, since the HDD in my iPod Photo ate it about a month ago... Maybe I'll try this sometime :)

[Joshua Walters @ Jan 1st 2008 9:46PM]

I want Zune Bluetooth :|

I could care less about iPod Bluetooth. Worse yet, its not even the Gen of iPod I own!

[Xanatos451 @ Jan 2nd 2008 10:30AM]

Zune Bluetooth mod exists. I've got a post on the Zunescene.com forum concerning my mod. I haven't completed the formal writeup as of yet, but if you want to see how to do it, go to the Mods section in the forums on Zunescene and look for the post regarding bluetooth mod. I've been rocking my Zune with internal bluetooth for about a month solid now and absolutely love it.

[ScOObyDoo @ Jan 1st 2008 9:51PM]

Sorry, but that is a pretty shitty mod. He didn't even use a AVCRP compatible dongle so changing tracks or pausing means you still need to reach for your iPod.

A decent Bluetooth module or a good bluetooth compatible mp3 player will let you control the music from the headphones. There is modding, and there is just being plain bored and shoving something inside your ipod.

A small enough dongle (ie. NOT anything from Jabra) won't make the iPod much larger anyway...

That said; Apple needs to pop Bluetooth directly into the iPod.

[James Papadopoulos @ Jan 1st 2008 10:28PM]

What was your resolution? Being a twat?

[talkingtowalls @ Jan 2nd 2008 10:15AM]

what a tool you are...

[Nex @ Jan 1st 2008 9:53PM]

has anyone tried this with the zune either the original 30 or any of the others? id like to have wireless headphones for my zune.. but regardless of the device this is a nice hack.. cant wait to see more like this..

[Xanatos451 @ Jan 2nd 2008 10:31AM]

Go to Zunescene.com and search the mods section of the forums for bluetooth mod. I haven't completed my formal writeup as of yet, but will be doing so soon. Been rocking to wireless headphones with my Zune for the last month and I definately think M$ needs to get their stuff together and start putting the bluetooth in the Zune from the factory.

[Zach @ Jan 1st 2008 9:55PM]

ScOOby, you're just mad you didn't think of it first.

However, this is a little inaccurate. You don't need to actually switch out your hard drive, you'll just have to acquire the backing to a 60/80 gig model. They're like $10 online - hardly steep! And why would I want this? I like the mod and might give it a try on my iPod, however, since no GOOD IEM use bluetooth, it's not very useful to me :(

[oldmanfury @ Jan 1st 2008 10:03PM]

Man... the Mortiis reference deserves a hypertext link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortiis

Haven't thought much about ol' pointy ears in about a decade - thanks for the ultra obscure reference.

[James @ Jan 1st 2008 10:25PM]

This brings us to the REAL question at hand... WHY does the iPhone NOT support A2DP? I never cared or thought about it, but the other day I saw a friend's Motorola S9 Bluetooth headphones and realized that I NEEDED THEM! Then I fell into the traditional iPhone owner gaze thinking "WTH, my bluetooth phone/mp3 player doesn't support these?"

[fstedie @ Jan 2nd 2008 2:04AM]

Thanks for the comments guys, I took the iPod to the gym today and was very happy with the results. Although it would be nice to have full AVCRP compatibility, implementing such a feature would be require far more than just a simple hack. However, if Scooby can come up with a clean, simple AND cheap way to do it, I'd be very interested.

I have heard different reasons for the lack of A2DP in the new iPods, but really, Jobs is being very short-sighted by omitting this feature.

[Chris Aubeck @ Jan 2nd 2008 6:39AM]

I use the S9 with my iPod Touch, with a dongle of course. You have to make sure the dongle is compatible with the 0000 pairing code. I had to return the first one I bought for this reason.

[EdZ @ Jan 2nd 2008 7:22AM]

"kick the hard drive to the curb"
And pierce the aether with your music?

[jgalbincea @ Jan 2nd 2008 11:20AM]

Nice Mortiis shoutout.

[Big Sam @ Jan 2nd 2008 11:50AM]

I love my P2!