building your own diyPod

I first mentioned making a CD shelf three years ago this month. So it's about time I actually got around to building the damn thing.


Long experience has taught me that the success of any engineering project hinges on accurate and detailed technical drawings:

caetano minds the extension cable, as rapturously involved and helpful as ever

yeah, i just had to throw some kind of pseudo-arty thing in there

the dr. frankenstein moment

hanging out with my creation

It is inevitable that a first-generation technology product should contain a few design flaws:

my back panel

stacks of CDs i prepared earlier - a few months earlier

the classification begins - that's the fun part

alpha-chronological (by recording date) organisational bliss... for jazz, at least

I thought I'd made the shelf big enough to take all my CDs, but it's pretty much filled up with just the jazz. I'll probably end up building a similar shelf in a few months (or years...). At least now I can survey my CDs and perhaps participate in group activities such as '70s, '90s and year-best lists.

In closing, the moment you've all been waiting for:

iPod (80 Gb) vs. diyPod

• cost: 369€ vs. 53.92€ (+ two half-days' labour, and not counting tools)
  
• capacity: roughly 150 uncompressed CDs vs. over 1,200 uncompressed CDs in jewel cases
  
• time to fill: ripping included? vs. a half-day
  
• portability: as far as you can get in 20 hours vs. centimetres, with great difficulty
• metadata management: who has the time to input the bpm of every song? vs. exactly what I need
  
• probability of theft or loss: fairly high vs. fairly minimal
• coolness: high, but in a sterile way vs. high and totally authentic
  

I think the diyPod wins.