Wood Block Classic (Dummy iDevice)

If you are like me, you probably have a pretty nice device with a

40-pin docking connector. It's easy to forget now, but people were

really mad when Apple killed the 40-pin connector. This was because

there was a wonderful ecosystem that sprung up of really nice audio

devices that you could plug your iPod into. There were boombox-like

things, clock radios and a few folks who would mod the center console

on their cars to integrate a dock. Sure, Apple made an adapter, and it

was a sleek looking rectangle of glossy white plastic. However, it

wouldn't let the new iPhones fit well into the old docks, they would

just stick up awkwardly on their little white pedestals and threaten

to fall of when moved. Fast forward to 2020 and iTunes is gone, owning

your own music is gone and Spotify rules the world. But those old

40-pin docks with their nice glossy housings and good speakers are

still around. Most of them including the Philips Fidelio I own also

have a 3.5 mm connector so you can still hook up a phone, even if now

it probably takes a Bluetooth music adapter. I use an old Blackberry

Music Audio Gateway which still works pretty well. But there still is

that awkward steel 40-pin connector pointing up and waiting for the

iPod that no longer exists. I can't fix everything with our

subscribing-is-everything-you-own-nothing world but I can at least

help with the aesthics of your old dock.

WoodBlock Classic

Some time ago I put together an InkScape SVG file for lasercutting a

wooden dummy resembling iPod Classic using the Ponoko lasercutting

service. Once cut, the wooden dummy can be assembled with yellow wood

glue. You can get it at my GitHub repo here:

Art, 2020-10-24 07:55