Steps 1–14: Teardown
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iPod Shuffle 3rd Generation Teardown
Introduction
We got our hands on a brand-new 3rd Generation shuffle and wondered what was inside...
Teardown
Teardowns provide a look inside a device and should not be used as disassembly instructions.
Paginated Single Page Steps
Step 1
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Teardown
Here it is, in all its magnificent glory -- the new Shuffle! We'll post updates on twitter about interesting things that we discover as we go.
The box is as dainty as its contents.
According to Apple, the Shuffle has a "true volume" of 4,326 cubic millimeters and weighs in at 10.7 grams. A single MacBook Pro 17" weighs as much as 286 of these Shuffles.
Shameless plug: In addition to taking things apart, we also sell Mac and iPod parts and upgrades.
Step 2
Contents of the box:
iPod Shuffle
Apple Earphones (with in-line remote)
USB Cable
Quick Start guide
We gave it a quick listen before tearing it apart...
The controls are not as awkward as we expected, but we still prefer pushing buttons.
Compatibility does not appear to be this iPod's strong suit. We tried this iPod with a Shuffle 2nd Generation dock, but it doesn't fit. We tried the cable with a Shuffle 2nd Generation, and that didn't work either.
Step 3
The usual suspects.
Can you pick the Shuffle out of this lineup?
The Shuffle does not say iPod (or Shuffle) anywhere. As far as we know, this is the first iPod that Apple didn't label.
Step 4
Upon connecting the shuffle to a computer, we learned that the voice-over feature must first be downloaded via iTunes.
Interestingly enough, normal headphones can still be used to listen to music. The only drawback: without Apple's proprietary headphone playback control, you will not be able to change songs or adjust the volume.
The headphone playback control offers two buttons for volume control and a center button for playback control. The center button can be clicked once to play, twice for the next track, and three times for the previous track.
Step 5
On to the dismemberment...
Apple hasn't made their iPods easy to open lately, and unfortunately we don't expect things to change with this iPod.
We begin by inserting a metal spudger into a crevice between the rear cover and the rest of the shuffle.
Inserting the metal spudger creates a gap big enough to insert an iPod opening tool. We slide the iPod tool across the length of the gap to dislodge the left side of the rear cover.
Now that one side of the rear cover is fully dislodged, it's easy enough to use the iPod opening tool to dislodge the right side as well.
Step 6
We're in. That wasn't too bad, but the shuffle isn't going to win any awards for easy serviceability.
It's fairly easy to bend the rear cover even though it is made out of aluminum.
There is a retaining tab on the top of the shuffle that prevents the rear cover from being pulled apart on the top side. The rear cover should be pulled apart from the iPod on the bottom side first.
Step 7
Is this the future? A single IC, a battery, and some user interface components.
Amazingly, at least on our scale, both halves weighed 5 grams. That means the entire functional half of the iPod weighs only about 10% more than a single sheet of letter size paper.
Step 8
Remove the small Phillips screw. We won't waste our time circling it -- there's only one.
We get lots of requests to add more screw guides. Fortunately we don't need to make one for this iPod. Just don't drop the screw, and you'll be fine.
Have you disassembled the headphones with remote yet?
Have you figured out, how the buttons work? Do they work by connecting two lines with a resistor? Is it possible to add such a remote to other headphones?
iFixit Staff
lalala,
I've added a picture of the opened headphone buttons. Hopefully the picture answers some of your questions.
The entire headphone assembly is very frail. I assume that making your own adapter for use with aftermarket headphones would be a waste of time -- provided that Apple's adapter is not terribly expensive.
Hey Miro, another question: Inside those headphones does it appear there are any ICs or anything? There is a rumor going around that there is some sort of handshake or DRM that would prevent cloned headphones from working, but from your image they look simply like analog buttons. Is there something on the other side?
In fact, we cracked ours open: there's a chip behind there. Now what does it do? http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/03/14...-found-the-chip-in.html
If the play button is on the proprietary earbuds cable, how does one play and pause the ipod shuffle 3rd gen with a third-party device? Does it just start playing as soon as you turn it on?
iFixit Staff
The third party adapter would have to include the play/pause and volume up/down buttons, otherwise it would be of no value to the user. The player does start playing as soon as you turn it on, which is how we were able to test our non-shuffle earbuds without any adapter.
where did they put the serial number and "designed by Apple in California", "assebled in china"
iFixit Staff
That information can be found on the rear cover, underneath the belt clip.
is the entire enclosure one block of aluminum or does it have the plastic caps like the older ipods?
iFixit Staff
The entire enclosure is made of aluminum. We had to access the internals in order to remove the rear cover, as there were no plastic caps to remove.
Why do they not include the last part of the datamatrix? By a decode it should read:
TT90
86 9
03 F
1297
0073
Just one of those things I wondered about.