controlling an ipod shuffle with arduino

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1

Ive been doing a lot of searching, and cant seem to find much anywhere. Im trying to control the functions of an old ipod shuffle 3rd gen. My exploration of it is still very rudimentary, but Ive taken it apart and tried to figure out what part does what.

I have found this great instructables (http://www.instructables.com/id/MP3-Interface-for-Arduino-Cheap-and-Easy/?ALLSTEPS) using a chinese knock-off, but nothing using an actual iPod.

If anyone has managed to do it - either via serial, headphone socket, shorting the buttons etc. I would love to hear!

Cheers

2

I'm thinking you could probably send it commands through the connector. after all, there are docking stations with control buttons on them. So, I would start there. Several places (including SFE) sells a breakout for the connector. Using information gather from the web, you can find out what each pin does. As for the actual protocol needed to talk to it, a quick search revealed this page: https://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/ee476/FinalProjects/s2007/awr8_asl45/awr8_asl45/index.html

That ought to get you started. And you didn't need to bust open the iPod. :slight_smile:

3

hi KirAsh4

thanks for the reply - unfortunately the ipod shuffle doesnt connect via the traditional ipod 30 pin connector, but only uses the quad connection 3.5mm jack. There is probably some way of communicating through this too but I havent found it yet.

thanks for the link re protocol - looks like some useful info.

As for breaking it open :slight_smile: yeh I probably didnt need to, but its always more fun to see whats inside these things.