The other victim

So I wonder to myself, "can it be possible to get an MP3 player that is rechargable but has no screen?" The answer was yes. In the form of an iPod shuffle clone which I found on ebay one day.

It was perfect. It was always in supply on ebay, it had no screen and the battery was rechargable (albeit via a strange cable which I have to connect from the USB to the earphone jack). Only one catch. Up to this point, I worked on MP3 players that had to do the whole "push play for 3 seconds to turn it on". This one had a mini switch which I realised meant having to drill a hole to fit a switch to make it work and essentially having something sticking out which I didn't think would look great. So off I went with the dismantling.


Remember how I said that the MP3 player recharges via a strange cable that goes from the USB to the earphone jack, well that was the reason why this earphone jack has 5 solder points. A nightmare. So I got my desoldering wick and got rid of the blobs of solder. Now should be the moment of truth. Will it come off? WILL IT? WILL IT? OH YES. IT CAME OFF... wait... AW CRAP. Imagine me swearing after noticing that a solder pad, which is what connects the leg to the circuit board has remained attached to the leg of the earphone jack. I was screwed. The MP3 player was screwed. Without that pad, the thing can't attach to the board and I was left with a junked MP3 iPod shuffle clone. It's a shame that this couldn't have worked out better and so that is why I made this post to not recommend using the iPod Shuffle clone.