The Mad iPod Scientist.

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Author: Honan, Mathew

You're probably not about to drop $399 on a brand-new 15GB iPod and then pry it open to see what it looks like inside. But then again, you're probably not A. J. Fouladpour, who "dissects" iPods and then displays his work online at iPoding .com. When the iPod-accessory developer started the Web site in late 2001, he never intended to build a community. But after Fouladpour posted pictures of a disassembled 5GB iPod and instructions on how to reach the MP3 player's Diagnostic mode, "people showed up," he says. These days, iPoding.com has more than 5,000 registered users. And no wonder-it's a fantastic resource for the iPod's devotees, with daily links to iPod news stories, a massive online forum full of iPod tips (such as how to use the iPod's calendaring abilities without iCal), and even an MP3 search engine. But what really catches the eye is Fouladpour's graphical documentation of his iPod surgeries-including looks at the original 20GB iPod and the new iPod dock in greater detail than Apple's warranty allows. Among other discoveries made during his iPod disassemblies, Fouladpour found that "the Synaptics touchpad-display daughtercard kind of looks like Mickey Mouse." But a more substantial discovery was the realization that Apple uses the Wolfson Microelectronics WM8731L codec in its new models-"a great little chip [that] opens the door to both voice recording and stereo line-in recording," according to Fouladpour. No word yet on whether voice playback will sound like Donald Duck.

www.ipoding.com/modules.php?op=modload%26amp;name=gallery%26amp;file=index%26amp;include=albums.php Want to know what the insides of an iPod and its assorted accessories look like? Visit iPoding.com's galleries, and wonder no more.

PHOTO (COLOR): No Mickey Mouse Operation iPoding.com found that the iPod's touchpad-display daughtercard resembles a cartoon rodent.

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By Mathew Honan