I have already written about the mindless debate between proponents for capturing ideas by paper or by digital tools like PDAs, Smartphones, etc. I think it’s a question of personal style, area of creativity, and most of all: between capturing ideas and collecting ideas. Given that I got hold of an iPod touch a few days ago, I tried to combine both by making a Moleskine iPod touch casing.
The steps were quite straightforward (if you want to follow these instructions, do so on your own — and your iPod’s — risk):
- Cut out a space for the iPod (leave some space around it).
- Use glue on the inside of this space to keep the pages together.
- Use a very small drill or a thin screwdriver to make holes in the pages.
- Cut some space for the velcro on the pages (otherwise the velcro will be easily visible when the book is closed — I could have made the pockets for the velcro deeper).
- Glue the velcro in place.
- Use a needle and strong thread to sew the pages together (go through the velcro).
- Take the pages over the iPod’s front and cut a hole in them for the screen and the ‘Home’ button.
- Glue a plastic foil on the hole for the iPod and cut a hole in it in the size of the screen.
- Glue the pages on the foil (a handful is enough to keep the iPod in place).
- Glue the foam on one side of the hole for the iPod and the plastic foil.
- Finished.
As you can see from the pictures, one can see from the outside that this Moleskine is modified. With deeper cavities for the Velcro the iPod should still be kept in place but it would be less visible. Given that this was a prototype I think the project was a success. It is a very good casing, makes reading books on the iPod more comfortable and it hides the iPod from view.
