I’ve always been a huge fan of video games, ever since my earliest days, and the Atari 2600 was my first childhood gaming console (yup, I’m that old). After seeing the other day this 35 years old system finding a new life by becoming a retro-inspired iPhone speaker dock, it immediately brought back fond memories of gaming sessions shared with my friends after school.
A fan tore a broken Atari 2600 apart, making a few clever changes to turn it into an app-enhanced stereo speaker dock. The Atari dock will recharge an iPhone or iPod touch while allowing you to listen to your music or an FM radio. The mod also features six equalizer settings, comes with a remote control of its own and has a 3.5mm jack to connect other audio sources…
Thank Peter Morris, who runs the Etsy web shop, for making it happen.
Of course, he put it for sale on Etsy for £150, or approximately $230.
If you feel like dropping that much on a speaker dock (many contemporary high-end counterparts cost way more, by the way), you’ll want to hurry because there’s only one unit on sale.
From the Etsy description:
In 1977 this little beauty brought video games to the home, sparking the video gaming revolution. It was named the Woody because of its wood vaneer front panel, this was back in the days when it was thought any gadget should look like a piece of furniture! (Remember wooden TVs?) It is the iconic games console, a thing of vintage geek beauty!
This 2600 was non-working and unused, once so loved it was a broken relic.
But now it is once again relevant, expertly crafted into a unique and wonderful iPhone speaker dock!
This thing is not a toy: there’s a digital amplifier built-in to produce “low resonance sounds, crystal-clear acoustics and thumping bass.”
The Atari dock is compatible with the iPhone 5 via the included Lightning adapter.
The system communicates with your device via a free app that provides full control of the dock through your iPhone, iPod or iPad, with support for music and FM radio playback, the alarm clock functionality, animated weather display, customizable interfaces, auto-tune FM and more.
@matthewmspace no, he just took a job as a technician at Atari and created a circuit board for their Breakout game
— Christian Zibreg (@dujkan) March 10, 2013
As for the included remote control, it has the playback/volume controls on it and additional buttons for mode settings, repeat or shuffle functions and iPod menus.
By the way, if you ever wondered how Etsy got its name, here’s your answer.