Good Luck With That Broken iPod

[lsanderson]

By JOE NOCERA
MY iPod died.

It happened right after Christmas — a Christmas, I hasten to add, in which I gave my wife the new video iPod, making it the latest of the half-dozen iPods my family has bought since Apple began selling them in October 2001. We also own five Apple computers, and have become pathetically loyal because of our reliance on the iPod. To the extent that Apple is using the iPod to drive sales of other Apple products, the Nocera family is proof that the strategy works; we've probably spent more than $10,000 on Apple hardware since the iPod first came out. Alas, at least three of the iPods were replacements for ones that broke.

This time, though, I decided to get my iPod fixed. After all, it wasn't even two years old and had cost around $300. Like all iPods, it came with a one-year warranty. Although Apple sells an additional year of protection for $59, I declined the extended warranty because the cost struck me as awfully high — a fifth of the purchase price of the device itself.

Anecdotal evidence — like chat boards filled with outraged howls from owners of dead iPods — strongly suggests that you can write the rest of this story yourself. You start by thinking: "I'll just call Apple!" But it's so hard to find the customer support number on Apple's Web site that you suspect the company has purposely hidden it.

Eventually, you find the number and make the call. Although the tech support guy quickly diagnoses your problem — a hard drive gone bad — he really has only one suggestion: buy a new iPod. "Since it is out of warranty," he says, "there's nothing we can do." You're a little stunned. But you're not ready to give up. On the Apple site, there's a form you can fill out to send the iPod back to Apple and get it fixed. But you do a double-take when you see the price. Apple is going to charge you $250, plus tax, to fix your iPod. There is no mistaking the message: Apple has zero interest in fixing a machine it was quite happy to sell you not so long ago.

Now you're reeling. You're furious. But what choice do you have? You can't turn to a competitor's product, not if you want to keep using Apple's proprietary iTunes software, where you've stored all the music you love, including songs purchased directly from the iTunes Music Store, which you'll lose if you leave the iTunes environment. So you grit your teeth and buy a new iPod. Of course since it's a newer machine, it has that cool video capability. But you're still angry.

You've read recently that Apple has sold 42 million iPods in less than four and a half years. Thanks to the iPod, Apple just reported its most profitable quarter ever. But you wonder how many of those 42 million units have gone to people who feel, as you do, that you've just been taken to the cleaners by Apple? You also wonder why do iPods seem to break so frequently? And why is Apple so willing to tick off people who spend thousands of dollars on Apple products by refusing to deal with broken iPods?

Or at least that's what I wondered as I went through the five stages of iPod grief. More

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I'll bet that none of the other MP3 players are any better. We're living in a world where the economics of repair just don't add up -- because the costs of not repairing are largely externalities.

B

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

Anecdotally, our family has five iPods floating about, one of them the original 5GB version which is now four years old. They all still work...

But... They are hard drives... and that means that if they can fail. Hard drives are far cheaper than they used to be and dropping -- but not the tiny ones. And it's not just the cost of the HD. Considering that the iPod's a closed box, and to replace the hard drive means some tech with high billable hours has to take their time to pull the iPod apart, get to the HD and remove it, replace it with a new one, put it all back together, reload the software and check for performance... well, $250 ain't that high.

Of course, for $59, he could have had his iPod under warranty for two years...

As B intimated above, electronics are becoming disposable. Even $300 electronics. If you want stability in a portable music player, flash memory doesn't have the 'moving parts failure' issue of hard drives... but it's not cheap enough yet for a $300 30GB device. Give it time, though...

ipod help

[croonerboy.livejournal.com]

I have owned every generation and every type of IPOD. Never had a problem. Not ever. You should call me first before throwing away a pod that is likely easy to fix. There are some pod maintenace things you should be made aware of:

1. The rechargeable battery eventually does wear out. (apple will replace it with a fresh one for 59 dollars) Steep I know, but it beats the 300-400 you would have spent on a new one.

2. The firmware on your pod, just like your MAC OS needs to be updated with the latest firmware/software every now and again. These updates are free and your "software update" is located in system preferences in your dock (in os x).

3. Also, your itunes purchases will work on as many as 3 macs or pc's and as far as I know, unlimited ipods. Also you can burn them to an audio cd and re-import them to remove any digital rights management.

[carbonel]

Can't read the rest of the article, since I'm not a Times Select subscriber. Anything worth reading there?

[mia-mcdavid.livejournal.com]

Aren't I lucky I have zero interest in walking around with an earbud stuck in my ear!

Re: ipod help

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

We also have bazillions of iPods without ever having had a problem (well, not bazillions. Five. 2 of yer big ol' ipods, a mini, a nano and a shuffle). They strike me as being rather more durable than average for small electronica, to be honest. Not as durable as GameBoys or MiniDiscs, more durable than PDAs or digital cameras. None of these things are terribly repairable.

Re: ipod help

[carbonel]

The irony of this is painful. My iPod appears to have died today, in-between one use and another. Any idea what it means if it's emulating a very small brick? No response, when plugged into either the home or the car recharger. Totally blank screen, without any previous signs of problems. I mean, the battery life was decaying somewhat, but that was a long-term issue. And now it's just acting D-E-D, dead.