ozzy

Well that's my 2nd iPod broken again, so that's two in 10mths and this one only last 3

It may look cool and be easy to use, but boy these things are about as reliable as a chocolate fire guard. Its lucky if it sees 4hrs use a week.

richs2891

Ohh dont let Angry North see this post, he loves everything made by Apple

PS know what you mean about the builld quality and I have commented on this before

Richard

ozzy

He's just brainwashed into the lifestyle thing

I guess if any product goes mass market and they need to reduce costs (or increase profit margins) then build quality will suffer.

I should've listened to my Brother. Working for an Apple reseller he's always commented that their quality isn't what we are led to believe. He says their workshop is always full if Apple stuff.

Suppose it all comes down to percentages. Some will have years of use with no worries and some unlucky sods like me will have nothing but grief with them. Given the choice I'd happily send the thing back and replace it with something half decent.

DJ140

You have been unlucky. Everyone family I know has an iPod and I am not aware of a single problem.

Do you keep dropping it, expose it to damp conditions, vibrations (ooh errr) etc?

Iain Young

I've had loads of problems with my 60Gb ipod photo. Seems the software inside it is very buggy. Nice when it's working, but I find I have to do some fiddling to get it working again at least once a week. I never had as many problems with my old Creative zen as I've had with this thing....

SC008Y_MAD

iTrader: (5)

Ive got an iPod Gen 4 (non colour) and it has been fine, no probs.

ozzy

I've never dropped it, it doesn't get damp and other than going for a run it's not been exposed to harsh vibrations. Maybe I've just been unlucky as you say.

A few of my friends have had problems with theirs too. Like I say, your bound to get some with problems and others with none, but it feels like there's too high a percentage of people I know with iPod problems.

I'm just not convinced you pay extra for build quality, durability and "software" as any other brand.

If only Sony did something as good as they're usually bullet-proof as a brand.

bioforger

iTrader: (1)

There is a common problem with these thou, batteries.

I'm sure the people who arent having any issues havent had their ipods for longer than a year? right?

SJ_Skyline

Should have bought a Sony network walkman

SC008Y_MAD

iTrader: (5)

Yes, i got mine last Christmas.

PG

have a 2nd gen 5gig iPod and never had a problem. Great bits of kit.

ozzy

It was a prezzie from my Brother last Xmas. I'm gonna tell him to get me a Sony for this year

My friends just got hers replaced again (she's another I know on their 3rd in < 12mths).

SJ_Skyline

Mrs SJ bought me the NW-HD1 last Christmas and the only trouble I have had with it was one occasion the database didn't initialise after it was taken out of its charge/synch cradle. Other than that it's been great! (and you know how much running I do!)

ozzy

He'll probably tell me to go f**k myself

I just switched back to using iTunes to get the album art back on the iPod. Did a complete reset and days later it stops working. Coincidence?

Markus

Ozzy - so how exactly is it broken?

I've got a 4th Gen iPod, had it since july last year and it's still going strong, might be a bit scratched, but it's great. I've had it play silly buggers a few times, but that's my own fault, left it in the glovebox whilst out all day during the summer and it got a wee bit hot, plus I did a similar thing last year during the winter. It does not like extreme's of hot and cold

Two co-workers have a 3rd and 1st gen iPod and they've not had any problems at all.

We mainly use them for music, but they are also used for temp storage of large files (OS images) for testing purposes, so they get a little more access then the average music only iPod would.

I'm not saying they are perfect, name me a player that is.

If it's being a ******* then copy all your music off it (use podworks or something like that) stick a song on repeat and let it play untill the battery is drained, then hoot it up to the machine, restore it, copy all music back on, run disk ultiliy and repair disk and repair permissions, then let it charge.

ozzy

The 1st iPod just kept rebooting. I'd just finished updating my library (ready for a 5 week trip to Alaska) and when it disconnected from iTunes, it just restarted and went into a continuous reboot loop.

Last night I wanted to update the iPod (the new 2nd one) with some albums in my iTunes library but the battery was flat. I plugged it into the craddle (just connected to the mains) and it popped up with the "Charging" screen. I noticed it was still on the same screen this morning and now it won't switch off or respond to any of the keys Plug it into the PC and it doesn't show as being attached.

I've only used it twice in the past 2 weeks and that was purely to transport some data to/from work.

I've used it outside running, but most of its life is spent in an aircon'ed gym.

Stefan

G00ner

Don't they have a soft/hard reset switch?

My Creative Touch went blank while I was in Florida, after a bit of panick, I found a small hole in the side of the case and shoved a pin in it, the unit reset and all the files were still intact.

ozzy

There's a keystroke to do a reset, but (AFAIK) there's no hard reset button ... other than a drop kick across the room

Iain Young

...but the keystroke reset isn't much use when the thing stops responding to key presses like mine did last week. Ended up forcing it to run flat before I could get control of it again, (one of the problems I've had with it recently). Luckily, each time it's thrown a wobbly I've managed to rescue it so far, but a piece of kit costing this much really shouldn't have all these problems.

I used to think that Apple stood for quality, but I have rapidly re-assessed that opinion...

ozzy

Iain, exactly re the keystrokes. I'm not bothered about recovering the files as I've got backups of all my MP3's anyway. I'm just annoyed at the inconvienience, especially when it doesn't actually get used all that much.

I did want to use it to store my pics while travelling on holiday but there's no way I'm relying on it with my precious holiday photos.

ozzy

Well, got back home from work and the iPod had actually switched itself off. It wouldn't come on at all until I plugged it back into the mains and now is charging and at least showing me the menu screens.

Looks like it just frooze trying to charge, but I'm loathed to trust it 100%. I'll keep an eye on it over the next few days and try to use it daily to see if it will go through another battery charge.

angrynorth

Well I had to pop in on the thread sooner or later.

Iain - your problems (frozen) will be solved by the following

1 Flick the hold switch on then off

2 Press the Menu and Select buttons at once for about 5-10 seconds

This forces the iPod to reboot (even if it seems unresponsive) and will give you full control. I would assume this will also fix Ozzy's error.

Most of peoples problems with the iPod can be fixed with a simple RTFM and if not Apple themselves offer excellent phone support.

To add, I am on my 2nd iPod. It's one of the 60g Photo models. I've had it since release last year. My first iPod was the 3rd gen one and that is still going strong in the hands of my sister despite being over 2 years old. My girlfriend has the mini and that is also very strong at just over a year old. I can name at least 9 people with pods over 2 years old and using PC's and they are all fine too.

I guess you are just unlucky

Iain Young

I did that, and it had no effect. The buttons were frozen out and so holding them down did not do anything. The only option was to let the thing run itself flat and turn itself off. Then it started working again. I get this freezing problem probably once or twice a fortnight.

No they don't. I tried ringing them and got flippin awful customer service. Took ages to get through, could hardly understand what the person on the other end of the phone was saying, found it hard to make them understand what I was trying to tell them, and I also objected to the condescending tone they had. In the end they asked me to send it to them at my own expense to have it looked at, despite the fact it's still less than a year old

Had yet another new problem with the 60gb photo today. Turned on the ipod this afternoon and it straight away started beeping at me, said the battery was flat, and turned itself off, even though it was fully charged yesterday. Just got home, (was going to plug it into the charger), and it now says it's fully charged again.

Interestingly these problems have got much worse in the last couple of weeks, basically since I installed the latest firmware "upgrade". The next thing to try is to downgrade it to the previous version to see if that helps, (not sure if you can do this?).

I was going to buy a second one for using in the car as an auto-changer, but I'm seriously doubting the wisdom of that idea considering my ipod and Apple experiences so far...

angrynorth

You sound like you aren't having much luck. Do you get into London or Kent? I'd take it to the Genius Bar at the Apple store and you will almost certainly get a resolution there.

Iain Young

Haven't been to London for about 6 years. It's a long way to go just for the possibility of getting it fixed...

angrynorth

Thought so had to suggest though. I don't really know what to suggest other than to try Apple Care on the phone. You might also still be covered under your purchase warranty depending on where you got it from. If its a high street retailer you are sometimes covered for a few years that way for faulty goods.

Iain Young

Thanks for the suggestion

Got it direct from apple (via their web site store), so I suppose I'll have to try and use the phone to apple care again. I just hope I don't get another monkey next time...

angrynorth

I think you will be fine, it can be a bit random as with any call centre.

ozzy

Well so far so good. Mine wouldn't respond to any keystrokes, but thankfully it sorted itself by leaving it alone while the battery drained completely.

AllanB

When they first came out we got lots of cas with so called faulty Ipod. It turned out most of them had not been correctly charged.

Sorry to hear you bought from the AppleStore, you will get much better service form one of the major resellers generally. Although Apple service the ipods themselves unfortunately.

We sell undreds iof not thousands a week and still have very few problems but most of our customers are Mac users.


AllanB