# iPods, What Pieces of Junk **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 26, 2006, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946 "2006-10-26T05:27:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/1 "2006-10-26T05:27:40Z")
I do believe the iPod is the most expensive disposable gadget in the world. The iPod is now five years old. I have had three of them because they keep breaking. Number One, the hard drive failed while at the same time making a nasty whining noise. Number Two, the battery died. There is no place in Saudi to get a battery. Now Number Three has died in a most amusing way. The freaking lock button will not unlock. I can move the silly thing left and right, but the little ‘lock’ icon stays on the screen and I cannot use the controls. Freaking wonderful. A 2,000 riyal iPod shot to Hell because of a 1 riyal switch. I swear, does any other bit of technical gear have worse reliability, worse repairability than the iPod? What’s worse is I suspect I will buy a new one by the end of next week. Grumble! ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/2 "2006-10-26T05:40:46Z")
Perhaps you should look into other music players. They do exist, you know. ---
**Author:** ![Foldup\_Rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Foldup\_Rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foldup_Rabbit)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/3 "2006-10-26T05:46:02Z")
That, or perhaps call Apple. The one time I had a problem with Apple gear, they replaced it for me alarmingly fast, since it was still under warranty. Not sure how the shipping is outside of North America. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/4 "2006-10-26T05:54:09Z")
That happens with mine every now and then. A hard reboot always fixes it. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/5 "2006-10-26T06:02:19Z")
(How do I do that? No pinhole for a paperclip. I can hold down any part of the scroll wheel as long as I want to no effect, as it is locked.) ---
**Author:** ![Foldup\_Rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df788c/32.png) [@Foldup\_Rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foldup_Rabbit)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/6 "2006-10-26T06:12:34Z")
Hold down the menu button (top of the scroll wheel) and the select button (middle of the scroll wheel) together until the thing shows an Apple logo. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/7 "2006-10-26T06:13:16Z")
I have an older model, so they might have changed it, but on mine I hold down Menu and Play at the same time for about five seconds, and it reboots. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/8 "2006-10-26T06:26:30Z")
(That seems to have gotten it. I swear, I cannot Pit at all. I think you have to be born to Pit properly. Perhaps some community college could offer a class in Pitting. All that being said, iPods are still junk.) ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/9 "2006-10-26T06:33:12Z")
I hear they have these wonderful things now called _inn-struct-shun-man-u-als_ that provide handy tips for how to deal with gadgets that hiccup. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/10 "2006-10-26T09:15:46Z")
Please, this is the Pit. A person of your education and breeding could do better than that. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/11 "2006-10-26T09:31:21Z")
This is a pitting-by-proxy, but our housemate was given an iPod nano for Christmas just last year. About 2 weeks ago it crashed and burned, and now it just sits there showing a greyscale “Battery Dead” style logo (a battery with a line across it) and will not boot up at all. He’s tried a hard reboot according to the instructions he found on [apple.com](http://apple.com) (lost the book) but it still won’t do anything. I’ve told him to contact apple re: the warranty, but he’s just pissed off with it all, because it was less than a year old. Not to mention that for nearly 3 months before it died each time he used it the battery life seemed to go down by a factor of an hour or so. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/12 "2006-10-26T09:55:15Z")
Never had a problem with mine, maybe you just have bad luck ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/13 "2006-10-26T11:19:17Z")
This is why when I get an MP3 player I’m going to avoid anything by Apple or Sony. Makers like iRiver have enough experience and market share that I can be sure of getting support if I need it, but they aren’t so big that they feel they can dick with me just because I’m locked into their product line. (Proprietary batteries? What kind of shit is that? My wife’s uses an AA.) ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/14 "2006-10-26T11:29:46Z")
Mine’s been perfect, but I do know two people at work who now want to nuke Cupertino due to their iPod troubles. It’s undeniable that there are some lemon units out there, but to have three lemons in a row does seem to be remarkably shitty luck. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/15 "2006-10-26T11:45:00Z")
I made the fatal error of getting an HP branded iPod. The damn thing freezes all the time even though 90% of the time it is sitting in my car plugged in and has never been dropped shaken or anything rough at all. Apple Store will do nothing and HP just says “sorry warranty is out, buy another” I’ve rebooted it at least once a day for the past three months. Sometimes it works, mostly it doesn’t. Letting it sit a day seems to do the trick so I get an iPod for about 40% of the time when it comes down to it. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/16 "2006-10-26T12:08:58Z")
Huh. Odd. My first Nano had the screen problem (first batch), and that got replaced within a few days. Other than that, I’ve not had any problems with my iPods (and my family has 3). I dunno what to say. =/ ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/17 "2006-10-26T13:05:32Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] Number Two, the battery died. There is no place in Saudi to get a battery. [/QUOTE] You can’t order one on-line? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/18 "2006-10-26T13:15:38Z")
[QUOTE=Paul in Saudi] There is no place in Saudi to get a battery. [/QUOTE] The Shareef dont like it… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/19 "2006-10-26T13:17:53Z")
[QUOTE=rjung] I hear they have these wonderful things now called _inn-struct-shun-man-u-als_ that provide handy tips for how to deal with gadgets that hiccup. 🙂 [/QUOTE] That’s cheating. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2006, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946/20 "2006-10-26T13:25:51Z")
[QUOTE=Count Blucher] The Shareef dont like it… 😃 [/QUOTE] **Paul** began to waaaaiiiil… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipods-what-pieces-of-junk/377946.md?page=2)