Why must you torment me so, Apple?

The BBQ Pit
#1

So a few weeks ago I decided that my Ipod Mini just wasn’t cutting it anymore. I’ve had it for 2 years, and although it always worked perfectly (note this part) it was only 4 gb and I wanted to treat myself to something bigger. So I decided on the 80 gb video Ipod. $330 from Amazon. Hey, I figured, if my crappy little $180 Mini had weathered the storm so well, paying almost twice that must practically guarantee some quality, right?

Wrong.

After I received Ipod #1 in the mail, I hooked it up to my computer. It didn’t work. Ominously, it froze up my computer for approximately 10 minutes before Itunes finally popped up. It then informed me that my brand new Ipod was corrupt. I restored it, it crashed my computer, restarted computer, and then it wouldn’t recognize the ipod. So I downloaded Itunes 7.2 (spawn of the devil program that it is). Still didn’t work. Went through most of the suggestions on the Apple website. Still wouldn’t work. I plugged in my Mini to test it–now it told me my Mini was corrupt! After I restored the Mini, thank God, it seemed fine. But my OBSCENELY EXPENSIVE PIECE OF GOAT-FUCKING ELECTRONICS still refused to work.

So I called Apple. I wasted my time with some poor woman clearly out of her depth, who made me go over all the steps I’d just tried again. Unsurprisingly, it still didn’t work. I tried it on another computer at home. Nope, still wouldn’t work. Just wouldn’t sync at all. The Apple lady suggested something was probably wrong with the harddrive. Great! Well, the hard drive does have more storage than the harddrive of my laptop. I suppose things can go wrong quite easily. Apple informs me that if I send it back to them, I could get a “used or refurbished” one back. Fuck you very much, you fucking useless jackals. So I eventually email Amazon, and they agree to instantly ship me a new Ipod! Great! Wow, some awesome customer service there, right? (Unlike you dim fucking cunts over at Apple.) At any rate, good job, Amazon!

So I received my shiny new Ipod today. Guess what happened?

THE $330 SHIT-STAINED MOTHERFUCKING PIECE OF SHIT STILL WOULD NOT WORK!

In fact, after briefly working (and allowing me to put a few songs on), it began to do the exact same thing that my previous acquisition did. It is currently insisting that my Ipod is corrupt (keep in mind, this is straight out of the box). It also informs me that I need to reformat my Ipod for Windows. Oh, good! When I try to reformat the god-damned POS, an “unknown error” occurs. BRILLIANT! That is so goddamned helpful, you incompetent fucking jackasses! Sometimes, when I connect it, it simply freezes up my whole computer. Sometimes, it causes a system crash. Sometimes, it fucks up all of my settings.

I have always loved my ipod Mini. It has weathered direct drops to concrete floors, falls from exercise machines god knows how many times, and I’ve took it halfway around the world with me. It is a good little machine. But I’ve had enough. Apple, fuck you and the horse you rode in on. I would rather burn my cash then spend it on another goddamned Ipod. I am going to go to Amazon and ask for a refund. And then I’m going to buy something made by Creative or Rio.

In conclusion, I HATE THE WHOLE WORLD RIGHT NOW.

It’s finals week, I am leaving for a month long trip to Europe next Sunday, and the very last thing I need is this stress. Now I have to send TWO of these motherfuckers back to Amazon before I leave, and in between that I have to take 2 more finals and pack for Europe.

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK.

Phew. I feel a little better now.

#2

Yep, that sucks. I’ve got a friend with the 80gig iPod who has never had a problem … then again, if I were in your shoes I’d sure as hell do the same thing you’re doing. Two attempts and no workee on anything means I’m going with a different brand.

Of course, personally I own a Microsoft Zune, so that probably means I’m an idiot or something … :wink:

#3

It sounds like it’s your computer, not the iPod.

#4

I tried it on another computer. And Apple’s tech support was at a loss. Plus my Mini continues to work just fine on this computer.

It’s just so frustrating. I love my Mini, and I would love to have another ipod just like it, but with a bigger harddrive and a color screen and the ability to play videos… etc. I don’t really WANT another MP3 player. I love the format and how it look and the way it is set up and how easily it works with Itunes… just everything about it. I was more than willing to pay the premium, if the motherfucker would only WORK!!

#5

Nope. It is the ipod. Mine did the same thing. I went to the apple web site and found out that there is a problem with Quicktime. There are detailed instructions about uninstalling Quicktime and iTunes then deleting certain leftover files then reinstalling iTunes and Quicktime. Haven’t had a problem sense then.

#6

My thought exactly. Maybe both computers it was tried on need to be upgraded in some way? You can’t necessarily take the text of an error message at face value.

EDIT: based on that last post, it sounds like a software problem on the computer, then?

#7

Trust me, that was my thought too. I know how unlikely it seems that both Ipods would have some kind of hardware problem. In fact, I would vastly prefer that it is something wrong with my computer. Like I said, I tried everything that the tech support woman told me to do; I also have snooped around on the Internet and tried everything that I found. I’ve reinstalled Itunes numerous times, I’ve changed the drive letter, I’ve restarted the Ipod service, I’ve fucked with the USB ports, etc. None of it has done jackshit to change the behavior of the Ipod. And through it all, my mini works perfectly. I really do not know what else to think.

I will try the Quicktime thing though. Who knows?

#8

Guess I miss typed. It was not a problem with the ipod in my case but rather the itunes software. It worked fine at first, then it auto downloaded a newer verion of itunes and my computer went crazy and my ipod quit working.Following the above procedure fixed it though.

#9

You will need to find the instructions on apples site. (I may have saved them on my work computer but I can’t look untill tomorow) But they refer to some pretty obscure files buried in the i386 directory (i think) that must be deleted then deleted from the trash folder before rebooting and reinstalling. Simply uninstalling from the control panel does not resolve the problem.

#10

I agree that the Mini is awesome. Mine has been through so much shit and it just keeps on going!

That’s all :slight_smile:

#11

I think I may have the one perfectly working, perfectly engineered iPod out there.

It’s a 30GB black video 'pod.

I dropped it down the stairs once.

It’s never not worked.

I love my little iPod :slight_smile:

I really don’t know what to say, except I had very similar problems with the Creative Jukebox. Three or four of them had hard drive problems within their first week (and I did not drop them down the stairs, either). I traded them in for one another and traded the last one in for the iPod.

#12

I have the 80 gig video version. I had an odd problem with the software – each time I burned a disc, one of the songs I burned would disappear from the library, as if it was moved rather than copied. I never tracked it dowm, but reinstalling the software got rid of the problem.

Hope yours works out, because I LOVE mine and I’m sure you would if only…