I suppose it's just a coincidence that my iPod broke the day the iPhone was announced. The annoying thing is, it wasn't totally broken; I just couldn't add anything new to it. I could listen to the tracks already on it just fine. But I had just finished an audio book, and was trying to add the next one, and every time I tried it went "click - click - click" and then crashed my computer.
At this point I probably should have left well enough alone, but I was following the troubleshooting steps, and after "reset" comes "restore." Which I did, and which left me with an empty iPod to which I can't add anything. Rather less useful than a full iPod to which I can't add anything.
I found a website which sells new hard drives for my iPod (it's a 15 Gb, the kind with round buttons above the scroll wheel. I didn't know until now that the model is called "Third Generation"), but a new drive for mine is $135 plus shipping. Now, a new iPod Nano wouldn't cost much more than that. And the battery on mine is also dead and has been for some time; I can only use it in my car with the charger. Which makes the new hard drive seem totally not worth it.
I had planned to go to the Apple store on Wednesday and get a new one. During the day I happened to mention the problem to someone I work with. Turns out he had a barely used iPod Mini sitting in his desk, which he'd been meaning to sell on Criagslist for $40! A deal was struck and I now have perfectly good iPod. Less memory than my old one, but that loss is more than made up for by the working battery. This is great because I'm somewhat interested in the iPhone, at least interested in finding out how people like it when it comes out in June. And I'd be much less interested if I had just spent $200 on a new iPod.
2 Comments
When mine started getting wonky, it was still covered by a service plan, so I took it back to Best Buy. They played with it and told me it indeed had problems, and said I could take home a new one. By this time, the larger one was available that cost what the old one had cost, so I got a larger one out of the deal. Service plans are useful for expensive, insanely finicky stuff like iPods, I'd say.
In this case the service plan wouldn't have helped, because I've had it for more than 3 years. But in general I totally agree with you. I always get the service plan on Apple computers, and usually do with Best Buy electronics too. Apple Care proved its value on my laptop, which needed a new logic board twice (would have cost over $900 each!).