iPod's dirty secret

Post by **Arkady** » Sat Dec 20, 2003 6:31 pm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... Dec19.html

What a bunch of corporate

.

Today's disposable mentality is sickening.

Reverend_ Hate · Post by **Reverend_ Hate** » Sat Dec 20, 2003 9:37 pm

I agree Arkady.They assume that everyone who buys an iPod can afford to shell out between $200 and $400 every 18 months.I had actually planned on getting one because I thought it was a good investment,and mp3 player that would last.But I had no idea that the battery would die so quickly and was only replacable by mailing it back.And for another $99 no less.

Post by **darkvader** » Sat Dec 20, 2003 10:27 pm

Bullshit is a good word for what those jerks are ditching out. The Washington Post story is an excellent example of bad reporting. The real facts are:

The batteries normally last 2-3 years.

The iPod battery is relatively easy to replace.

You can send the iPod in to Apple and have the battery replaced for $99.

You can get a kit from iPodBattery.com for $50 to replace it yourself.

You can get just the battery from DigiKey for $29.

And if you don't feel like replacing it yourself, but want somebody local to do it, I'll do it for you for $65. Just email me.

Post by **Arkady** » Sat Dec 20, 2003 11:14 pm

Sure, apple changed their tune after the movie was released and passed along the net . Before that they were saying you had to buy a new iPod. That's what I thought was bullshit.

Apple all in all is a good company and makes a great product. There is no denying that. It's the corporate attitude of not fixing their mistakes unless it starts effecting their bottom line that I think is bullshit. Apple is far from alone in doing this kind of thing.

To their bennifit, as you pointed out, Apple at least changed their tune (no pun intended) and started selling replacement batteries.

Post by **darkvader** » Sun Dec 21, 2003 11:37 am

Actually, Apple started the battery replacement program BEFORE that web site went up.

And the 3rd party replacement batteries and replacement services were available almost as soon as the iPod was released.

And, I think those guys got a bad tech - I know most of the forum won't get the reference, but think about USIT days. How likely would you have been to get an accurate answer out of Benny?

tat2jay · Post by **tat2jay** » Sun Dec 21, 2003 12:02 pm

research kids

this is why i bought the RCA Lyra with an easily replaceable battery

that and i dont care for apples bloated prices

(mine was only $199 at my local PX

Post by **darkvader** » Sun Dec 21, 2003 2:39 pm

Jay, the RCA player doesn't look like it's got a hard drive - the largest capacity I saw was 1.5GB.

And $199 is what I paid for my iPod.

And the iPod's battery IS easily replaceable. Look at the instructions.

tat2jay · Post by **tat2jay** » Mon Dec 22, 2003 3:26 am

your looking at the wrong thing,
what ya want is the Lyra HD player
the one i have has a 40GB hd
there was a model with a 20 GB hd but it has been discontinued as of last month
i think the street price for the 40gb model is around $350
sometimes it pays to be in the military

thank you AAFES

i usually dont think of snapping apart and ungluing a battery as difficult at all, but its certainly not as easy as battery replacement should be for the mass market

iblis · Post by **iblis** » Tue Dec 23, 2003 12:29 pm

DarkVader wrote:And the iPod's battery IS easily replaceable. Look at the instructions.

It's my personal opinion that - assuming they have an internet connection, or a library available - if a consumer won't google for instructions on their hardware or software, they deserve what they get.

Now, if such information wasn't readily available online, I could understand the complaining.

In short, find the farking manual, then RTFM.

iblis · Post by **iblis** » Tue Dec 23, 2003 12:32 pm

Oh, and where did you find an iPod for $199? The 10GB model at Apple's store is priced at $299... :shrug:

AuralFixation · Post by **AuralFixation** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 5:27 am

same thing with xbox, the fan brings in dust. it wont let you use a lens cleaner and it cant be opened. i was advised, "you are going to have to buy a new one" after one year

Post by **Bone** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 1:07 pm

iblis wrote:Oh, and where did you find an iPod for $199? The 10GB model at Apple's store is priced at $299...

Best buy had a huge load of em a while back. I think they were all series one iPods though just as the series 2 were coming out. My only real grump w/ apple is how much they mark down for inventory clearance w/ little to no notice... example: I bought my iBook. About one month later I could have bought the same iBook for something like $400 less :evil:

or bought a powerbook (w more bells & whistles) for the same price. *sigh* (to be fair Vader told me I should wait a little bit as he suspected this might happen, however when your old puter is being held togeather with duct tape and a prayer, sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do)

razor · Post by **razor** » Mon Dec 29, 2003 6:55 am

They Googled around and ordered the battery from a different vendor that came with complicated instructions and "these two plastic gigantic toothpicks," Casey says. It took a while to pry the back cover off the iPod's impenetrable design. Beneath that was "a gummy adhesive" which covered the mini hard drive, "and there were these two very tiny connectors with three prongs," in a work space "about the diameter of a needle."

He felt as if he was performing amateur neurosurgery.

The patient died on the table.

now if that just doesn't reek of your stereotypical yuppy mac user. ;)

okok.. so maybe that's a little flame baity but you gotta admit it's not very far from the truth. While there ARE mac fans with a technical clue out there (Jonathan being a good example), the majority of mac users that I've come across are generally fairly anti-technical and not the kind of people you'd expect to see with soldering iron in hand installing a mod chip, or replacing batteries that weren't necessarily meant to be 'consumer replaceable'. Using a computer that never has a permanently attached case because you're constantly swapping drives, wiggling cards, and finger jump-starting fans can have it's benefits ;)

iblis · Post by **iblis** » Mon Dec 29, 2003 8:11 am

razor wrote:
They Googled around and ordered the battery from a different vendor that came with complicated instructions and "these two plastic gigantic toothpicks," Casey says. It took a while to pry the back cover off the iPod's impenetrable design. Beneath that was "a gummy adhesive" which covered the mini hard drive, "and there were these two very tiny connectors with three prongs," in a work space "about the diameter of a needle."

He felt as if he was performing amateur neurosurgery.

The patient died on the table.

now if that just doesn't reek of your stereotypical yuppy mac user.

To be fair, these people would have the same problems with a PC. Only, they might not have made it that far.

I've come to the conclusion that some people were meant to be born Amish, but they got on the wrong lift at the subway.

razor wrote:Using a computer that never has a permanently attached case because you're constantly swapping drives, wiggling cards, and finger jump-starting fans can have it's benefits

Ye gads, man! Don't you know that all computers run because of the mystical smoke that's encased within the system! And when there's a serious error, that casing isn't enough to hold all of that smoke inside of it, so it expells as much of the "bad smoke" as possible. As such, when many users see the smoke billowing out of their computers, they immediately open it up, and let all of it out. Obviously, the machine stops working, having had its primary motivator removed by an uneducated decision.

I'm surprised that your machine has lasted three days. At any rate, I think you should go put that case back on. I'll go get my candles, my book of shadows (the forty pound one with VAX in large print on the cover), and do a tiki-tiki dance. However,I fear it may be a little to late for the likes of you.

razor · Post by **razor** » Mon Dec 29, 2003 10:23 am

iblis wrote:I've come to the conclusion that some people were meant to be born Amish

Very true, however, with the advent of the black case, even the Amish can have computers so your back at square one. :/ Though, on the upside, chances are they're not running windows. Amish computer users strike me as command line type people.

iblis wrote:I'm surprised that your machine

's have

lasted three days.

bah, as anyone knows, magic smoke is in the chips, not the case. By leaving the case cover (or just the side panel if you have such a case) off, it makes identifying which component the magic smoke is leaking out of just that much quicker/easier to find, thusly allowing you to slap some good ol' industrial strength duct tape on the part in question and hopefully giving you enough time to finish up with whatever you were doing.

Post by **darkvader** » Mon Dec 29, 2003 11:44 am

razor wrote:now if that just doesn't reek of your stereotypical yuppy mac user.

okok.. so maybe that's a little flame baity but you gotta admit it's not very far from the truth. While there ARE mac fans with a technical clue out there (Jonathan being a good example), the majority of mac users that I've come across are generally fairly anti-technical and not the kind of people you'd expect to see with soldering iron in hand installing a mod chip, or replacing batteries that weren't necessarily meant to be 'consumer replaceable'. Using a computer that never has a permanently attached case because you're constantly swapping drives, wiggling cards, and finger jump-starting fans can have it's benefits

You know as well as I do that the typical Mac user these days is much more likely to have a clue than the typical windoze user. I can't count the number of windoze boxes I've seen that came with a warranty sticker when they were new, and still have it intact a few years later - and this for machines with slots, that are designed to be user-expandable.

The only OS that has more of a reputation for cluefulness than Mac OS is Linux these days - and as it becomes more popular, even that's changing.

And I really don't understand the benefits of finger starting fans as more than a temporary fix - fans are cheap.

Now back in the old days, I can remember finger & screwdriver starting a few hard drives, and I'm still known to use a hammer on one as part of a data recovery procedure even now, but that's hardly an ideal way to operate on a daily basis.

iblis · Post by **iblis** » Mon Dec 29, 2003 1:17 pm

DarkVader wrote:The only OS that has more of a reputation for cluefulness than Mac OS is Linux these days - and as it becomes more popular, even that's changing.

I'd have to agree. Though I have to note that while Linux users, on average, are becoming less intelligent, *BSD doesn't seem to have that problem.

Of course, it hasn't had the same following - and hence numbers to bring its average down - either.

AuralFixation · Post by **AuralFixation** » Tue Dec 30, 2003 10:18 pm

and i quote....."vulva"

Post by **darkvader** » Tue Dec 30, 2003 11:36 pm

AuralFixation wrote:and i quote....."vulva"

ok, obviously you want this thread in the dumpster - so here you go.

AuralFixation · Post by **AuralFixation** » Sun Jan 04, 2004 7:13 pm