Dead iPod update: The Apple Store

After spending 3 days trying to fix my iPod using all the online tips with absolutely no success,  I took it to the Apple store Sunday.  Sure enough, it's fried.  Why?  Who knows.  I didn't drop it or anything, yet here we are.  Turns out that my friends had purchased it JUST under one year ago -- which meant that the iPod was still under warranty, and I could pay $30 to replace it.  Instead, I paid $60 to get a 1-year warranty on the replacement, so if this happens again I won't have to pay a cent.  Though the salesperson obviously was trying to upsell me to the replacement plan, the service was good...and given what I had just gone through, the choice was obvious.  My replacement will arrive at the store in 3-10 days.

But I'm one of the lucky ones. 

I I'd waited three more days to come in, I would have had to pay $250 because the warranty would have expired.  At that point, it would have made more sense to buy a new iPod -- something I'm not willing to spend the money on right now.  This was far too close for comfort, and confirms that the recent-generation iPods have serious reliability problems.  This has been coroborrated by the stories I have read online; it seems that they simply don't make ipods like they used to.  I say that because most of my friends who have had their iPods for years have old models and versions -- I haven't yet heard a story of someone with an ancient iPod complaining about having it replaced. 

Isn't there something wrong with paying $350 for something that doesn't last a year -- or just lasts one year -- before it breaks?  As crappy as some of my cellphones have been none of them have simply stopped working after one year.  Sure, they'll dvelop their issues, but if you take care of a piece of electronic equipment, should it last for at least a couple of years without issues?  I'm usually a late-adopter of new technology; it took me years to get a Palm, my game systems are all at least 7 years old, and it took my friiends buying me an iPod as a gift to get me to make the switch from a CD/Mp3 player.  Usually, late-adopters are rewarded with a product that has had the kinks wored out of it...not a product that has become less reliable over time.

I really never have seen myself as a person that could become addicted to an unreliable piece of expensive gadgetry, no matter how handy and useful it is.  Apple had better watch its step.  If the reliability of iPods continues to lag, someone will step in and offer a lower-frills product that lasts longer.  And people like me will buy that product instead.

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