iPod is crap

[fjdouse]

This is a rant, it's probably covered in other posts but I have to vent this poison lest I take this lovely iPod and smash it with a hammer...



I've finally shelled out the dosh for an iPod, looks great, a 30GB video iPod all in black, I was so pleased when I got it last week.... but since then...

I am finding using it an uphill struggle, this wheel thing I guess if you've been using iPods a while it may be quite good, I find it unpleasant to use, it's inaccurate, I've nearly deafened myself by trying to turn the volume up a bit only to have it fly up to the max. It takes some bloody co-ordination and practice to hit a menu item and not go flying to the wrong one. User error? Probably.

On many occasions I cannot turn the frakkin thing off, the backlight dims then comes back on. Resetting makes no difference. Certainly a hardware/software fault, NOT GOOD ENOUGH. At this present moment it is just sitting there, draining power because IT WILL NOT TURN OFF!

The battery life is crap, pure crap, just playing with it for 15mins after a FULL charge leaves the battery at 50%, oh someone has told me the iPod battery guage is notoriously innacurrate, is that so? WTF? Why hasn't Apple fixed it then?? Even so, watching a 25min cartoon, kills the battery leaving it in the red and wanting a charge. Music is to be tested properly since I've not taken it outside yet.

The device LOOKS fantastic, but the looks are deceiving, even with the flimsy pouch and my near-obsessive-compulsion for keeping things immaculate, the pouch is filthy already and the unit is already scratched because the plastic used is USELESS. They could have done much better than this, and for the price it is CRIMINAL that they haven't.

I should have learned this from my time buying Sony crap, bling does not equal quality.

"iCal syncing, ooh..." I thought, yeah right, even after enabling timezone guff in iCal, the appointment times on the iPod are all wrong, out by an hour each time, another USELESS function.

No dock, no charger, basically it's USB charging or go to hell. Of course, this can be fixed buy spending EVEN MORE money.

In short, I'm beginning to hate this thing, if I had bought it from a shop rather than online, I'd take it back, shout and scream and get my money back. As it is, I bought it off eBay, the seller won't re-imburse me as it's not faulty, it's just a bit crummy, actually crap is more descriptive.



If you're thinking about buying one, do a LOT of research first, I thought I had, only to find niggling problems which I've SINCE discovered other users have too..

[fjdouse]

It's finally powered off, it only took 20% of my battery and an hour of SCREAMING at the frakkin thing.

[Lt Major Burns]

if you hold down 'play/pause', the device goes to sleep. if you then put it on hold, then it won't ever wake up, until you want it to.

battery life is very good for music, which is it's primary function. it's by no means sony beating, but to keep the device small and light, they compromised. most users will use everyday, always touching base at some point in a 24 hour cycle. it's a commuters device, at which point the battery life is more than adequate. it's last as long as almost any flights.

for video, they'll admit it's not brilliant, but no device will play high quality video for long on a battery, not at that quailty anyway - it's decoding perfect quality (ie no visible compression) 30fps video. it's not a Video iPod, it's a normal regular ipod that also plays video, to silence their critics who said they were behind the times. technology isn't good enough just yet for that type of device to be any good.

the click wheel has five obviously placed and generously spaced buttons, which have a good enough travel. the wheel itself is a well-textured smooth and accurate accellerating pointing device. it is, without a doubt the simplest and most effective solution ever created for this use. it can be used by everyone, and you appear to be the first person to find it 'silly'.

the pastic is shite, but it's also bulletproof, so take that as you will. you can get invisble shields for this, if you need to keep it nice looking. mine is over a year old, and still has very minimal scratching to the chrome, and virtually none on the plastic. because i never put it in as pocket with anything else. that's just common sense. i use my phone, and my camera in the same way.

they don't bunlde a dock, or a remote, or a charger, or anything else, because that would make the device more expensive still. you are getting that for the cheapest it comes. ipods used to be £500, back in the day when they did bundle everything. most people never use the extras, and if you want them, you can buy them, pick and mix style. you never pay for anything you don't need. i have the charger, but i never use it, really. the firewire cable works fine for me. ipods are now £300 and play video and are smaller than ever.

if you still hate it, i'll take it off your hands for £100

[Thank The Cheese]

I'm sorry you've had such a bad experience. I'm afraid I've had mosty good experiences myself. Are you sure it's not faulty though? Some of the things you're describing dont sound right.

The fact that you got it off eBay increases the likelyhood of this. I'm always a little weary when I see people selling items on ebay that were only released a few weeks/months ago. Why would they buy an iPod and then sell it a few weeks later? often because it's faulty (or they dropped it) and the store won't give them their money back.

Just speculation, of course, but that is what happened to my brother in law recently when he bought a video card. Seemed like a great deal because it was brand new, but when he got it it had clearly been dropped and it didnt work properly.



The click wheel
It does take some getting used to to land on the right menu item without going too far, but it's hardly as dramatic as you make it seem. It shouldnt be that sensitive. For example, in order to increase the volumefrom 0 to 100% it requires more than a 360 degree spin.

Can't turn it off
Well, clearly it is faulty. WOuld be nice if Apple could ensure all iPods worked but they can't make that guarentee. Should be still under warrenty, shouldn't it?

Battery Life
15mins and 50% gone. Again- faulty. I had mine going for around 4 hours during a party the other week and it was just above 50% at the end of it.

Puch and Plastic
No arguments here. My pouch looked like a dead rat 48 hours after opening it, and my iPod is scratched despite my absolute best efforts. It would be nice if Apple made it from tougher materials, or included those clear protective films, but they're under no obligation IMO. It's plastic -- plastic scratches. it's what it does. You should see my mobile phone.

iCal sync
Haven't had a problem, but haven't used it much so I'm not in any position to say.

No dock or charger
I was a little miffed at first, but then I thought about it and realised that Apple released a new iPod with a colour screen, video capablities and re-made, thinner design, but did not increase the price. As such, they had to save money somehow. They could have included the dock and charger, but then it would have been an extra $100, and people would have been even more pissed off.

[pds]

I will grant that the click wheel takes a bit to get used to. I also have a 30gig 5th gen. I have a clumsy thumb and often get the item next to the one i want. Bad eyesight further complicates the process.

Your battery life is way off. I flew from Seoul to Cairo with a long layover in Dubai listening to music all the way and had battery to spare when I got to the flat. As for video, I don't even foresee burning up watts even to test it - maybe it's the bad eyesight thing.

About the syncing - do you have your time-zone set right? You say it's off by an hour, so I'd check whether you have the default clock set correctly.

I really don't care much about the scratches - I want uninterrupted music. Anyone who notices the scratches is looking too closely.

But - if it really is too much of a problem, my birthday is coming up -

[nixgeek]

I don't know....I haven't had any problems since using my mini, and my wife and everyone else that I've recommended the nano to are enjoying the heck out of it. And these are mainly PC users! Click wheel works fine for me, came to understand that putting the iPod in the Hold position when off will keep it off....

The only complaint I had about my iPod was when my wife ended up washing my earbuds in the washing machine. Of course, Apple replaced that without any problems when I went to the support website and it was free since it was still under warranty.

[fryke]

They replace your headphones if you WASH them?! That's freakin' *hilarious*! If I were Apple, I'd strangle you with those washed headphone cables... Then again, maybe it's good I'm _not_ Apple. :P

fjdouse: I guess you got a vegetable. It's certainly not normal, what you're describing. Sounds like a faulty clickwheel to me. Have it replaced. Even if you've ordered it online, you still have some consumer rights.

[Thank The Cheese]

my right earphone has stopped working recently. iPod is still under warrenty but I'm not sure if i can be bothered, especially seeing as I plan on buying the radio remote earphones when they're available at my local store.

what's the procedure for returning them (in Australia)? I bought my iPod at Target, so do I have to go to Target or do I contact apple directly?


In other news, today they finally delivered my 4Mac Powershield iPod protector. It's one of those scratch-proof plastic films. I'm pretty happy with it, you seriously could not tell it is on f you didnt know.

Unfortunately I didnt clean the white portion of the iPod properly, and there are several teeny tiny bits of dust that produce small bubbles. They are very small, and only easily visible in the sunlight, but just knowing they're there ticks me off a bit. I'm more mad at myself than the product, because the screen, which I was much more careful with, is 100% clear of bubbles and has not reduce the quality of the image at all.

Anyhoo, despite my stupidness, I highly recommend it. If you make sure it is clear of dust and hair, it works very well. I got adventurous this afternoon and tried to scratch it with a 5 cent coin - not a single scratch. brilliant!