Rant of the day: IPOD SUCKS!

[Perfectlap]

anyone of you guys considering an MP3 Player for your Porsche?
I HIGHLY recommend you STAY WAY WAY WAY CLEAR of Apple MP3 products.

I have owned:
15 GB Ipod
4 GB Mini Pod
2 GB Nano

I have never spent so much to buy from one company's product line and had every single product they own fail on me. they are so used to selling unreliable crap that they almost always send me a new one after only a day. They don't even try to repair it. They know it will cost them more to repair their crap equipment and to just send you new crap.

all have crapped out at least once. In fact just about EVERY SINGLE person I know has had to send back one of the mulitple MP3 players they have purchased from Apple. The full warranty (covering shipping and handling, $30!!!) only last six months? then after 6 months you have to pay for the shipping. That's garbage.


and don't get me started on the crap battery life.

p.s.
this rant was prompted by a 45 minute call (where I was on hold for all but 3 minutes of it) where I was told that my latest Ipod ,only 1 month out of its 12 month warranty, could be exchanged for a 10% discount on a brand spankin new Ipod, or I could just throw the Ipod in the garbage (where it belongs new) and roll the dice for another $200.

Any recommendations for a NOT APPLE MP3 device?

[RandallNeighbour]

I've got a 30Gig video iPod, 5th Generation black version. It's never given me any problems, but I hear your pain and frustration, friend.

Apple's made zillions off the iPod and they aren't that reliable of a device. The newest ones also scratch up like nobody's business. I put a sticky covering on mine the day I got it to insure it didn't get scratches all over it.

I must say though that the typical iPod gets beat up regularly. It's taken everywhere, rattles around in pockets, cars and backpacks and dropped repeatedly. It really needs to be sold as "nearly indesctructable" but it's actually a technologically high end gismo that's anything but indestructable.

There are many other competing models on the market and they're cheaper too... how reliable they are is another issue altogether.

[Perfectlap]

that's the funny thing. None of crap-pods ever acted up before they went POOF!
Other than the crap battery life all is well in crap-pod ownership.
Then one day the damn thing won't turn on.

I have to say I'm purty anal retentive about keeping things looking and operating new. And I don't think its a user end shortcoming with the crap-pod.
I've spent the money to put stupid little screen protectors on it, purchased carrying cases and all end up looking like **************** and eventually self detonate.

The rate of return for crap-pods must be the highest of any tech product.
Probably why they are so expensive. Oh wait I forgot they are all assembled in China.

Does anyone have Steve Jobs' address? I'm going to send him this latest Ipod that Apple now refuses to fix. I use to root for the guy when he took on Microsoft.
And I thought it was funny that he would always say that "Microsoft makes allot of money selling overpriced product of low qualtiy".
SOUNDS JUST LIKE THE CRAP-POD!!

[lexuspilot]

I have a record player you can put in a backpack!


It doesn't scratch up or break like the new IPOD, in fact Donny and Marie still look pretty good.

Technology...aint it a Beaatch

[Brucelee]

Mine has been trouble free since I purchased it a year ago.

[Perfectlap]

as it was designed to do, that's why the warranty is one year.

[Grizzly]

LexusPilot,

You are correct. I just saw Marie Osmond last week and she does still look pretty good!

[lexuspilot]

For the record, no pun intended, I do not really have that record player.


and yes she probably still looks good and is probably still a little bit country.

Who knows what things we will hear about that family when there is only one of them left alive needing to publish a book.

back on topic.....try reading the reviews on newegg.com, which will probably have the best prices on non-apple players

My Ipod video30gb is 6 months old today..halflife

I find I dont ever watch the video...except vod cars.

I prefer to listen to movies rather than watch them, watching them is tuff and the backlight kills the battery long before I am ready to land.

[porscheracer]

I've owned 2 Ipods 4 G and gave one away and threw one in the garbage can because the battery just went dead. Spent 2 hrs at Apple store trying to get my ipod fix and cost me $50 for a new battery because my ipod warrante run out.

I have the ipod nano(black) and is completely defect free and battery life is excellent. My only issue is you have to use your deskstop or laptop to charge the battery.

i hear ya, my 60gig colour ipod has given me sooo many problems. the worst thing that i did was buy a warranty from future shop. they cant fix the dam thing and will only replace it after 3 fixes (the lemon policy). meaning that they send/ship it back to apple to get fixed within the year 3 times before replacing. not sure if they are able or qualified to fix them after one year. seeing that this product sucks ++++, i dont see them having any idea of how to fix it anyways. many days of agony, and i have never expericed such a problem with any product that i have ever purchased.

n those dam flash upgrades, if thats even what they are called. where u stick it into the power outlet to flash the drive or some **************** like that. really has made me mad.

very very smart company i ll tell you that. minting money. i was sooooo pissed when these new style ipods came out. i have the last generation model before these skinny slim models. i think it was less then a year and they changed them, n now my ipod is pretty much crappy n old in one year. not that i will ever need a 2inch video screen to watch movies on......but would of liked them to come out after sometime.............

i'd like to drive over to apples ipod center in california and throw my ipod through the window, they can have it back on me.............

however since i replaced the battery and kept downloading the new versions of the software itunes and firmware upgrades......it has been trouble free, and working out in my kar fairly well.

seeeeu

[prOk]

I've owned about 5 ipods over time and never yet had one fail. Sure, batteries go after a year or so of consistent use but that's really just a fact of life with batteries.. the more you charge them the shorter the charge they will take.. Not something Apple did.

With that rate of failure i'd be inclined to look at what you do with the things.. how do you handle them, how often do you charge it etc.. Just about any MP3 player is made from essentially the same parts (apple doesn't make the drive inside nor the battery) so you can expect similar mileage out of any similar hardware.

[oranje]

Nice rant

I used Creative MP3 players before I went to iPod. The old ones were nice and big and had good crumple zones, as the were made from metal. The last one I got was a Zen Micro - a small and cute piece of junk. I thought, GREAT, a removable battery, what a novel idea! Unfortunately, the flap holding the battery was badly engineered and falls off very easily.

One thing that Apple has is the best software. I always had issues with the Creative software, but iTunes just works. And with a little help from the French government, Apple might have to open up their software so you can download from non-Apple sites as well.

As for being made in China... I'm not sure that's fair. There's a lot of crap made right here in the US as well. And we all know that Boxster made in Germany or Finland have their fair share of initial issues as well.

Why did I switch to iPod? Well, and now it's time for my rant, the forever promised iPod - MOST link from Dension. Which was promised middle of last year and is STILL NOT AVAILABLE!!!

It's this type of accessories that make the iPod untouchable. There's no way any car or accessory manufacturer will make stuff for anything but the iPod: the economics simply don't work.

So to answer your real question... the #2 player in the market, Creative, blows as well... So you're kinda stuck...

ummm hello why did you need 5 ipods.......lol what happend to the first one, forget the 2, 3 or 4th.........lol

i baby mine, the way i baby my kar. ohhh n to fix the scratches, i used the scratch remover, very good. i bought one of those iskins rubber cases, and the plastic sheild scratches alll over the screen underneath. you'd never know until you remove it after 6 months that the screen is now crappy n scratched...

but the plastic scratch remover works really good, i know use it on everything plastic, really cool.

[99Boxster]

I have a 30 GB video ipod. Sometimes it will not turn on. I found that I can simply reset it by pushing the center button and the play button at the same time and it will work again.

[Perfectlap]

I gave away some of my crap-pods including a refurbished one that turned out to be dead on arrival(great work Apple) so now I have to buy the lucky girl a new one, and I had one stolen (why would you steal an Ipod? how does he know he'll like my songs )

I'm going to give this one a shot.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16855125015


Has an FM radio, a replaceable battery and
competition is good for the market. I agree the crap-pods are all made from the same internals but Apple seems to show little interest in taking the mp3 device to the next level of reliability/durability. If everyone and their 12 year old sister is buying from Apple, marketplace competition is hampered.
also it seems for the memory capacity Apple's mp3 players are indeed very over priced.

[eslai]

Apple is more arrogant than Porsche even and it drives me nuts--there are so many simple software features missing from the iPod that amaze me.

But they're still the best out there, design-wise and (now) audio quality-wise. Sucks but it's true.

I've had a mini and now a nano and they've never given me problems, but I hear problems from people all the time so it's no surprise to me that you've had such bad luck.

Try the iRiver products, like the U10, or whatever its most recent incarnation is. Sony's also coming out with some uber-player soon, it's already released overseas.

[jhall]

The Pioneer Inno is a portable XM radio/MP3 player. It can load your MP3's and will even record off the air painlessly. It really is a much more complete solution than an ipod.

Here is a review if anyone is interested...

http://www.xmfan.com/viewtopic.php?t=60804

Jon

[Jump]

I've owned a 1G 5GB, 3G 20GB and a 4G 60GB Photo. I've never had a single problem with any of them. I hope I can say the same about my Box 5 years from now

[Brucelee]

"Apple is more arrogant than Porsche"

That is not possible.

[SD987]

Perfectlap, you may want to wait for this...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-060705microsoft-ipod-story,1,1492791.story?coll=chi-business-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true