iPod's Dirty Secret

[Thomas S. England]

The washington Post has a very entertaining article about the iPod battery & one guy's battle with Apple over it:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A...anguage=printer

He even made a movie:  http://www.ipodsdirtysecret.com/

The story does say:

"Days after the movie made the rounds, Apple announced expanded warranties for new iPod owners to purchase for $59, and also introduced a new $99 battery-replacement mail-in service for others. "

[sandbox]

Ah, I hope it's not yet another square dance on the toes of success!

[mooregr]

You can also get iPod batteries at the following URL and do it yourself!

http://www.pdasmart.com/ipodpartscenter.htm

Thanks
Guy

[Paddy]

Guy - I think that's what Casey Neustat tried, and he ended up with a completely dead iPod. Better to send it to Apple or, if the third party supplier guarantees their work absolutely, send it to them. If you mess it up, that's it.

Wonder if Apple will learn from this and change the design slightly to actually allow for battery replacement by the user? Makes sense to me, though obviously, not as much potential profit to Apple, from those who either give up and buy new iPods, or cough up the $99 to pay Apple for the battery replacement. Customer goodwill is worth a lot too, though. And I think our electronics manufacturers need as much encouragement as possible to STOP manufacturing disposable electronics, full of toxic junk that ends up in our landfills or incinerators (and eventually the air we breathe). As the owner of 4, count 'em, FOUR DVD players in less than a year (only one still functioning), I can attest to the frustration of owning a piece of electronics that will cost more to repair than it will cost to replace! One of the "dead" ones still plays audio CD's, two refuse to play anything. Repair costs typically start at $70 or so. Warranties on these things are often 1 year parts and 90 days labor. Gee...which is the expensive part of that equation? I never buy extended warranties on anything, but with the last DVD I bought a $10 2-year warranty from BestBuy.  

[swhitset]

Paddy,

Maybe now that Apple has instituted the $99.00 battery replacement... it might make sense to send in your ipod to Apple.  BUT, the reason for the existence of that site was Apple's refusal to offer such a service in the past.  Until recently your only choice was to buy a new ipod or repace the battery yourself (even that wasn't possible until a few sites started making their own replacement batteries).

I have been following this issue for quite some time, and many people have successfully replaced the battery without Apple's interference er... I mean help  

If my battery goes bad I will do the same.  Apple could easily have designed battery replacement into the iPod from the beginning.  They consciously decided to opt for more profit at our expense.  

Of course, I will continue to buy Macs because IMO they are the best all around PC/OS on the market, buit I do not blindly follow Jobs et al...  and throw money in the toilet


The irritation in my post is not directed at you, But rather at Apple's business practices in this issue.

Steve

[Gary S]

Thanks for posting this info Thomas.

I was not aware of this at all. I just bought an iPod the other day for a Chritmas present for my son.
Apple really could have made the iPod design so the battery was replacable, the only reason I can think of as to why they didn't was to hook em on the iPod and get repeat customers, albeit, angry ones.
I'm against this throw away cuture Paddy mentioned too. I buy only rechargable AA batteries now. It's a good investment even though I know eventually I'll need to replace them as they get older but they are a bit less expensive than shelling out $299 to $499 for a new iPod with a dead battery!
I hope by the time our 18 months rolls around the replacement fee will drop or they will have better replacement kits so I can do it myself.

I got a charge out of this statment in the article:

"I certainly wouldn't want to compare the iPod to contact lenses," says Stan Ng, Apple's director of worldwide marketing for the iPod, who says that Apple never envisioned the iPod as a disposable item. He only wants people to feel the love. "It's like when you first heard your favorite song from junior high. We're seeing that we're getting into those kinds of feelings."

Can you feel the love?

[pendragon]

Thomas, for the post from the Post.  Above the fold on the front page of the business section.

 I wonder what other papers will carry the story; and what, if any, (further) response will be forthcoming from Cupertino.

Harv

[Dreambird]

Interesting thread... thanks for posting it! I don't have an iPod "yet"... think I'll put that one off for awhile and continue to use my Sony Walkman and CD's for mobile music a bit longer...  

QUOTE

Can you feel the love?

Ohhh YEAH!! This sort of thing always gives me the warm and fuzzies...    

[mooregr]

On a similar topic have any of you tried to upgrade the hard disk in your iPod?  I have an older 10 Gig. I have never had a battery problem yet. It has worked perfectly since the day I got it a few years ago.  I would recomend an iPod to anyone who is really into music. When my car stereo died this summer i bought a cheapo AM/FM/Cassette with a line input, that way I can hoook up my iPod easily. I just wish mine had a bigger HD. But I am a real cheapskate, I have digitized many of my old LPs and Cassettes. I pretty much listen to all my music from my 17" PowerBoook or the iPod.  
Thanks
Guy

[swhitset]

It is my understanding, that very few if any people have been successful with upgrading the ipod's hard drive.  Apple will not release the proprietary code on the boot rom (or whatever you call it on an ipod).

Steve