Friday, March 30, 2007

The Frowny Face of Doom

It was bound to happen sooner or later. I went to sync up my iPod last night to add the new Thelonious Monk/John Coltrane reissue and got an error message from iTunes that the device might be corrupt. All attempts to restart/reset/restore the iPod failed.

This was actually my second iPod. I got my first in July 2004. It served me well for two years till I had it replaced literally two days before the extended warranty expired for "battery issues." I got the replacement not long after that and it worked well for nine months. Which is kind of a ripoff, if you ask me.

Now I'm kind of stuck. I know the iPhone is coming in June... and a new generation iPod is probably right behind it. So it doesn't make any sense to buy a new iPod now since it will be outmoded in three our four months. But what to do until then? Carry cds around again?

UPDATE: It's an Easter Miracle. I was trying to show my co-worker and fellow iPod owner Pam what the "You're Screwed" Sad iPod Face looked like when, instead of frowning at me, the unit actually booted up. Attempts to play it, however, were fruitless as it appears to no longer have any music on it. Capacity = 37.1 GB. Available = 544 MB. Songs = 0. And the lock button indicator seems to turn on and off for no apparent reason. Maybe I'm less screwed than I was before. But it's still looking like I'm in the market for a new iPod.

UPDATED UPDATE: I tried to sync the iPod to iTunes again over lunch. Got the prompt to try and restore it again which iTunes couldn't do. Also still couldn't restart or restore the device. And now it makes this "whir-click" noise repeatedly until it cycles through its unsuccesful attempt to boot up. Fortunately, AppleInsider is reporting analysis today from Citigroup claiming new iPods are on the way. Unfortunately, they won't arrive until probably August or September. Has anybody upgraded to a new iPod and have an old unit just lying around I could borrow in the meantime?

3 comments:

idrainu said...

i bought my 60gb ipod photo when it was released (fall 2004), and i use it constantly and never had any problems with it.. the battery still seems to work nearly as well as it did when i bought it too.. i find your situation odd..

i paid more for it, but my friend bought one a couple months later, even though it was cheaper mine came with all the accessories.. not that the latter has anything to do with your blog...

Brad C. said...

I find my situation odd as well. My first iPod worked extremely well, I sent it in to have the battery replaced mainly because I didn't want to spend $60 on AppleCare and then not use it. So I'm as shocked as anyone, if not more so, that its replacement failed after only nine months of, frankly, not very intensive use. The timing is the worst part, knowing it's pointless to buy a new iPod now since new models will be out in about six months.

Tanner Federspill (cpt awsome) said...

this just happened to me today. and after reading your story i have little hope left.