Hey All,

Last September I bought my wife a 20gig 4th generation iPod off of Amazon. Everything worked great out of the box - until last night.

It just gave up on us. It's DOA and won't boot up no matter what we try. So we're gonna have to send it back. I've noticed the majority of my friends that have iPods have had to return theirs or get it fixed as well, so I thought it would be interesting to throw an informal poll out there.

List the iPod you have, how long you've had it, how often you use it, and finally a list of any hardware problems you have encountered with it (if any).

I'll start:

20 gig 4th generation iPod

Started using it around October 1st, 2005

The wife uses it every day for walks and commuting. Nothing high impact.

Problems: worked fine until a couple nights ago when it just died and won't start back up. Will have to send to Apple for repair.

4gb Ipod Mini
Oct 2005-ish

Use it almost daily as I commute to work on transit. nothing remotely high impact, never dropped.

No problems - love it.

3rd gen 10GB Fall 02-present:
Extensive travel in back country using solar recharging, plus daily use at the gym. No Problems

Wife's Ipod Mini about a year and a half:
Daily use at the gym and running. No Problems

5h Gen 60GB Video Oct 05 to present
Hardwired to alpine head unit in X. No Problems

St1 Gen 5 GB Ipod,

mega expensive, never had a problem donated it to a friend who never said "thanks"

4th Gen 20GB IPOD

Used 1.5 years Battery was weak after a year but no problems other than that.

5th Gen 60GB Video and Ipod Mini 5GB,

LOVE both.the the 5G ipod is amazing

ipod shuffle that I got as a gift. works great, but doesn't hold much.

Check out this site for tech questions, info, hacks, etc. there might be some info there that might help with your dead ipod situation.

www.ilounge.com

Dont know what Gen....

40 gig Ipod

Got it after I ran over with the X in the Nat. Forest. Still worked, had to take it back to someone to show me how to work the thing He was kinda pissed when it turned on... I was very happy

OH and no problems :p Just a few scratches on the display.

I got a 4GB iPod Nano (5th Gen, I suppose) in mid-September of last year as a company gift. I generally use it only while I'm at work and it's nice that single charge generally lasts a full shift (10.5 hours). No problems at all after probably 50+ recharges.

I've avoided the scratched screen problem by using those "Screen Armor" overlays, plus I have the earphone lanyard, so I don't have to keep the iPod in my pocket. That reminds me, maybe it's time to change my skin decal. I bought a few different ones online and have only used one so far.

4TH Gen 20GB
From October 2005 - present

No problems at all, love it

60gig video (black)...

Can't live without it now.

Troy

30GB 3rd Gen iPod. Worked fine until I lost it

Replaced with a 4 gig Mini. Love the Mini - it lives in the Xterra.

Was seduced by the 60 GB iPod color (that and a pile 'o reward points to spend )

So far the the only one to give me problems has been the latest iPod color It can take two or three times to get songs or podcasts to get started I took it back to the local Apple store, they replaced it but the replacement still does it - just not as often I might just get a refund and see if the new video iPod materializes April 1st for Apple's 30th like it's being rumored (not holding my breath but I want an iPod that is reliable).

This may be a dumb question but have you tried to reset the ipod? Toggle the hold switch (hold-off-hold-off) then press the menu and select (middle button) and hold for 5-10 seconds?

It won't delete your songs or anything weird like that I just re-boots the ipod. Mine has frozen to what seems like an off position a couple of times.

Oh yeah - rebooted, reformat - Mac, Windows - no difference.

It's not a freeze so much as a delay - almost like it's having a hard time reading the hard drive. I could have just gotten two flaky units in a row, but I'm not amused Will have to head down to the Apple store first thing in the morning either Saturday or Sunday....

My wife has killed several.

Gen 4, 40 gig, hard drive died, apparently from using USB. Repaired under warranty, has been fine for over a year.

While the 40 gigger was in repair, my 15 gig gen 3 (bought used) went down the same path. No warranty.

Then she bought me a gen 4 20 gig, we swapped, its hers now and the headphone socket died. Fixed under warranty and we bought the 3 year applecare because it seems ipods die on a regular basis.

30GB photo ipod. Bought back in May. No problems whatsoever with the unit, but it has never been able to sync up with my Toshiba laptop (no matter what I try...USB or Firewire).

You didn't happen to update the iPod software with the 1-10-06 update did you? I've got a 4th gen 20 gig model and did the update. After the update my computer and iTunes wouldn't recognize the iPod. After reading some forums, the update from Apple is the problem. To get it back to normal I had to revert to an old update. Works fine now! And I was ready to sent it back to Apple or get a new one!

That weird that one of their own updates would cause problems like that. No, I didn't update prior to the unit crashing. In fact, I can't update it at all. Some conflict error occurs every time I try it, so I just quit trying and am sticking with the original firmware.

On a good note - the iPod spontaneously started working again yesterday. So I chaged it up over night and we'll see how it holds up. I'm still nervous about the thing just freezing on me, but if it's a one time deal I won't send it back.

What are the current rumors regarding the release of the next generation of iPods? I'm curious to see when it will come out and also to see if/how they change the screen so that 16:9 aspect ratio video doesn't have to be letterbarred.

40g...got it a year and two months ago

just sent it in for the second time to be repaired...i'm hoping that if it happens again, they'll just replace it with a brand new one...its happened to a few of my friends

the thing is nothing but problems...but i still love it...although i hate the fm transmitter...but who doesn't?

2nd gen 20 gigger, lives in the Xterra, I have all my music copied over to it so I have like 2 days of listening without hearing the same sone twice... Bought it used 2004.

2nd gen 20 GB here as well. I got in I think 2002. Has worked fine since. Needs a reset every now and then. Battery could be better but it still holds a charge for a day or so.

Also got a 4 GB Nano last October. Man I love that thing. However, I have noticed more "bugs" with it. It'll lock up every now and then and needs a reset to get things going again.

I haven't used the 20GB much since I got the Nano. I've been think ing of installing Linux on it as an experiment.

60 GB video IPOD, Black

My wife has a 20 GB

We haven't had any problems...

Bought a 20gig 4th gen. in august of 2004 ( I actually thought I was getting the 3rd. gen, but they just put the new one out). Around January 1st 2005 I was in chicago, and all of sudden it quit. Luckily there was an Apple store on michigan ave. right off our hotel. Took it in, and they said it had a corrupted hard drive, got a brand new one, no problems since.

I use it pretty much everyday...

iPod Shuffle.

Was a birthday present, and I didn't use it until almost 5 months after I got it.

Worked great for four days. When I got back from a trip, I wanted to download some new songs. iPod could not be read by the PC.

Apple wanted me to purchase a new warranty (@ $50, almost half the cost of a new iPod Shuffle).

Tried every fix I could find online (as this was a problem for A WHOLE FUCKING LOT of Shuffle owners).

Never could fix it. Fuck it. Went back to my $20 GPX CD player. No problems with that in ten years.

We have 3:

1: 2nd generation (I think) 15GB I won from DC101 FM in 2003. Never had a problem and my kid still uses it everyday.

2: 30GB Videos Black (we have two of these, mine and the wife's) we got in Novemeber of 2005. Mine locked up once while playing a Suicide Girls video podcast and I had to let the battery drain, shut down and recharge it before it would work again. I chalked it up to overexcitement!
My wife's locked up once while plaing a song but it unlocked as soon as she plugged back into the iMac. It probably fell asleep from all the goddamn Tori Amos my wife listens to!

I've had my 20g IPOD since Sept 2004...Still going strong.

Ipods are losing their novelty, but i still can't live without mine...Waiting for my free Ipod Nano from my high-speed internet company.