Thanks to my friend Nancy’s suggestion in the comments, I have a new iPod. I went to see the fine people at the Providence Place Apple store, and they set things right. The physically tiny 30-gig hard disk had failed.
Here’s the thing, though. The guy who helped me out told me I could buy an AppleCare plan that would extend the warranty coverage on the replacement iPod from 90 days to a year. It costs $59.95. I guess my frustration is that the thing shouldn’t have failed in the first place, not in the first year. If the new one fails in such a short time, as well, let’s just say I’ll be a little put off of the hard disk-based iPods.
The iPod Touch, on the other hand, is awfully sexy, and solid state flash memory is oh so reliable…. I played with one while I waited, and the first thing I wondered was, ‘Can you read e-books on this thing?’ Cause it would be perfect for that. The answer is yes, if you’re online, and soon if you’re not.
(Thanks, Nan!)
In our continuing competition to see who can ignore the other person’s emails longer, I’d completely forgotten to write and tell you this. Glad to hear you got some quality advice anyway.
Hard drives are the weak point in any device and their quality has declined quite a bit over the years. I always recommend the Applecare for laptops or iPods and especially for klutzes like me.
Once you’re out of warranty, Apple’s service is still good, but the cost is usually so high that buying a replacement device starts to look attractive. Don’t forget that Apple offers a military discount online or in-store.
Even by today’s standards, you’ve had some bad luck with hard drives. I’m tempted to ask if you’ve noticed any extremely strong magnetic fields in your house; symptoms might include your keychain flying across the room or a set of steak knives stuck to the ceiling.