iPods suck. Right?
Some have said that I kiss some Apple arse, and that may be true. But there is a good reason for that. It works. I am not going to rant and rave about how Mac is the superior OS or the better hardware and things of the what not, no, I will save that for another post (:P jokes, each has its own benefits). I intend to have a rant about iPods right now.
The common myth that iPods break easily. Everyone has heard it from someone, seen it on the news, read it in a paper, magazine, etc. The numbers of broken iPods sure are astonishing, I won’t at all deny that. But you know what is more astonishing? The sales numbers. Lets use some pretty basic numbers as an example here. Lets say we take an MP3 brand called ‘mpMe’ (I apologize if this resembles anything real, that was of no intention, I was just pulling shit out of nowhere), and now lets say 1 in 10 breaks or has some faults which require it to be replaced. Now lets assume the statistics for an iPod are the same, 1 in 10 breaks. Now pretend in month, mpMe sells 40 MP3 systems, 4 will break in that month. Now lets assume apple sells 10,000 iPods in that month, 1,000 will break. 1,000 broken iPods seems like a damn lot of wasted money for consumers, but its not looked at comparatively. Also, the 1 in 10 statistic is not real, it was hypothetical.
Logic would state that the highest selling MP3 player in the world would also have the highest break rate just by sheer ratio, right? Apparently not.
I am constantly bombarded by people who claim iPods suck because they break easily. I won’t deny that they have faults (namely the battery or that short screen crisis they had), everything does, but what gets me is the people who tell me this at the sight of my iPod. At least 90% of people who have spoken negatively about iPod’s to me have never themselves owned an iPod, they just bitch and moan based on what they have heard or what has happened to people they know.
You frequently hear the horror stories ‘my brother got 3 and all 3 broke’ and shit like that. Is it ever possible that they just don’t take care of their iPods correctly? This Apple kiss arse post is not based on nothing either, it is based on own experience. 3 years ago next month myself and my two sisters purchased a 30GB iPod Classics (5th gen) each. Alas, on November 10th, one of the 3 broke. Took almost 3 years though. And it was by no means Apple’s or the iPods fault. No, instead it broke because my sister left it on the floor and stepped on the screen. I would expect my heel to do damage to any MP3 player on the market.
I have had some argue that it was because they were the newer ones that they lasted (yet they argue that ones that came out after ours are still crap…?), which is just not true. I have seen black and white iPod’s last 3 years without needing replacement, and how old are they! I have even been lucky enough to use a functional, and in use second gen iPod earlier this year.
I am not trying to force anyone into buying an iPod, its their loss if they don’t in my opinion. But iPod’s seem to carry a stigma with people who have never owned one and never will due to. I can respect someone’s decision to purchase an alternative because lets face it, iPod’s probably aren’t the best thing on the market, but they sure as hell aren’t the worst.
I think what it comes down to is how much you respect you’re iPod or technology in general. I know for a fact that a well treated iPod will last a long time. Hell I have even dropped my iPod from roofs and had it kicked in the screen and mine is fine, so apparently you don’t even need to show them that much respect.
I know (in fact I planned and hoped on it) that this post will probably piss some hardcore anti-apple enthusiasts off, its your place, stand up for what you believe. I will however direct you to my comment form below. I want to hear everyones story, the horrible stories about how iPod’s are lemons and the great ones about people who have owned their iPod’s since the mid Triassic period. Go wild! And hell, prove me wrong. Nothing like some food for thought.
Join our RSS feed
Digg
Del.icio.us
Reddit
Furl
8 Replies...
i have a 1st Gen ipod nano.. they are ancient now.. nothings wrong with it besides a few dings.. and arent they the model infamous for shitty screans? i’ve thrown this thing around alot, its taken a beating.. and its still fine.. the only issue with an iPod would have to be the price in my opinion.. but thats all really, the user interface, the software.. its all good..
unless i run my ipod over with a car, i dont think it’ll die any time soon 
My Dad has an original iPod which didn’t give out until mid-2007. I don’t recall what went in it, but I do believe that whatever it was could be fixed. – but he decided a new one was in order anyway, mainly so it had a decent sized HD.
Also, in relation to the comment above about running an iPod over with a car; http://www.ipodnn.com/articles/08/01/31/iphone.vs.18.wheeler/
I know it’s not an iPod, but the idea remains.
haha, thats insane.. i’ve seen iphones shatter because they’ve been dropped.. and then i can now say i’ve seen an iphone run over by an 18 wheeler haha..
thanks for the link
Hi,
I have to say, I’m done with Apple iPods. I found this post, wondering if I’m the only one who’s experienced problems with ipods.
The truth of the matter is this: I’ve had 4 ipods in the last 4 years. The first was a classic iPod, with a 10 Gig hard drive. After about 1.5 years, the drive started to click, and soon after, the device died. So I bought two 1st Gen Nano Ipods (one for myself, one for my GF). She used hers to work out at the gym. I will be the first to admit, sweat & being bumped around aren’t great for an iPod. That said- her cell phones always take the same abuse (if not more), and none of them have broken.
My own 1st Gen Nano died about 6 months after hers. Before you begin to think “he abused his ipod” let me state- my ipods only have one use: car music. If living in my car to play music constitutes abuse, then your idea of durability is what sucks.
I believe its as simple as this: Apple makes far more money selling ipods than they do music. If iPods live forever, Apple makes less money. Solution? Planned obsolescence; self-destructing iPods make better financial sense, and the people who deem themselves “cool” by association with a hip product will keep buying them.
I am on my fourth iPod right now, and when it dies, I will not buy another. I encourage others to do the same. I believe Apple deliberately makes products that will break, so people have an excuse to buy a new one.
I don’t mind it breaking as long as its in warranty but they know its going to break right after warranty.I was listening to my video ipod and then all of a sudden the thing only went in one ear.I was pissed.I called them up i asked them and they knew it would do that.So I asked them for a free fix since I was out of warranty.They said no I was even more pissed.After awhile(3 days later)It died on me.It wouldn’t even charge.Called them up again they knew of course it was the battery they knew it wouldn’t last long.they told me a new battery was $200.Okay so instead of wasting my money I used on a zune.The zune was more organized then the Ipod i couldn’t believe it.It also has a fm radio and instead of the motion sensor wheel it had a motion sensored circle thing that was alot cooler instead of the wheel that if you go right it goes down and if you go left it goes up.Instead when you want to go up you move your finger up and it goes up,move your finger down it goes down,and etc.I would pick a zune over a ipod anyday now.
[...] I am sure many of you have noticed, I wrote an article a little while ago titled ‘iPods suck. Right?‘ where I basically just demanded that iPods are built better then people bitch and moan about [...]
Thank you it is a nice article with very nice informations.
motion sensors are very useful when detecting burglars and wild animals in your property”;`
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
Leave a comment
