Sweet Catastrophe

Ripper would be my iPod. Cleverly named after Giles’ nickname (from Buffy the Vampire slayer…my cat’s name also comes from there ) and ‘ripping’ songs off cds to put on my iPod.

Anyhow, I’ve had Ripper since 2005. Last year, a problem developed–it’d be in the middle of playing a song; the song would suddenly stop, and the screen would say “no card inserted.” When I back out to the menu, it was in photo import! Guess what–my iPod is not a photo iPod; it’s not even color!

Well, it got to where it was happening quite often, and generally when it’d start happening, it’d happen frequently–every few songs. I couldn’t figure out what the deal was as it was never the same situation (after so many songs, or certain songs, etc) and it started skipping over songs as if the files were missing.

I bought the Best Buy warranty when I got my iPod so I decided to take it in. I may have this out of order, but when it was returned, it had a new processor, but I think this was the time it came back to me as an iBrick–meaning it wouldn’t do anything. Well, I take that back, I think it worked for a few days before I got the dreaded sad iPod screen.

My heart seriously sank. When you get this screen, it means the end. There are two ‘fixes’ you can attempt, but if neither works, enjoy your iBrick! Thank God for that warranty, eh? So back it went since it was obviously not fixed properly, and this time it came back with a new harddrive, but when I got it home, it wouldn’t sync with iTunes. My computer recognized there was a device, but iTunes didn’t recognize its existence. Well, that doesn’t do me any good, so off again!

Finally my Ripper came back to me with another new harddrive and a new LCD screen–I’m guessing they damaged my old one during the repairs ’cause it was perfectly fine. Overall, the ‘invoices’ for the repairs showed parts that, if I had paid for them all, would’ve totaled more than I paid for the iPod in the first place.

It’s now been less than a year since I took it in. I believe this all started in September last year. A few months back it started doing the photo import deal again, and one day when I turned it on I got the image of a folder with and exclamation point, telling me to go to apple.com/support. Luckily, a soft reset cleared that, but the photo import thing has become a daily annoyance. It always seems to do it when I find a song I really wanna listen to…

My Best Buy warranty expires in January, so I decided to go ahead and take it in, as there’s obviously a problem. The thing is, being my 4th time sending it off, supposedly there’s a good chance I’ll be getting a brand new iPod. Of course, it all depends on the technicalities, and they may not deem this to be truly the 4th time since the second two times the iPod hadn’t been properly fixed in the first place, but I really hope they send me a new one. I can’t afford to buy a new iPod this time next year when this one starts having the same problem all over again, ya know? And I certainly can’t do without my iPod. I know that’s really materialistic, but I listen to SO much music…I don’t even own half my original cd collection anymore! I’ve given a lot of cds away because I’ve got them ripped and on my iPod…or I’ve bought them online!

It’d also be really nice, considering I’d be getting an upgrade.

This is my iPod. It’s the 20gb, U2 Special Edition. I love black and red, which is why I got it. I’m honestly not a huge U2 fan, I just really didn’t want a white iPod, and at the time, you didn’t have all these iPod covers and such. See, they stopped making these, but they have a newer one. It’s a 30gb color, video/photo U2 Special Edition, and if they send me a new iPod, supposedly that’s what I’ll be receiving, as they no longer carry the old ones. Now, I’m not dying for an upgrade. I wouldn’t really use the video or photo aspect very much, but I certainly won’t deny a 10gb upgrade would be really nice. I’m pushing the max on my 20 gigs as it is! I wouldn’t mind being able to throw a movie or two on there for long breaks between classes either. It certainly wouldn’t hurt my feelings!

So here’s hoping I have a new iPod in the coming days!!