My iPod: The Love Hate Relationship
So, like the rest of the world, I own an iPod. I really love having my music with me everywhere I go. I have a lot of music. Over 3000 songs ranging from Marilyn Manson to Enya. Because of my little white hard drive, I can carry everything everywhere.
My first encounter with mp3’s was in college. They became huge because we had an Ethernet network and everyone shared them. Soon after college I bought one of the first mp3 cd players for my truck. This thing was and still is sweet. I was able to store about 10 cd’s on one mp3 cd. I was the coolest. I was able to combine my collection into an easily carried in one small case. The only problem became listening to my music on the go or while in someone else’s car. That is when I finally invested in an iPod. So pretty, so easy, so expensive. That is when the love hate relationship began.
Unlimited Music – Love
I have a 40gb iPod that is 1/3 of the way full, and I have no idea how long it is going to take me to fill this thing. I am sure I will do it. I get about 10-15 new albums a year, so it is only a matter of time.
Scratchy Scratch – Hate
My iPod use to be beautiful, and now it looks like sandpaper got the better of it. It is horrible. I have a nice cover for it, but the occasional pocket sand, lint, keys, etc. have gotten the better of it. I am not sure if the pictures I took do it justice, but that is the way it looks.
Dust Demons – Hate
For some reason when I leave my iPod hanging out on it’s own for months at a time, the dust demons get it. I have to do a full reset on the iPod and then reload all of my music. I am assuming this is because of the battery on this thing… saving that for another hate. My newest error on the iPod was even trickier to figure out. (check out the footnotes)
iTunes – Love
I am sorry, but Apple does know how to create software. It is well laid out, easy to use and best of all free. I am getting sick of all the updates to support all of the cool new iPods out there, but I can deal with it.
Battery – Love/Hate
I am not sure what I do to cause this battery to be so erratic. Sometimes I get tons of hours out of it, and other times, I get about 30 minutes. I did find however that setting an alarm and forgetting about it is a good way to kill your battery. The iPod just keeps playing until the battery runs out. I am sure they will get this right just as someone comes out with a better personal music device.
I Have Three – Hate
My wife got jealous of mine so she had to get the mini. Yes, it had to be pink, so guess who gets to be the it department for the little guy? Yeah, you guessed it. I also have my only spin wheel iPod. I really don’t like that one, but I really can’t fetch more for it on eBay. Would be a good re gift!
Conclusion
Seems like I have a lot more hate than love, but I still have my iPod and I will still waste time trying to get it back and running from every flat line it has. I will just have to see if someone can top the thing. I really do doubt it, but stranger things have happened.
Footnotes:
How to reset your iPod – For early versions (Scroll Wheel & Touch Wheel) switch the hold on then off and hold the Play/Pause and Menu button down until you see the apple. This can take about 6-15 seconds to occur. For current versions (Click wheel, iPod Mini, iPod photo), hold down the Menu button and the select button (center button on the wheel) for the same amount of time and wait for the apple to appear.
Restore your iPod – Apple has a tool for this, just hit their site and they can walk you through this. This will completely clear your iPod, but most of us have all the music somewhere, so that isn’t a big deal… just a long wait.
My iPod has 1.6gb (1600mb) or a lot of space – I didn’t see anything on the internet for fixing this, so I did some research since I needed to bring mine back. I found it was the internet connection on my computer at work that caused the problem. I have no idea how or why this occurred, but when I hooked my iPod up to iTunes, it said I had 1,600mb of space on it. I had to disconnect my network connection, reboot, restore the iPod and reload my entire suite of music. Now whenever I do an update, I have to disconnect my network cord. Weird, but it works.
Hope this helps some people out there. Ask away if you have any questions.
Word,
Matt
on January 31, 2006 at 1:31 pm
Permalink
I think you should donate your extra Ipod to a worthy cause. Or maybe, a friend. A friend who is Ipod-less.