Reliability?

[elcarlstono]

(skip to ** for quick question,or read here for back story)
I have had a 4th generation ipod for a few years now, and the reliability has been just straight up horrific. I was on my 3rd replacement ipod from apple when my warranty ran out. Each time I had to have an ipod replaced was because of the sad ipod face or the folder w/exclamation point. This happened to my friends too. After my warranty ran out, and this issue predicably happened again, I was shocked at how apple abandons you for support, there is no fix for the sad ipod face, and they charge $250 for a repair! After a lot of digging I figured out how to fix it myself. I open the case, disconnect the power supply, reconnect, restore the ipod and I'm fine. This would occur about once evey 2 months like clockwork. Each time it took more disconnects and restores. Alas, I think it may be gone forever. So I need a new player.
**My question is, was this issue with the recurring sad ipod face specific to the 4th Gen ipods, or is the reliability just as bad for the 5th gen video models.
I'd hate to get a Creative and convert all my files and lose my accessories, but I'd also hate to go through the headaches of repair, and the heartache of giving so much to a company like apple, who gives so little back to the consumer.
Thanks,
Carl

[studogvetmed]

Please do not cross post threads. Thank you.

The sad iPod icon is something that can happen to any iPod. It often suggests a hardware problem. If you have a sad iPod icon happen to you during warranty, one should try to have it repaired under warranty. This is not a "reliability" issue, it's just something that some iPods face. Any iPod can have problems, though I admit that the 4th gen iPod seemed to be plauged more than others.

Don't be surprised that once the warranty is up, phone support and cheap repairs are too. Apples repair for most of their issues are often a flat fee. This is reality, though, not just for apple but for other companies as well. You will find some gems and even now and then apple will even honor some things past warranty if you find the right person.

There are other companies that will repair iPods. www.iresq.com has an excellent overnight repair service that has a minimum upfront fee for shipping and diagnosis, then a quote for final repair. If you choose not to have it repaired you are only out the nominal fee. An iPod can often be returned and working order in four days through them depending on the issue.

[ThisisCraigP]

Every time one of our Zune-related articles gets linked by certain sites, we receive a not-too-mysterious influx of first-time commenters who post robust thoughts like, “gahhhhhh!!1!1!! with a name like iSomething you must be biased iPod fanboyz so shut up!1111!,” “c’mon give microsoft a chance they is the true innovators and mac is the thiefs!,” or “my ipod broke after 6 minutes and i could not get it to work thank god for bill gates vista will be the best.” Comments like these are often laugh-out-loud funny, in part because of the bizarre content, but also because we know they’re sometimes being written by “astroturfers” -Jeremy Horwitz

The above sounds EXACTLY like what this guy is doing/saying. Ipods happen to be very reliable and theyll last you a long time if you take care of them. Anyway this sounds like a load of bull to me anyway

[elcarlstono]

Could be a lot of bull, Or you could try talking to me instead making immediate assumptions about who I am and why I am here.
I simply asked a question: I am on my 3rd ipod (2 replacements of the original), and everyone of them have been plagued by the same issue: recurring sad ipod face. And I just want to know if the new ones do the same thing.
Or maybe I'm the only person in the world who has gotten the 3 existing defective ipods. Or maybe not.
And I have no idea what a zune related article is.
I will add that I have the HP/apple Ipod.
Don't get me wrong, I WANT another ipod, but I have to justify that my apparantly lone bad experience will not happen again.
Thank you to anyone who has constructive comments.

[studogvetmed]

You certainly not the only person who has faced having to have an iPod replaced multiple times in a row. It happens.

It does occasionally happen with the fifth gen, I have heard people go through multiple iPods, though I haven't heard of as many sad face issues on the five gen as I did with the 4th and 3rd gen iPods.

iPods aren't flawless, but I also don't consider them unreliable. There are many people who go through iPods without a single issue. I had my 3rd gen iPod for three years and never had an issue a restore couldn't fix, except for my battery which I burned out because I let it overheat on top of a computer monitor. I now own an 80GB 5 gen iPod and have no problems to date.

Sometimes I think generally we may treat our iPods with a more rough hand than we should (not suggesting you did). An iPod isn't fragile, persay, but it wasn't necessarily meant to be swung around like they do in the commercials either... Also the fact that iPods have become so popular, I think their quality control has gone down a little bit.

That being said I know people, who over the life of their iPod ownership have owned up to 8 iPods with only one ending up being a dud out of the box. Perhaps they never own an iPod long enough to come across issues, though one of these people knows where his old iPods are (they are with friends and family) and he reports that these older iPods are still running well.

So to answer your question more specifically, iPods, in my opinion, are not unreliable, though they can suffer failure like any peice of hard ware. How failures of iPods compare to other devices, I do not know.

PS: ZeppelinBoy, please be careful in throwing around accusations. We try to keep iLounge open to all people of deferring opinions. People who are only here to truly troll will reveal themselves one way or another and can be dealt with. The question of iPod reliability is an honest question and a serious question of new and seasoned users a like. As reliable as we believe our iPods are, the number of failures can't be overlooked (Though a site like this scews the idea of failures to the extreme). No one will believe us that iPods are reliable if we slander other players and posters while doing it, okay

[elcarlstono]

Thanks for the reply and the information, and the defense (though I do know what he's talking about from other forums. I did just pop on here w/my first post and start complaining).
I sometimes wonder if my higher failure rate is due to having a pc--> HP ipod interface.
I plan to replace my laptop in the not too distant future with an iBook, but I need an ipod now. But I do have 2 pc's so I can still support a pc based Ipod, or a Zen. I'd hate to have to go through all the conversions to mp3 and also all my accessories would be scrap too if I went with a Zen.
I guess, at the end of the day, even though I'm on my 3rd ipod, it's been over 2 years and I did get my moneys worth (and hooked like crack).
It's just been a big headache(took my 3 hours last night but finally got it playing again). I would like to think they could make them a little more durable: it is a "portable" device. Or a least a little pinhole reset button would have solved 98% of my issues!
Thanks again for your input, it puts my mind more at ease.

[ThisisCraigP]

elcarlstono im sorry i made a snap judgement on your problem. It seems like anyware i go that has ipod discussions thers always someone with a history of one post and is trying to bad mouth ipods saying that theyve broke down a bunch of times and stuff. Anyway im sorry for such a rash judgment about you and your problem.

[elcarlstono]

I was bashing my ipod! It's all good. What I've learned in the last couple of days is that I'm bashing HP ipods, and they don't sell them anymore so it's a non factor. I may go get my new ipod today!

[davidwb]

iPod sales continue to rise meaning each new version is selling better than the version before. That, of course, means that even if iPod quality has remained the same from V1 to V5 there are more dead and dying iPods and more people talking about their dead iPods. Dang but I love statistics

Since I work on a college campus and I'm viewed by students and staff as a tech guru, I've seen more than my share of iPods acting up. I've also seen iPod wearing soccer players, skateboarders, frisbee throwers, etc. And when they bring me their messed up iPod they all swear they've never abused their iPod. Yeah.

Rumors keep popping up that Apple is moving all their iPods to flash memory. Gee, do you think it could be because hard drives are inherently fragile? FWIW, the people in my household have bought seven iPods from V1 thru V4, a V1 and a V2 Nano. All are functioning as well as they did on day one, though several have received battery transplants.

[ABFA00]

[Sorry about the double post, it said I wasn't logged in... eh. How do I delete posts?]

[ABFA00]

I got my first ipod (3G) in March 2004. It worked fine with no major problems [it froze occasionally but not often enough to be a big deal- I never had to get it replaced] until October, maybe November, 2005, when my computer stopped recognizing it. It still worked fine otherwise, though. Luckily we'd gotten it at Best Buy, and back then they had a replacement plan, not just a service plan. So I took it in and explained everything I'd tried to fix it. The guy took it to their computer and tried a few things and said they could try sending it out but since I had the replacement plan, I could just get a new one for free. I had to mail it in and wait a bit, but then I got a gift card, which for some reason had more than the original price I'd paid. Not sure what was up with that!

Anyway, so with the gift card I got a black 5G video ipod and it's been the same as the first one I had- only minor problems that are easily fixed. It's fine, and I use it all the time.

Nobody else in my family has had major difficulties either. My brother's 2G lasted as long as he had it- it was still working well when he lost it or it was stolen [I forget which], and my mom's ipods have been the same as mine, although she didn't have the replacement plan for her 3G since she got it at a discount with an audible subscription. I think what happened with hers was some kind of battery issue. Also, her lock button was occasionally screwy. But none of us have ever had to send them back to apple, and they've always lasted what apparently is a nice length of time (definitely out of warranty), and my mom's current 5G ipod has also had no problems. My brother's hasn't either. He's got the 60gb and we've got 30gb.

[meldale8]

I had a 4th gen, i got the end of 2004, and it lasted 8 months, my replacement lasted 8 months. I decided to give hp hell, and someone screwed up and sent me a replacement free, but it didnt work at all!!, i was ####ed. But they sent me a new one. So that was my fourth, and like clockwork, it died at 8 months. I gave up and bought a new one, an 80gb 5th gen. I actually accidentally fixed the old one by hitting it over and over again, in frustration..haha. But it worked, so i sold it for 80 bucks to a pawn shop. So far i havent had any problems with the new one, or my nano or shuffle, except for hat annoying hiss with the shuffle. I did buy a 3 year warranty with the 5th gen, just to be safe. i just hope the new one does better than the old one.

[Buffoonist]

To start off, I don't exercise w/ my ipod, don't use the backlight, and use playlists.

The 1st ipod I bought was a 4th gen in dec 2004 i believe....my first replacement was after 5 months due hard drive issue, the second replacement was faulty, they gave me another one, that replacement (3) functioned for about 3 more months until the battery no longer charged. I received the 4th replacement and the warranty ended.

I then bought a 5th gen bought in dec 2005 and have replaced it twice for similar reasons. Thank goodness i bought applecare!

[ahMEmon]

The only problem I have ever had with ANY iPod, was worn contacts in the headphone jack and firewire port. It was a 10 gig 1G iPod that lasted me for 2+ years before I had any problems.

[enjoilax]

At first I paid attention to these threads, but as time goes on I see that theres really no point.

The sample size of iLounge is so small and not like the majority of iPod users that I feel these threads (regarding overall quality, in which personal experience is shared) are rather pointless.