My iPod died today (En)

One with the Ipod

So, it's the end of the work-day and a co-worker and I decide to cruise over to the Apple store by Union Square and check out their computers. So far so good. We're both in a good mood because the work-day is over, the weather is great and we're going to look at computers ... Things couldn't be better.

As usual, I have my iPod on me, headphones hanging around my neck, and the only reason I'm not actually listening to it at that particular moment is that I'm not alone. Otherwise, I would. Most of the time, let's face it, I am one with the iPod. I find it especially necessary during the commute from and to work, or when I'm walking around or running errands, and especially when I go shopping.

So anyway, here we are, at the Apple store, and we're playing with the computers on display and we're going "Wow, wow, wow" and "Wow, wow" again, for each of these machines is truly amazing and a real pleasure to look at. Come on, people, admit it, Macs are cool and extremely aesthetically pleasing (or am I just a hopeless geek?).

Anyway, while we're having fun there with the AppleBooks, G4s, etc., a sales guy shows up. We tell him that we're already sold on the merchandise, and I find myself saying "I've been thinking about getting a Mac for a while, Mac products are so much better... right now, all I have from Apple is the iPod, but I'm soooooooo happy with it!!! The only thing I don't like about it, though, is that it takes forever to turn it off." And I unclip my iPod to show him. The guy says "do you know how to reset it?" I said "No, I don't, why don't you show me?" And he shows me. He "resets" the iPod by pressing both the central button and the top one at the same time. Apparently, that reboots the device. A perfect Apple shows up on the screen then goes away. I put my iPod back on it's belt-clip, thank him, and walk away.

My friend and I finally decide we've had enough of this store and should head home, so we do. Immediately out of the store, I put my earphones back on and press the "on" button. Nothing happens. I press again... still no sound. I take a closer look at my iPod and realize that all the songs are GONE!!! I mean that all my songs are completely, totally GONE!!!! I try sorting by artists, songs, albums, genre... nothing happens. The database seems completely empty! I go back in the store and try to find the sales guy, who, by now, is nowhere to be found.

After being bounced around from one person to the next, I finally manage to convince a tech at the customer service desk to look at it (pardon me, not a tech, a "Genius" since that's what they're called at Apple), and after what seems like an eternity, said Genius informs me that he is unable to restore the songs on my iPod because the thing, according to him, is pretty much dead. Wow! Dead? But it's practically brand new!

So now, I've been in the Apple Store about 2 hours. I argued with at least 5 people until I finally got to someone helpful. I lost all my songs. Aren't they on your computer said the Genius? Well, no, Genius, most of them are not. Don't tell me you haven't heard that story before, give me a break! The "Genius" let me understand that for $99 he might be able to load a utility and perhaps restore my data but since I refused to pay anything extra (the iPod is still under full warranty), then I can kiss my songs goodbye. Great. Bear in mind that this iPod already costs between $300 and $400, is under full warranty, and now they want to charge me $99 for the so-called "utility."

So I tell the guy: forget the songs, just fix the iPod. The guy (the Genius, sorry) then says that he'd be happy to give me another iPod instead, but he doesn't have any in stock just now. Would I care to trade my 40GB device for an updated 30GB or even a 20GB said the Genius? No, I would not! After checking with another store (yes, they had replacements identical to mine, but all the Genius appointments were already booked for the night at that store) we decided to order the part. I should get a phone call within the next couple of days, and then I have to make an appointment to pick up the "part" ... Are they going to give me a new iPod? No, of course not. A refurbished one in a brown box, said the Genius. Oh, dear. I just hope that it will be in better shape than my new one. Should I be thinking about purchasing an extended warranty, I ask. That might not be a bad idea, said the Genius. I think he was actually being sincere.

Well, that's pretty much the story: I walked in the Apple Store today in a really good mood, with a functional iPod full of songs, and I left 2 hours later sad and frustrated with a device that's not working and no songs!

The irony? When I got on BART at the Powell St. Station, I noticed that the entire station upstairs was covered in advertisement for only one thing: iPods! iPods on dancing people everywhere, as far as the eye can see, all over the place, in every color you can imagine, and the one in my backpack is dead!






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Comments

8 Comments:
Chris said...
Oh l'histoire... mes condoleances :o(

En general les vendeurs n'y connaissent rien (sauf peut etre chez Fry's) alors j'immagine les "Genies" de chez MAC. lol

Je vous conseille de passer directement par le site Apple, section Support: http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/

Peut etre avez-vous quand meme des fichiers sur votre ordinateur?

C'est rigolot, j'etais juste dans ce magasin Samedi dernier. C'etait la deuxieme fois que je touchais un MAC de ma vie ! Le MAC mini a l'air vraiment sympas et pour $ 499 "seulement".

9:28 AM
Renaud said...
Tu plaisantes Chris !?
Si il y a bien un magasin ou les vendeurs n'y connaissent vraiment quedalle, c'est bien chez Fry's.
Cela dit j'adore Fry's, mais je ne compte jamais sur les vendeurs pour me renseigner sur un produit... au mieux ils lisent l'etiquette descriptive sur la boite et ca je peux le faire aussi ;)

Sinon pour Amelie, je te conseillerais tout de meme d'essayer de recuperer toi meme les chansons de ton IPOD a partir de ton PC. A partir du moment ou tu peux encore connecter ton Ipod a ton PC, ca devrait etre possible. L'ipod n'est finalement qu'un disque dur USB (our firewire) et il est toujours possible d'utiliser des logiciels de data recovery afin de recuperer des fichiers effacer par megarde.
Fais donc une recherche sur Google avec des keywords du style "undelete, hard-drive recovery, uneraser etc...", je suis sur que tu pourras trouver un logiciel qui te permettra peut etre de recuperer au moins une partie de tes chansons.

Bonne Chance !!

1:50 PM
Renaud said...
C'est encore moi :)

Je viens juste de trouver un article qui pourra sans doute t'interesser:

http://forums.ipodlounge.com/archive/topic/45619-1.html

1:56 PM
Sandy said...
What a bummer Amelie !!!
Sincerement desolee...
Je n'ai pas d'Ipod mais si j'en avais un...je serais tout comme toi...grrrr
J'espere que l'aide de Renaud te sera precieuse...
Bonne chance...et esperons que tu puisses a nouveau ecouter Madeleine pendant ton commute...

2:48 PM
chris said...
renaud -> " Tu plaisantes Chris !?"

Ben...non
C'etait peut etre un coup de bol alors car c'etait un vendeur dans le rayon carte mere, memoires, processeur et j'avais trouve le mec super cale.

"Si il y a bien un magasin ou les vendeurs n'y connaissent vraiment quedalle, c'est bien chez Fry's."

Avant ca, tu oublies les Circuit City, Best Buy et compagnie. En plus dans ce genre de magasins, il faut etre riche.

5:15 PM
Tomate Farcie said...
Tout d'abord, je veux vous remercier tous et toutes pour vos commentaires et vos conseils, c'est vraiment tres gentil. Surtout que j'avais pas trop le moral, hier soir quand je suis rentree sans mon Pod, alors ca fait d'autant plus plaisir!

Chris: oui, j'ai encore pas mal de fichiers mais eparpilles sur plusieurs ordinateurs. Je vais sans doute pouvoir reconstruire my Library MP3 mais ca va prendre bien du temps! Ma faute, j'aurais du graver des CD de back-up sans remettre a plus tard. :-(

Renaud: mon iPod ne repond plus du tout. Il n'arrive plus a communiquer avec le PC. "Mechanical failure of some sort" (soupir)

En fait, je me suis renseignee un peu autour de moi et je m'apercois que je ne suis pas la seule a avoir des ennuis d'iPod. Rien que la dame assise a cote de moi dans le train tout a l'heure, elle me disait qu'elle en etait a son 3eme en moins d'un an. Wow.

En fait, j'ai fini par comprendre que c'est pas le "balladeur ideal" qu'on nous montre sur les pubs: c'est un disque dur, pas plus, et ce n'est pas vraiment fait pour etre promene dans les sacs et dans les poches, secoue, etc., quoi qu'en dise la pub.

Par contre, les petit "Shuffle" qui viennent de sortir il y a qq mois, eux, n'ont aucune moving part et eux sont fait pour ca. Mais je doute franchement qu'ils soient infaillibles.

Sandy: Don't worry, j'ai encore le CD original de Madeleine Peyroux. :-)

10:52 PM
Renaud said...
Amelie, ouai dans ce cas la si il repond pas, effectivement ca va etre chaud pour le reparer toi meme. Cherche peut etre quand meme dans les newsgroups et autres pour voir ce qu'ont fait les autres utilisateurs qui ont rencontres la meme erreur.
Mais si il est sous garanti, le mieux c'est effectivement sans doute de le remplacer.

Moi perso, j'ai un ipod depuis 2 ans (1 des premiers 2eme generation, 30Go) et j'ai pas eu un seul probleme avec (et je l'utilise tous les jours pendant au moins 1 ou 2h).
Le seul truc negatif que j'ai trouve c'est la battery life qui est clairement pas aussi longue que les 8h annoncees.

1:31 AM
Tomate Farcie said...
8h de battery? Ah, non, ca c'est pas vrai. Avec le mien, je dirais plutot 3 ou 4h, pas plus (mais c'est un 40G). La battery, c'est le talon d'achile du iPod, je pense.

9:04 AM