iPods designed to last only a year??

[markomalley]

Was rather disturbed when I read this article:

iPods only last a year

Apple will not fix them

By Nick Farrell: Sunday 28 May 2006, 21:32

OWNERS of iPods that die after a year are being told that Apple will not fix them. According to

the Guardian

, Apple is telling punters who machines suffer from breakdowns after a year iPods are supposed to die after that time.

As the paper points out if you spent as much as iPod users do on their players on a fridge or a telly, you would expect it still to be working a year afterwards.

However, Apple seems to think the Sale of Goods Act, which indicates that such gizmos should really last five years, only applies to other manufacturers.

Each new iPod comes with one-year hardware service coverage. Customers can extend coverage for up to two years for £39. If the warranty has expired, Apple offers a repair service which includes a battery replacement at £49.

The Guardian has been advising its readers with iPod problems to quote the Sales of Goods Act at Apple and sometimes this has worked.

More often, the paper says, it hasn't.

So says the Manchester

Grauniad.

Source

here

Anybody over on this side of the pond ever note this?

(As important, I certainly hope my iRiver won't suffer from that type of reliability issue)

Edited May 29, 2006 by markomalley

[Mister P-Mosh]

From what I understand this only applies to Generation 1 and possibly some Generation 2 iPods. If you've bought one in the past few years you should be ok. I got mine in 2004 and it's still running strong.

[ChasUFarley]

I heard about a problem with Generation 1-3 iPods when I was in the market for my iPod - the problem is with the batteries. Here's a link, if you want more details:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php...threadid=129937

Repairing iPods is not hard to do IF you have the kind with the harddrive - not the flash drive. Usually it's a battery problem and the battery is just a little fatter than a credit card, and snaps onto the drive of the machine. Just like with a PDA, you have to charge it. I've changed batteries in both and it's just a matter of remembering what you did to get to the battery, unsnap it, and snap the new one in place - no big deal, really. IPods are really simple machines - it's easy to source parts of eBay or elsewhere.

I still bought a gen 3 iPod - it had the features I wanted, the extras I needed, and was in great shape at a decent price. I have no desire for the small (memory-wise and size) iPods or the video screen - no thanks.

There's been other iPod lawsuits - this one is about scratches (go figure) and this one is about hearing loss (these types of lawsuits .... me off - see my quote below for how I feel about people like this)

[HAPe4me]

I believe this involved the batteries that originally were shipped with the early devices. There has been an agreement where users may receive a new battery and $25 cash, or $50 credit at AppleStore?

[markomalley]

I am personally happy with my iRiver. Also it's all solid state...no hard drive to crash and a much smaller battery requirement.