Micahville

My iPod is broken. The once golden and revered iPod is dead after 3 years. So what you may ask?

Here’s what: my iPod did not die in one fell stroke. It died laboring under the ever more mature iPod battery that it ran on. Right now, it is probably on its way off to lithium heaven (or hell, depending on the way you look at it).

So much hyperbole, for such what at first appears to be a simple matter. Yet it is not. If I had a conversation about this with you, I imagine that it would go along these lines.

Me: Dude, I feel depressed.

Stranger: Why?

Me: My iPod is dead…

This sentence would then be followed by an awkward pause, in which we would part ways. Me: in deep contemplation. You: in silent indifference.

Before, I would have accepted that silent indifference, in a matching awkward silence. However, now my attitude has changed because of one separate point that you might have neglected. This is not an isolated incident. Although you might now know it, the mighty Apple Corporation has been sued multiple times for the slow death of iPods from “battery failure”.

You might say to yourself that my case is a fluke, a sideshow, a once in a lifetime experience; yet it has been and still is happening to Apple Customers.

In the words of someone else who had a similar experience:

“I felt as if Apple purposely programmed the battery to die just after the warranty expired, just to get me to either buy a new iPod or pay for them to replace it,” fumed Katie Canavan in Woburn, Mass. “I am not the only person in my close group of friends who this has happened to.”

The similar frustrations of a MacBook (broken) owner? — Watch this video.

On the other hand, other companies have unperfect products too. Apple is not alone.

Lastly, I would like to have my readers answer one question:

Is battery failure the fault of Apple, or a parts maker? Should they be responsible for it, regardless?
This question is one that has no real answer, or no true answer. I have some feelings and bias since I am an iPod owner. Tell me what YOU think.

"The Slow Death of An iPod" was given life on on Thursday, September 13th, 2007 at 11:54 pm and, I think, categorized Technology.