Colette: they fix them but only if they are under warranty.

I eventually bought a 3rd gen ipod for myself. 14 months later, dead battery. I bought a replacement battery from a 3rd party and installed it myself. been working ever since but never ever getting the full 10 hours of battery life.

Bought Kristie a 4th gen ipod and it has been working fine for over a year - expecting that bugger to die any month now.

As much as I love them, they are truly screwing many loyal fans on this one. The extended warranty should be half of what they charge.

Was thinking about getting the video iPod recently and then I saw the new Verizon VCast phones - realized that the current generation of video/music players is about to make a big leap forward in terms of function/price value - so will wait to get to the next generation before making any more purchases like this.

For the same reason, I am holding off on buying the MacBook. You just have to expect that there will be some major problem with the first models which willl result in data loss, suffering, pain and ultimately a recall program. It is just how they do things, which is a real shame, because I love Apple the brand, even in the face of all the negative experiences I have (like having my back up hard drive wiped mysteriously while upgrading my laptop to Tiger last year). Imagine how cool it would be if they had real quality control in engineering and manufacturing to go along with the great design.

Anyway, I have a big problem with iTunes and DRM, but no one EVER listens to me about it — in fact, most people scoff at me. But whatever, they’ll learn sooner or later. See, the thing is, I totally agree that Apple has some of the best hardware design out there — let’s face it, the design of the various flavors of iPod are literally industrial design works of art. BUT, a lot of people aren’t realizing that they are setting themselves to be locked-in to Apple hardware for a long time with respect to iTunes and AAC.

I’m just now started to hear about people regretting it. MY NUMBER #1 PET PEEVE about iTunes is this: the default setting will rip music CD’s to AAC. Now, yes, I admit that AAC has some advantages over MP3 (higher quality at same bit rate), but there are a lot of players out there that don’t support it. So, what happens in 99% of new user cases? Someone buys an iPod, installs iTunes, rips their ENTIRE music collection from CD to iTunes (hours and hours worth of work) without ever realizing they just ripped the whole thing to AAC, not MP3 — if they even know the difference. Now, they could have ripped to MP3, but they would have to change the settings first.

Now for most people, this is no big deal… Until they try or want to use a third party player. Here’s a couple of examples. You want to use an installed car stereo player that uses MP3. Or, and I’ve heard this one more than once, they learn that they can stream music from their computer to their Tivo box and think that is so cool until they realize that it ain’t going to play AAC files or any DRM-encumbered iTunes music store music. Or something like the “squeezebox” (which BTW, is pretty much the badest-ass home streamer out there with optical digital outputs and the ability to stream FLAC and OGG files in addition to pretty much everything else like WMA, MP3, and WAV except AAC).

Well, I’m going to stop my rant now, but suffice it to say, here’s the advice I give to anyone who ask. I say buy, use, and love your iPods, but whatever you do, rip your collection to MP3 not AAC and avoid the iTunes Music store. Buy CD’s and rip them. It’s the only way to ensure you get the fair use you deserve from the money you spend. Or better yet, buy used CDs from Craigslist, eBay, or from a store like Amoeba.

funny thing is, my ancient 10gb ipod with a battery replacement is doing fine. maybe it’s the new guts that suck? apple’s got a hot product, they can afford to skimp now.

we also went through two 12″ refurbished powerbooks recently - had to return them both and get an ibook new from the apple store. i don’t think refurb’s are a good deal on anything compact with moving parts — too much potential for mysterious bugs & noises.

i have no recommendations except maybe go flash - a player mountable as a drive? simple is best i think.

i ahve yet to purchase from the itunes store … and i have yet to be disappointed.