iPod problem?

[blessingx]

Just got my 40GB 4G iPod yesterday. I wanted to test for the drive sound issue that's reported with many iPods. Well the crackling (less a whirl HD spin, which happens right before - also had a 1G previously) occurs for a second before the first track of any album (ALAC or APS). It doesn't on subsequent tracks or in the middle of larger files as the buffer is fed. Is this the famous problem, or another? Likely returning it, but curious if this is what others are hearing.

 

[Bunnyears]

Apparently there is more than one ipod problem. I had one with the "famous" (or should I say infamous) hard-drive problem, ie: whirling, grinding, wind up sound with static in headphones everytime the hard drive was accessed. I exchanged that one (3+hours at the genius bar) and received another "new" (who really knows,,, on telephone support they told me that they are repairing and selling as new the repaired ipods with no way to tell what you are getting). My new one has a different problem: when hard-drive is accessed I get a faint but very audible high-pitched whirr and monitor tone (as if I'm taking a hearing test). Thje whirr is only audible at the beginning of a track, just before the music starts, but the tone is audible in the middle of certain recordings: quiet music, such as Erik Satie Gymnopedies or solo cello, In fact, I also heard it listening to Willy Nelson's "Across the Borderline" album, as the tracks have very little background noise, and the sound is very "unamped."

To further complicate this, apparently the design of the ipod intensifies the problem with the headphones I use. I use the Ety 4p's, whose headphone plug has a metal (albeit gold plated) base that picks up the hard-drive sounds as conducted by the metal sides and back of the ipod (see my posted thread earlier). Apparently, the metal to metal interface (the ipod jack has only the merest plastic shell insulating it from the metal sides and back) resonates the hard-drive sounds. Despite attempts to damp the vibration by placing all sorts of tape and silicon bandage on the Ety plug, the whirr and tone remain, although at reduced volume.

I will be exchanging this ipod for another next week when I have the time to spare. I hope the next one will be the final one.

 

[brentsg]

Ditto for me, except fast forward sever iPods until I gave up.

I was hoping Apple would admit the defect, fix it, and sell me another one.

Maybe that isn't going to happen.

B

 

[raisin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunnyears ,,, on telephone support they told me that they are repairing and selling as new the repaired ipods with no way to tell what you are getting).

I think support was giving you bad information- Apple has yet to acknowledge any problem with the 4g ipod, so how can they be fixing it?

 

[toaster]

god i hate apple.

go ahead and believe those awards they get for their ehhmm, "customer service."

not only does apple have quite possibly the worst customer service, but they also are so elitist that they give you attitude if you do not own every mac product ever made. (what!!! how dare you bring your dell laptop into our store! you want us to look at your ipod connected to your pc?!)

of course, you can always call customer service and wait on hold for an hour then have them tell you it will be $50 before they can officially tell you you're screwed.

rotten apple.

 

[ayn]

Yup, after reading Bunnyears' post I am convinced that there are 2 problems. I am on my 4th 4G iPod and I've had 2 of each. My current one has the high-pitch problem, I think I have to be REALLY lucky to get one without this problem, most of the 4G demo units at the store had this or both problems.

I am going to wait until they silently figure out and fix the problem to swap again. The genius at the store was really cool, didn't take that long to swap iPods if I make reservation online before I head over to the store.

I am very pleased wth Apple's customer service actualy, I had no problem swapping iPods 3 times. My girlfriend's iBook finally caught the mainboard problem, there is a free repair for her iBook, so we dropped it off at the genius bar and they shipped it to a repair center to replace the board. We dropped it off late Monday, their tracking systems automatically sent her status updates, and DHL attempted delivery Thursday morning. Nobody was home so I went to pick it up Friday afternoon. It took them less than a day to change out the board, test it, pack and ship it back. Very impressive.

Costco now sells HP iPods, I definitely would've bought it there instead, because of their return policy. Returning and buying a new one there will definitely be quicker than going through the Genius Bar... and when the 60GB is out I'd be able to upgrade without losing money.

I only have a little more than 1GB left on mine.

--Andrew