[YoungClayB]

Ok, so I have had my B&W 20 GB 4th Generation iPod for about 3 years now. At times over the past few years, I've been tempted to upgrade to a newer iPod, but as time passed, I found myself liking my "old school" iPod more and more.

The next part of the story seems irrelevant, but it will make sense once you read the rest of the story. About 2 weeks ago, I walked over to a friend's desk at work and noticed that he also was still using a B&W 20 GB 4G Ipod...we talked for a bit about how badly we both needed to upgrade our iPods and then got back to work.

The following weekend, I took a roadtrip to Florida with my wife and son to see her family - about a 10 hour drive from my home in North Carolina. The battery in my iPod was dead after about 2 hours

Still wanting to keep my beloved "antique" iPod, I decided that my best option was to order a 1200 mAh replacement battery from iPodJuice.com. Shortly after receiving my shipping confirmation from iPodJuice, my iPod/Tomahawk fell off of my desk and hit the floor - Tomahawk survived, iPod...not so much. It actually continued to function for a while and then gave me the exclamation point folder icon when I tried to sync with my computer. “Crap”, I thought, “I just wasted 40 bucks on a battery for a iPod that no longer works”. I could tell it was the hard drive that was broken…it was clicking like crazy.

The next day at work, I went over to my friend’s desk to tell him of my woes (remember, this is the same friend who also has the “antique” iPod). Much to my surprise, he says “yeah, mine died too a few days ago”. Since he had already went out and bought a brand new 5.5G 30GB iPod, I asked him if I could have his old broken iPod so that I could try to harvest his hard drive so that I could fix my iPod. I used an old butter knife that had been hanging around my cube for a few years to crack open the broken iPods’ cases and swapped out the hard drives. Bingo! My frankensteined iPod booted up like a champ.

When I got home tonight and checked the mail, my new iPodJuice battery had arrived. Replacing the battery of an iPod, by the way, is a little more difficult than replacing the hard drive. Anyways, after another minor sugery on my iPod, the new battery was installed and I now have an iPod again!!!

Don’t get me wrong, I would still like to get a new iPod eventually, but I really want to hold out for the next generation of iPod that will surely have the touchscreen interface that was developed for the iPhone. Hopefully my repairs will last until then.

Oh…one more bonus. Since I harvested my buddy’s hard drive, I downloaded ephPod and may or may not have saved off all of his music before I synced with iTunes. Ahh…today was a good day.

 

[Echopac]

Great Story

 

[Joshatdot]

Now if you want, you can Red Wine Audio iMod your 4G iPod for $199+15 S&H. But thats alomst as much as a new 5.5 iPod.

 

[bluey_02]

Quote:

Originally Posted by YoungClayB /img/forum/go_quote.gif Oh…one more bonus. Since I harvested my buddy’s hard drive, I downloaded ephPod and saved off all of his music before I synced with iTunes. Ahh…today was a good day.

I can imagine the lawsuits from the RIAA flying left right and centre when they stumble upon your post..

But seriously, that's sweet. I still haven't listened all my mate's 60 gb of 128kbps mp3's. Only about 10000 tracks..

As for the iPod, I can only utter one word: sweet.

 

[Geoff Rymer]

Dammit, why do none of my friends have unwanted, functional 4G drives? My 40Gb is useless...and it only had a new battery a few weeks prior to death.

 

[fjf]

You can get a new one at http://www.ifixit.com/ , but you have to pay for it

 

[Schalldampfer]

Yeah, I got an old used 4th gen that was dying, and I fixed it back up. But even when you fix it by giving it a shock, it'll still show you the folder icon from time to time. One day, I snapped and smashed it against the floor. And when I turned it back on, I could actually hear the read/write head plunging into the HDD platter with each revolution. So I dissected it really quickly and threw it away.
Now I got a Cowon D2, so I don't have to worry about any moving parts.
Moral of the story: iPods break often.

 

[RasmusseN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schalldämpfer /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, I got an old used 4th gen that was dying, and I fixed it back up. But even when you fix it by giving it a shock, it'll still show you the folder icon from time to time. One day, I snapped and smashed it against the floor. And when I turned it back on, I could actually hear the read/write head plunging into the HDD platter with each revolution. So I dissected it really quickly and threw it away. Now I got a Cowon D2, so I don't have to worry about any moving parts. Moral of the story: iPods break often.

iPods wouldn't brake as often if people took care of them

 

[xlEnt]

yeah i'd avoid snapping and chucking it into the centre of the earth

 

[Mr_Junesequa]

Great story!

In regards to the next gen ipods - I can't wait to see the other players which are going to come out!








"This is why itunes for mobile won't be live for at least another 3 years, unless they roll out in Europe first. One of the strategies some other companies may employ to combat the iphone is to discredit or blow away the reputation of Apple when it comes to sq and design. Very hard to do but that will sway consumers away from the iphone just a touch and make them think of the opportunity cost of buying a portable dap and a phone seperately. I think this year and next will be extremely interesting in the portable market, we will see a lot of new portables with great build, useability and sq. Bill Gates has certainly voiced his intentions to enter the portable market but just as the MS strategy in gaming, it will take time before they are truly a worthy competitor for Apple - Doug Morris CEO Universal."

 

[Geoff Rymer]

Well my iPod is now reborn too! I had to pay for the priviledge, but US$120 for a 60Gb iPod with great battery life (previously mentioned upgraded batt) is damn good vfm if you ask me. Besides, I hate chucking stuff out unnecessarily.

Ok, so Apple never made a 60Gb Black and White screened iPod, but I sure like mine!

Might Rockbox it again yet...

 

[Genocide]

should consider the imod upgrade, it is a great upgrade for the ipod itself

 

[Schalldampfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RasmusseN /img/forum/go_quote.gif iPods wouldn't brake as often if people took care of them

Yeah... I should've made it clear that it was already dead when I got it second-hand from someone I know.

 

[bigshot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Schalldämpfer /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah... I should've made it clear that it was already dead when I got it second-hand from someone I know.

Snapping and smashing it into the floor isn't a repair technique I can find in the documentation on the Apple website...

See ya
Steve

 

[Schalldampfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigshot /img/forum/go_quote.gif Snapping and smashing it into the floor isn't a repair technique I can find in the documentation on the Apple website... See ya Steve

Haha, I know. But it was out of warranty, so I had to do what I could to try to save it. And then one day I just... snapped at having to continuously fix it.