I started having probs with my iPod about 2 weeks ago. It didn't want to play a few songs, so thinking they were somehow corrupted I deleted them. When I tried to put the re-ripped songs back on the iPod I got the error message "error ( -36)".
Hmmm.
I didn't think much about it at the time and just ejected and unplugged and listened to what I had for a while.
Then about a week ago the iPod started to act all goofy so I hooked it up to my iMac to see what was up and it wouldn't mount on the desktop and iTunes couldn't see it either. But Disc Utility could see it so I tried to repair the iPod. No go. It wasn't able to fix whatever was wrong with it so I formatted the drive and installed the iPod software on the pod.
Then I opened iTunes to throw my music back on. The transfer went good, then slowed, then stopped. The the -36 error message popped up again.
Aw, crap.
I repeated the process a couple of times and ended up with the same result. And it always stopped the transfer with 8.47 gigs of space left.
I didn't want to call Apple because the iPod is a 10 gig, 3G way out of the 90 free call service and I have an aversion to being charged $60 just to talk to anyone. So I searched the the support site for any info and found a thread where a guy with the same trouble as me was able to waltz into an Apple Store with his broken iPod and walk out with a new replacement. This sounded very promising unless the guy was full of crap.
I decided that sending my iPod off to get repaired was for losers and planned a road trip to the closest Apple Store. I was planning to drive from San Antonio all the way to Houston but found out that they had a store in Austin. So today after I got home from work the fam piled in to the Jeep.
Josh and I went to the SoHo Apple Store when we were in NY last summer, but this one was in a mall. When we walked in I almost got a headache from the whole store being so white. It was just so odd visually.
After signing in for an appointment to see a "genius", we walked the mall for a while until our time came up.
The genius guy was real cool and did exactly what I did to try and fix the iPod and said "Let me get you a new one" after about 5 minutes. I almost freaked. A new one? NFW! thoughts of me with a new 4G iPod danced through my head in a geeky way.
Then he came out with the box and said it would be no charge, did some warranty stuff at the computer and we swapped iPods.
Then I noticed that the iPod he gave me was a NEW 10GIG 3G IPOD. Where the hell did he get that? They haven't sold 10gig 3Gs for a few months and they already have the new 4Gs in the stores! But I guess they held on to that older inventory for people wanting replacements like me. Still I can't bitch, I feel like I pulled off some heist and got a free iPod.
This time though I'm gonna put a screen protector on it.
3 comments:
For future reference, I always call Apple when I have some problem, as long as it's within the 12 month warranty period of the hardware. They will review the problem with me and then make the determination whether or not I have to ship it back. I've never been asked to pay anything.
I think they'd enforce the post 90-day payment thing I called them with some stupid question, ("How do I empty the trash?") but when it involves a piece of hardware still under warranty, it's never been a problem. (But they WILL suggest you buy the Apple Protection Plan, which I've never done for any of the 8 Macs I've owned in the last 15 years and never would have used if I had.)
Of course, your way worked MUCH better than mine, but we don't have an Apple Store in New Orleans and I doubt the local boobs at CompUSA would have handled it the same way.
Congratulations on your score! My 40Gig iPod just developed a problem (8 months after purchase), probably related to a minor trauma it experienced. :-o
I should get it back within the next week.
I almost wish I'd gotten the extended Apple Care thingy.
I KNOW that a year from now that somethings gonna tank and I'm gonna have the coolest looking $300 paperweight!
At least I'll have the earbuds for memories. ;-(
One more thought...
I always purchase using my American Express card, which doubles the manufacturer's warranty. I had to exercise this once with a cell-phone-gone-bad after 23 months (one month short of the doubled warranty expiration) and had no problems whatsoever. They refunded the initial purchase price of the phone, which it was hardly worth at that point.
WIth Macs, I don't usually last more than 2 years before I outgrow my current machine and want the newest and greatest. (I do a lot of processor-hungry digital audio recording, film and graphics work.) So, I figure that's one more reason to eschew the Apple Protection Plan.
Now, I don't see myself bouncing from one iPod to another like I bounce to and from computers, and with some of the known iPod (potential) problems, maybe the APP isn't such a bad idea.
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