Apple vintage

[timmae]

My first generation iPod is on the fritz so I went to the local apple store to see a genius. After explaining the issues I was having they called my device "vintage" and said they cannot service it. I asked the genius what vintage means to them... I was told that since it is so old they cannot put in a service call to investigate what is wrong. It is too old of a device. They recommended that I try plugging it into my laptop to see if it works. If it does not work they have a new iPod they would be able to help me with. Unreal.. So much for customer service. I know that any product gets to a point that the manufacturer cannot warranty it but to have the original seller walk away from a product doesnt seem right. Another reason to not endorse apple products. Arghh.

[Easy Mac]

i prefer my braeburn's aged about 6 years in distilled vinegar.

[Toddzilla]

If I took my computer to get serviced because the 3 1/4" floppy drive wasn't working, I'd get laughed out of the store. This isn't bad customer service, you just have an old piece of junk that needs to be replaced.

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

If I took my computer to get serviced because the 3 1/4" floppy drive wasn't working, I'd get laughed out of the store. This isn't bad customer service, you just have an old piece of junk that needs to be replaced.

Agreed.

[kcchief19]

Yeah, I think you'd be hard pressed to find any company who will support and keep working a 13 year old MP3 player. It's a disposable electronic. At some point it will be impossible to get parts for or be too expensive to repair.

[Kodos]

**slams Walkman on floor in frustration**

[MizzouRah]

Yeah.. at some point you have to stop supported older generation stuff. It's just the way that it is.

[Lathum]

I hear ya. My VCR kept eating my full house recordings and those bastards at Best Buy told me they couldn't fix it, I was pretty pissed.

[Carman Bulldog]

Originally Posted by Kodos

**slams Walkman on floor in frustration**

I know how you feel. My Sony 8-track Player broke down recently. I took it into the Sony Store and the employee told me he didn't even know what it was. I can't believe Sony is no longer standing behind this product.

[RedKingGold]

I'm still pissed Ford wouldn't fix my cotton gin.

[korme]

I don't think this is how timmae anticipated this thread going.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by korme

I don't think this is how timmae anticipated this thread going.

But will he stand behind his thread?

[timmae]

lol, it's all good. It's actually 6th generation which was purchased in 2008. I confused classic for 1st generation in my original post. At any rate it's a shiny paperweight now..

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Kodos

**slams Walkman on floor in frustration**

I do wonder though what the expected life of a Walkman was. Was it more or less than the six years timmae got out of this iPod? It's not as if cassettes ever really changed - Walkmans just became obsolete because of the CD. Or what about turntables? Did folks throw them out after six years?

I mean yeah - products will break and sometimes you just have to get a new one. But it's not like the iPod is playing some arcane format. Still the same basic mp3s. Now the players just have more storage and fancier interfaces.

[stevew]

There's probably like a thousand YouTube tutorials out there so it may be fixable. Most of the parts are on eBay and are pretty cheap.

[Marmel]

I agree with everyone that you can't really expect help with this product, but to me that is a problem these days. In my line of work I have customers with products decades old that I know nothing about, but if they have a question about it, I'll do whatever I can to try and help them out.

The employees at the apple store don't seem to care. Apple doesn't seem to care. They make so much money and are so popular they don't have to care. It is one reason why I left them after a decade of loyalty. They stopped giving that little extra and they got greedy on their pricing (which was already inflated over similar products). Not that they care.

Edited to add, on 2 separate occasions in the past 2 months I called Apple to ask them to disable imessaging on my phone number (and then again on my wife's phone) since I switched from an iphone to a droid phone. They said OK. That was it, not why? Not How could we get you back. Nothing.

[stevew]

The Discontinued iPod Classic Is Currently The Most Expensive iPod

[Desnudo]

Originally Posted by Marmel

I agree with everyone that you can't really expect help with this product, but to me that is a problem these days. In my line of work I have customers with products decades old that I know nothing about, but if they have a question about it, I'll do whatever I can to try and help them out.

The employees at the apple store don't seem to care. Apple doesn't seem to care. They make so much money and are so popular they don't have to care. It is one reason why I left them after a decade of loyalty. They stopped giving that little extra and they got greedy on their pricing (which was already inflated over similar products). Not that they care.

Edited to add, on 2 separate occasions in the past 2 months I called Apple to ask them to disable imessaging on my phone number (and then again on my wife's phone) since I switched from an iphone to a droid phone. They said OK. That was it, not why? Not How could we get you back. Nothing.

Where exactly do you go with a droid phone if you have a problem? I'm genuinely curious.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by timmae

lol, it's all good. It's actually 6th generation which was purchased in 2008. I confused classic for 1st generation in my original post. At any rate it's a shiny paperweight now..

this changes things quite a bit, IMO. They just discontinued this model a couple of months ago so I feel you have a legit beef.

my own classic is on its last legs. the forward button just stopped working, maybe a day or two before Apple discontinued the line. I would have loved to pick up a replacement, but that ship has sailed

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

Where exactly do you go with a droid phone if you have a problem? I'm genuinely curious.

To see the jawas

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Desnudo

Where exactly do you go with a droid phone if you have a problem? I'm genuinely curious.

To the carrier.

[dolfin]

Originally Posted by Kodos

**slams Walkman on floor in frustration**

This really made me, my wife and daughter laugh hysterically. Thanks

[ColtCrazy]

Amateurs. My father had a Betamax that he refused to part with till it finally bought the farm just a couple of years ago. He said whatever store he took it to couldn't fix it. I wish I had been there to see the repairman's face when someone brought in a 30 year old machine.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Kodos

**slams Walkman on floor in frustration**

Kudos, Kodos

SI

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by dolfin

This really made me, my wife and daughter laugh hysterically. Thanks

This is probably poor form, but every time I check back into this thread I start laughing again. The cotton gin comment also makes me laugh.

[timmae]

Lol, there is gold here... No doubt!

[DaddyTorgo]

Discontinued iPod Classics selling for high prices on eBay | Digital Trends

[RainMaker]

I still love the click wheel! I have a classic that I just throw all my music on and connect to my stereo system in the living room.

[Buccaneer]

Still nothing better than Shuffle Songs on my iPod Classic. My iPhone and iPad can't even approach the breadth and depth that my music collection gives me on my iPod.

[Kodos]

I love my classic too. Everything on one iPod.

[sterlingice]

My 160 GB classic is pretty close to full but I also have some tv shows on it

SI

[cthomer5000]

This makes me think I should put a little more effort into repairing my old ones, or just selling them as-is.

I own 3 classics:

6th gen, 160 gig, bought this year, working fine

6th gen, 160 gig, bought in 2010. Plays fine... absolutely will not sync with a computer. It will say "syncing" for eternity. I've left it connected to a computer for overnights, multiple days, etc. It refuses to ever truly connect. I put hours into this at some point and couldn't get anything going

5th gen, 80 gig, bought in 2006, syncs fine, but no longer outputs audio. Will occasionally output audio for between 30 seconds to 20 minutes before emitting an ear-piercing screech and cutting to silence.

[cthomer5000]

Dola...

I do think that if you own the latest model, and they wont repair a product they were still selling THIS YEAR... that it is a bit crazy. I wonder what they are doing to replace classics that are dying while still under warranty?

[stevew]

ct, I'd explore changing out some parts. First one might have a bid pin. Dunno how easy to change it would be. Did it on an IPhone 5 that wouldn't charge and it works.

Other one may be a bad headphone jack. Parts are probably cheap cheap.

[stevew]

ct, I'd explore changing out some parts. First one might have a bid pin. Dunno how easy to change it would be. Did it on an IPhone 5 that wouldn't charge and it works.

Other one may be a bad headphone jack. Parts are probably cheap cheap.

[Mota]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

6th gen, 160 gig, bought in 2010. Plays fine... absolutely will not sync with a computer. It will say "syncing" for eternity. I've left it connected to a computer for overnights, multiple days, etc. It refuses to ever truly connect. I put hours into this at some point and couldn't get anything going

I have an 80GB version that does something similar. It will sync but it will almost always take about 20 minutes before it starts.

Thankfully I almost never use it anymore. It's my trip device that I keep in my car if I need to go into the "deep" library.

[flere-imsaho]

I still own a 1st Gen that my brother took to Iraq. He gave it back to me when he came back (this was in 2006) and said that it still worked, except the screen didn't work. So you could hit play and it would work and stuff.

Which is pretty impressive given the environmental conditions to which it was exposed.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by stevew

ct, I'd explore changing out some parts. First one might have a bid pin. Dunno how easy to change it would be. Did it on an IPhone 5 that wouldn't charge and it works.

Other one may be a bad headphone jack. Parts are probably cheap cheap.

The 5th gen definitely feels way more doable. First of all it just looks like a way more modular unit that can be taken apart. And it's either the jack itself of the logic board (having researched this).

The 6th gen is such a sleek piece of manufacturing, it feels like i'm bound to wreck it taking it apart. I would gladly take $100 bucks for it right now and sell it someone who can repair it themselves.

Generally I'm pretty handy, and i've worked absolute miracles - I'm writing this on a laptop i bought in Nov 2006 and have completely taken apart and put back together multiple times, for example. But unless you work with electronics for a living, I think you need to know when you are outside of your comfort zone.

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

I still own a 1st Gen that my brother took to Iraq. He gave it back to me when he came back (this was in 2006) and said that it still worked, except the screen didn't work. So you could hit play and it would work and stuff.

Which is pretty impressive given the environmental conditions to which it was exposed.

Made me think of this:

Blown Up Game Boy From The Gulf War | TechCrunch