Dead iPod

Our two-year-old 10GB iPod has died. After refusing to accept a charge for a week, it will now no longer start, and isn’t recognized by my iMac when I connect it by Firewire. Here’s what Apple wants to repair it, out of warranty:

iPod Repair Invoice

A brand new 20GB iPod (they don’t make the 10GB ones any more) costs $299 $429 (I had originally looked up the U.S. price — sorry for the confusion!).

Comments

Robert Paterson's picture
Robert Paterson on December 6, 2004 - 17:39 Permalink

Is this what I have to loOk forward to?

The business model is all about throw away — sad!

Peter Rukavina's picture
Peter Rukavina on December 6, 2004 - 17:44 Permalink

My friend George owned a Lada in the late 1980s. It was cheap, ugly, and came with its own toolkit. George owned the Lada under the operating assumption that if it ever broke down, he would simply throw it away and buy another one.

Rob MacD's picture
Rob MacD on December 6, 2004 - 17:55 Permalink

What I’d like to know is where are you seeing a new 20g iPod for $299?

Dale's picture
Dale on December 6, 2004 - 18:29 Permalink

Hi Peter, it may be that your iPod just needs a new battery. If so, it won’t cost much to have it back up and running. Check this out: http://eshop.macsales.com/Cata…

DerekMac's picture
DerekMac on December 6, 2004 - 18:51 Permalink

$429 seems to be the going price for 20 gig iPods at the moment (Apple store, Best Buy Canada, etc.). EBAY.ca has one for $355 plus shipping, and one for $311. Used one for $118.
Of course, all of these prices are still cheaper than the repair price that Peter got.

Ken's picture
Ken on December 6, 2004 - 19:43 Permalink

Battery needs replacing, Ebay’s got it for $15.99US, C$18.92.

Can you record audio with it? Stereo or mono?

Mandy's picture
Mandy on December 7, 2004 - 17:25 Permalink

I was going to say was Dale said. You can get a new battery from Apple. It’s not nearly the price of repair.

But yes, to buy a new iPod would be your cheaper bet if it did in fact need repair. And with a new iPod, you’d get a new warranty, where as with a repair of the old one, you would not. Apple’s Apple Care Protection Plan is also a good option for a new iPod. Never hurts to be prepared right?

Good luck.

Peter Rukavina's picture
Peter Rukavina on December 23, 2004 - 15:07 Permalink

Following the advice of several of the above, I ordered a new iPod battery from Other World Computing. It arrived yesterday by FedEx. It took 20 minutes to install. My iPod now appears to work like new! Amazing.

Ken's picture
Ken on December 24, 2004 - 04:48 Permalink

Like boots or hearts when they fall apart they really fall apart.
My notebooks usually lose major components within months, so for your sake I hope your Ipod outlasts the new battery.
Can you plug a mic into that thing; if so is it mono or stereo input?

Scott's picture
Scott on March 22, 2005 - 00:06 Permalink

How did you get the iPod open to replace the battery?

Mark's picture
Mark on November 6, 2006 - 20:37 Permalink

You do not have to invest in a new iPod. I fixed mine for $50CAD and more than happy! The best place I found on the web is DmDepot.ca. They are in Ontario, specialize in iPods repairs and parts only, offer free diagnostic servise and can fix anything from cracked lcd to broken hard drive. Shipping was quite fast as well. I received my part in 4 days and saved over 70% compared to the Apples price. They also have high capacity bateries for newver iPods Nano and Video.
Here is the URL: http://www.dmdepot.ca