Of late, my iPod (60GB video, black if you’re interested) has been failing me.
I have found that after a while, any songs I bought via iTunes skip and no longer play again until I perform a reset. I followed all of the knowledge base articles on the iPod website such as:
- Updating my iTunes software
- Deauthorising and reauthorsing my iPod
- Deleting the songs I thought were faulty
- The five Rs, reset, retry a new USB, restart, reinstall, restore
- Rebuilding my song list XML file
- Voodoo
None of these things worked and in the end, I scheduled a slot at my local Apple store. It was my first experience in doing so and was very impressed. This morning, I booked an appointment online with my local Apple Concierge at Valley Fair, Santa Clara and arranged a time. You just visit apple.com and at the bottom of the screen you can pick your local store. Once on the store page, you click Make a reservation. You just stroll into the store about five minutes before your slot. If you’re a person who has just rolled in off the street you can only make bookings for the same day, however, if you’re a ProCare member you can make appointments 14 days in advance.
The screens behind the Concierge desk list who’s in line – and when you’re up, you just step forward. The guy was really knowledgeable and we talked through the steps I had already took. It was refreshing to be in a shop where people know what you’re talking about!
After working through the issues, he unfortunately couldn’t help me. I thought, “Oh no, I’m going to have to send it off, wait a month, blah, blah, blah!” – but no! He ran out the back of the store and came back with a shiny new iPod and replaced it there and then on the spot.
I was very impressed.
http://www.apple.com/retail/valleyfair/
[...] Like David Burden, I made a reservation online, showed up on time and was able to receive a brand new shiny 60 gig Video iPod replacement, no money spent. These things seem a bit fragile, so I may purchase the $60 extended warranty that will last me another year. Given I’m at a podcasting and Videoblogging company, having an iPod will be pretty important to consuming the product. [...]
Apple must have learned a thing or two from early iPod customer service negative press. Early generation iPods had a miserable warranty period (30 or 90 days, I think), so I am impressed that they have upped it to a year.
Some may recall the grass roots campaign regarding no batter replacement options on the first generation iPods. http://ipodsdirtysecret.com/message.html Check out their movie on http://ipodsdirtysecret.com (quicktime required, naturally).