Like many of you, I am a slave of the Apple corporation. I bought the ipod nano the day it hit the shelves of Best Buy. It suffered a screen crack but was swiftly replaced, and since then - in its new Belkin protective cover - it was a faithful,reliable, durable mp3 player...as it should be so to speak. It was with me from 2005 till 2008 when it was stolen.

Since then, I've owned 4 different ipods, each less durable than the last. One of them performed well but kept locking up so I returned it, got a new one, then lost it at the gym. Next was another nano which locked up in a white screen after I plugged it in one time. Then after that I got the HORRENDOUS fourth gen ipod...it truly is a burden. I actually don't mind going for a jog now without it (unthinkable before). Its battery life is a joke (less than the one before that, whose life was shorter than the one before it - exponentially worse battery life?), its gyroscopic screen orientation thing is incredibly annoying and USELESS, the screen defaulting to the cover-flow system when you leave it on for a while is a terrible feature...it used to default to the SONG screen, on the volume bar, so you can increase it or decrease it just by turning the wheel. Now, whenever I turn the wheel, it just sifts through the songs in the flow...wtf?

I have a theory - and believe me, I have no partisan lean toward Microsoft or anything (I couldn't care less about the rivalry) - but I think Apple have loosened quality control on their ipods (especially on battery life) so as to lower their shelf life and sell more ipods...I might be wrong, but after 2008 my experience with them has been awful....

no it's because Zunes are getting better
/fanboynism

I agree they've had issues.

My first gen iPod Touch was replaced only after I used it a few times. The replacement seems to be working since.

My first gen iPhone was replaced 3 times. The last replacement had a terrible screen. Dead pixels galore, but I was out of warranty, I decided to try one more time and upgrade to the 3G in April this year. So far so good, although as of this week it's starting to randomly shut off. I did a restore and it seems to be working correctly again.

Battery life is terrible though. I can't go a day with out charging... under moderate usage.

I don't think my next phone will be an iPhone.

Like shockz I have an iPhone, but the 3GS. The battery life is laughable, only giving me a full day per charge, unlike my 2g iPhone that gave me 3-4 days.

As for mp3 plays I've had great success with sandisk sansa player, lasting me years already with no issues, other than the outdated interface and unable to update firmware.

Apple it appears, maybe losing their touch, their last press conference was terrible. Hopefully they pick up their game in 2010 and male better iPods or I can see people like you picking up a zune HD

Out of our family, we own 5 iPods, the only one that's broken so far was my first one, the 4th gen. My step-dad has dropped his iPod so many times, works fine (5th gen with HD)

Still got my classic and last gen shuffle (they can shove their new generation of shuffles straight up their ass). Working decent. I've heard plenty of horror stories though.

Honestly, my next purchase will probably be a Zune. Aside from the fact that they look sexy now and have great features, I really cannot stand iTunes at all, much less the limitations.

My 1G nano, 1G touch and 3GS working with no issues.

lolno.

i agree that ipods are getting worse though

i really hope my iphone lives out the life of my rogers contract...it's not under warranty any longer and the battery life is laughable though i'm a slave to the device given the extensive usage in phone + music + apps...if the competition really heats up then i'll definitely try something else down the road.

so far so good though, touchwood.

Hmm I've had the opposite experience. My iPod mini & iPod video broke (both through normal usage). My iPod touch 1g however, has worked since launch date. As for the iPod touch 3g I can't comment its still too new.

But I must admit the iPods are starting to lack appeal to me. The Zune HD looks so good while the iPod touch 3g looks like it hasn't changed from the 1g 2 years ago.

Other companies are starting to pull away with respect to features and actual real world performance.

As for Apple, their image is suffering, as much as they fight with the same old ads, the way they're dealing with things is starting to ruin their image.

If Apple doesn't accept Google's apps, which would essentially allow Google to silence the FCC inquiry, then Apple is screwed.
Never ever try to take on Google... the only company that can remotely try is Microsoft due to its sheer size and influence

If you're with Rogers, you have much more immediate concerns than your iphone!

Really, what market does Google dominate outside of search?

You can't be serious...

Had my 2G nano for 4 years already. Still working well, giving me at least 10 hours of battery life.

I think hes right, I had 2 shuffles. the first one was made up of much better stuff than the second one.
I origionally payed 80 dollars for the first shuffle when it came out at Compusa,and then later 32 dollars for the second one at best buy. *you could litterly FEEL the differance in the buttons, and ear phones*

an iphone owner.
A piece of plastic. Would have been much better and durable if they were to use aluminum or some other metal..or carbon fiber :-)
I am just glad MS released the zune hd and I hope they will really provide formidable competition to apple. It will be even better if they make a phone out of it. Competition is always good for you and me (it is even good for fanboys). Do you hear this fanboys?! competition is good even for you guys!
Hopefully my next iphone/zunephone will be made out of carbon fiber, will have OLED screen

and, the screen will be covered with transparent aluminum...hahaha :-)

Include you are right Apple is lacking in its quality control. I've taken so many calls of iPod touch 2nd gens not turning on it isn't funny. I have my 1st gen for over 2 years and works fine. No issues whatsoever.


If you wanted a disaster Apple product, look no further than the iPod Mini. Those HDDs used to crap out quickly.

Advertising
In the UK a big fuss was made recently as Google took the top advertising crown from the TV company that's held it for nearly 50 years (ITV) That's no mean feat.

I replaced the battery myself in my 5th G iPod video after getting less than 5 hours on the original Apple one - yes, I fully charged it before first using it. I wouldn't complain about the actual ever-day use. Just the battery sucks.

I just bought the new shuffle. Its probably the most practical MP3 player I've had for running and working out.

But there's an overall lack of build quality throughout the entire iPod line. I'm not surprised of the iPhone problems. Frankly, its one of the reasons I'm shying away from buying another iMac - I had nothing but HW problems after 3 years. I ain't going to pay $500 for a mainboard.

I just wish they would return to using the same DAC as the 5th gen ipod, or at least a better one then they use now. It's OK audio quality, but could be so much better.

My first iPod was a first gen Nano. It worked perfectly, battery life seemed to go on forever, never froze. Eventually though, the 2Gb of space ran out, so I replaced it with a gen2 touch.

My touch has been nothing but problems - the battery life is a joke, and the battery will run down quickly when I'm not even using it. It also freezes frequently, and commonly gets this glitch where it doesn't output any sound.

The only reason I've been using iPods was because I had multiple iTunes gift cards, and all of Apple's music was DRM'd back then. My next MP3 player probably won't be an iPod.

I've had a Shuffle since spring 2007 .. it's still works well and looks almost new.. but when using it with Windows 7 & iTunes, it's become really slow and crappy.

I've had an iPod Classic since early this year. I think the build quality of it is good but I am disappointed in two things.

Firstly, the back of it: shiny only looks good when it's in pristine condition, it's a bad idea for a portable object like an MP3 player if you can't make it really hard and scratch resistant. I would blame this on design rather than build quality though.

The second gripe is the wheel, the sensitivity of it blows. It's hard to use and get it to land on the track you want, and sometimes it just doesn't recognise that you are trying to use it at all.

All our iPods here are doing fine.
I'm on a 1st Gen Touch, it's had its fair share of problems, but I've modded it to hell and back so that's acceptable.

I love my touch <3


Oh- and iTunes SUCKS!!!

The new shuffle is retarded, with the AMAZING BREAKTHROUGH IN Text-To-Speech It's a gimmick.. Good thing I bought the previous shuffle.

It is you that is getting worse.

If you had bad expierences with iPods, why not actually search and ask thru sites (such as Neowin) for cheaper and way better solutions?

hahaha "It is you that is getting worse"? sigh...
I honestly don't understand what you're complaining about. I'm not in need of a new mp3 player as I'm not ready to fork out another 150-odd-dollars. I'm here to simply state my experience with a product that seems to me to be rapidly declining in quality. Perhaps it's the best one out there, but you need to pay attention to what I wrote...I was stating my opinion of Apple's product and not asking for alternatives. yeesh.

Haven't had any problems with Apple products before. Including a 2nd Gen nano and a 1st Gen touch. I know my cousin has a 2nd Gen touch and that's fine.

Depends on personal experience I suppose, as does everything.

LOL Like Bell or Telus is any better.

My 30GB 5.5 gen iPod has been working relatively well but it has lockups every now and again. I'll be replacing it with a 3rd gen Touch soon.

What? iPod touch is ftw!

I've had two iPods. One was the 1st gen Nano, which I loved. My second one was an iPod Touch, 2nd Gen. I can't really compare the quality, as their two completely different models. But, I haven't had any issues with either of them if that counts.

Now, don't get me started on Apple Headphones though. Those are a joke, yet I continue to buy them. I just unboxed my 7th, yes, that's right, 7th pair. They sound amazing though, compared to how old my 6th pair got.

I had the first gen shuffle, then a (small) gen 2 shuffle. Both are past products, and have them no longer. I now run a broken no-named MP3 player that no longer has a screen. *sigh*

One thing that Steve Jobs managed to accomplish is to create a fanboy club on a mass scale. This crowd would be happy with whatever they are blessed with from apple. Put an apple logo on a potato bag, I bet you will see fanboys in the streets wearing it. They might even form lines in front of the stores before the launch day.

Come on, you are the customer. You are paying your/your dad's/your mom's hard earned cash. You have every right to complain, ask for more, and whine. And unless you do that, apple will milk you for every little small improvement they put on their products...The product quality will slide...

I'm here to simply state my opinion that you should leave this product/brand which has always been declining and looks for alternatives when it breaks or when you look for a new media player. There are 100s of better and cheaper choices out there.

Im just stating my opinion out of your expierences.

I own a 2nd gen touch, can't say it's low on quality, it's probably the most solid and durable small electronic device I've used for some time. But some design choices are terrible. As someone else said, the metal backplate is so sensitive to scratches it's unbelievable how they could end up putting that on a portable device.

It does make a decent market for iPod/iPhone cases and accessories though. The prices on iPod cases are ridiculous. Some are no more than a small piece of rubber which can sell for like $40.

I've owned a 4G iPod (not the color one), an iPod Touch 1G and now an iPhone 3GS.

My first iPod always worked well, but at the end, I could hear some "ticks" from the hard drive, and the battery couldn't last much more than an hour. After like 3 years that...

My iPod Touch 1G lasted a year and a half, because I sold it to someone else. It was pretty great, but thought it was too slow with all my apps installed on it, and the newest firmwares, etc.

Now my iPhone 3GS is perfect, except that the battery life doesn't last me more than a day. Ok, I'm fully using it though. I don't just make 2-3 calls a day, I don't send just 2-3 text messages a day, and I don't just listen to music. It's a full combination of all of these, multiplied by 3-4 But seriously, if they had to make a new iPhone with a battery twice, or thrice as good, I'd sell mine and get a new one.

The quality of all these devices is / was awesome for their eras though. I can't say the quality has lowered, more like the opposite. Back then, an iPod was pretty much a hard drive, an audio jack and a firmware. Now it's much more complicated than this. We get Wi-Fi (just getting the Internet on such device makes it 10x more complex already), Photo and video cameras, applications, games (more advanced APIs and firmware), Radio signals, Bluetooth, GPS, compass, etc.

Out of Bell/Telus/Rogers.. Bell is the worst.. Telus is probably the best, and Rogers are the worst.

I suggest both of you to jailbreak your phones and install 'sbsettings. From there you can turn 3G off on the fly as well as Wireless, Bluetooth etc, this helps with battery life greatly and I'm sure there are plenty of members here who will agree with me.

so...Bell and Rogers are tied?..or you lost your train of thought somewhere there?

I have a first-generation iPod Touch, and I've had no problems with it. With a nice thick, plastic Griffin case, it's survived numerous falls unscathed. My only complaint is the pathetic battery life, especially when using wifi. Jailbreaking it gave me lots of cool options, but it cut about 30% from the battery life. I'm seriously considering buying one of those external battery cases...

I agree their quality control has slipped. I like my iPod touch, but battery life when you have the screen on for something like gaming is truly awful, but its better when MP3's are played. However due to the dumbed down nature of the OS, I am still not overly sure I want to leave Android for an iPhone. Other thing that grips me is the metallic back on the touch scratches and fingerprints really easily, and is a PITA to clean. My G1's plastic is still almost totally scratch free and very easy to clean despite me having had the phone for about 9 months now.

I actually think Rogers is the best. On my iPhone 3G I get 6GB Data and Unlimited Texting for $30.

My iPhone seems to be of decent quality. I mean there's nothing that really annoys me too much. What does annoy me is that it crashes a ton however since the latest firmware update it hasn't frozen yet, however it has crashed while browsing or just using an app frequently. I'm probably going to try to get a Zune Phone if one of those ever comes out.

1) With regards to quality, I haven't really had any problems with the iPods I've owned. I've owned the 1st Gen Nano, 4th Gen Nano, 2nd Gen Shuffle, and bought my mother a 1st Gen Shuffle. I haven't had a problem with any of them quality wise.

2) Now, regarding the iPods slipping, I think that Apple is running out of ideas, or at least hitting a wall at the moment. The last releases were abysmal... I was thoroughly disappointed.

Hopefully the Zune HD will get some traction, as it looks like a really nice music player. Until Apple has strong competition, I don't think we'll see the advancement, quality, and price that people are clamoring for.

Me neither. I've owned several from several different generations and they have worked well for me.


I think full featured players is the next generation. The iPod has had a fantastic run but it's day is nearly over. The Touch and even phones with mp3 capabilities will be the next big thing, at least I think so. Why have two or three things doing something one could do?

I got the iPod Touch 8GB 3G yesterday, its battery is not good at all.

I still think the Classic is there BEST iPod.

I only wish it had a radio and came in white. I don't care about a camera, or apps, or any of that other stuff. I just want better audio quality.

I rather like my iPod Nano (4G) and I'll probably keep it for a while (past the newest one because it's not a very good upgrade...) so far I've not had one problem. Well apart from 1-2 lock ups, easily sorted though