Apple Tech Service Delivers a New Ipod Shuffle - And It Works

My iPod Shuffle, Generation 3 is back, or more correctly I have a new one back from Apple Service. I would rather not have had a broken iPod, but the whole experience was about as good as it could have been.

Below I posted about how my new Generation 3 iPod Shuffle, was broken, because the volume would not go down.

I called Apple, and I talked to human person. He took me through rebooting the iPod (like I had done twice already) and then when he convinced himself that I really had a broken iPod, he offered me a new one.

I had to send the old one back first. They emailed me FedEx shipping documents, and when they got the old one, they shipped the new one.

This fellow named Chris Peters, which is probably not his real name, called me to see if I was OK, and then followed up by phone and by email. They really over communicated, which I found comforting and then a bit annoying. I think it was good for them to over-communicate to say that they were sorry for my affliction.

Anyway, the iPod is back, and I can take to exercising with my little shuffle instead of my somewhat larger iPod touch. I am still not used to the talking menus, but there are some tricks to use to navigate it better. Like putting your favorite playlists early in alphabetical order.

Business Week posted an interesting item about what is in an iPod shuffle. 

!!Sadly, this is not the last installment in the ipod shuffle saga. Click to read on!!

<>

My Brand-New Generation 3 Ipod Shuffle is Broken

My New IPod Shuffle Review

I got my new iPod on Sunday, and it is light and easy to use. It takes some time to get used to the menus which a voice-synthesizer reads into your ear buds. 

The bad part is the little control on the headphone wire. It is a three button switch for increasing volume, decreasing volume and for changing songs. By listening carefully to the menu, and clicking or double clicking one can pick the song you want from among playlists. 

My problem is the little control is broken. I could raise the volume, but I could not lower it. I was at the gym exercising, and suddenly the earbuds were screeching in my ears, and I could not turn it down. I pressed on the button until my fingers turned red, but even after repeated reinstalling still no luck. 

I called the Apple Service Line and actually got to talk to a person. He kept me on the line for a while, but is promising me a whole new iPod. The Apple guy would not send me a new cord. He said they wanted the old one back first, so I have to mail it to them.

I use my IPod Shuffle when I exercise. The little iPod is so light and easy to wear. I use it for podcasts while I weight-lift and listen to fast music while I run. On the bright side, the iPod syncs flawlessly with iTunes -- something that my Gen 2 iPods did not do so well. 

 It looks like I need to carry my big ipod around for a while. 

!!Click to keep reading. Lots more on the ipod shuffle gen3 saga above!!

Repairing and Waterproofing an iPod Shuffle Generation 3

My Shuffle Gen3 has had issues with volume control. If you have been following previous posts, then you know that the cause is moisture in the cord-mounted control. 

My solution is like this:

1. Dry out the control. I recommend putting in the sun. If the sun is shining, it is far better than a hair drier. Don't microwave it. 

2. Get some teflon tape. It is at the home center or hardware store in the plumbing department. It is used for sealing connections in water pipe. 

3. Wrap the teflon tape carefully around the control, starting about 3/8 inch onto the wire, and then spiralling across the control. Move to the other side and overlap the other edge. The teflon tape stretches, so twist it around the end where the wire enters the control. 

4. I put on two layers. 

!!Sadly this did not work. See the next post.!!

ipod Shuffle Gen3 - Final Chapter

I gave up on my iPod Generation 3, or Gen3, and returned it to Apple. As you may recall from previous posts, I have had a problem with the volume control on the earbud cord when it got damp. It always was damp because I wear it exercising, and it is sweaty from either my shoulder or my neck. While I am flattered that I am a rough and tough enough jock to foul a piece of electronic equipment, I did want the iPod to work. 

Apple had two work-arounds, to loop the cord to hold the control off my shoulder, and to reduce the maximum sound in iTunes. Neither of these worked well. The loop always slipped, and I simply needed the sound to be louder sometimes that others. 

I was dealing with a service rep in the engineering department since this was a problem that t

Apple was trying hard to fix. He offered me an nice iPod Nano instead. This was a Gen 4 Nano with 8GB, so that was a better deal -- about twice as expensive.

Now I have my Nano, and it seems to work well. I hope that its larger size is not going to be an issue. The Shuffle hangs from my shirt. I am going to have to buy a holder for the Nano. 

!!Sadly this is not the final chapter, rather I now have an issue with my Nano G4; read on!!

Greg's New iPod Nano G4 is Non-Responsive :-(

I had been hoping that after my ordeal with my Gen3 iPod Shuffle that fate would smile on my iPod Nano G4, but well, no. It died on my after running Monday morning. It died, dead with no resetting or restarting.

I dutifully recharged it, and in the evening I connected it to iTunes, but was not able to "Restore" it meaning to wipe the memory and reinstall the software. I succeeded in doing that today. However, even after multiple resets, the click-wheel, and the center selection button remained inert and not working. It is worth pointing out that the "Lock" switch on the top worked, and I could make the little lock icon go on and off. I could also restore it over and over.

I could not use the click wheel to do anything. Not even select the language in the start-up dialog.

I called Apple via the support.apple.com site, and they are going to trade it in for me. The are mailing me a box since I don't want to drive 33 miles to the nearest Apple store in Novi. 

I suppose that is good. I wish these iPods would last longer.

I know that I use my ipod a lot, and I really liked my purple Nano, but I don't think I am that hard on them. I wonder what happened. I wonder if it got wet.

!!!--Click here to see the previous post--!!

IPod Shuffle Gen3 - Volume Control Work Around

The iPod fix of wrapping the controller in Teflon tape did not work, though I can't say why. It really should have. 

Chris Peters (don't know if that is his real name) from Apple called me, which is pretty remarkable for a Tech Support guy. Anyway. He said runners are having problems with sweat getting the controller and preventing good volume control. 

First of all, it is good to be in a class with elite jocks like these with sweaty enough shoulders to foul their iPods. I mean what else is there to aspire to now?

Second, there were two workarounds. First is to make a little loop on the cord to hold the controller up higher so it does not contact the shoulder. I use a little piece of tape. 

Third, you can set the maximium volume using the software -- at the bottom of the summary page. At the same time, click "Enable Sound Check" this will make different songs have about the same volume --important if you are going to go running without volume control. 

<!!See my latest post on this topic.!!

iPod Nano Woes (5th Generation)

My iPod died, and I found no helpful posts on-line about fixing it.

 Depth-of-Processing fans might remember the multiple posts about my woes with the ill-fated iPod Shuffle (3rd Generation,) and how Apple eventually mailed me a iPod nano (4th Gen) to resolve the problem, which lasted a short while and then died. I work my iPods pretty hard.

Well my current iPod Nano (5th Gen) is seemly irretrievably wrecked after about two years of faithful service. It randomly pauses and/or produces buzzing noise at the pitch of the last note it made. Also the click-wheel works slowly -- like the processor is busy. I tried the usual stuff like resetting (hold menu and center,) diagnostic mode (reset, but quickly hold menu and rewind,) and restoring using iTunes -- and all were no help. 

There is very little on the internet about this problem, which suggests it must be a pretty rare problem.  It sounds like hardware, and I don't want to try to open up the iPod to fix it.  

My solution is to get a new one. Off to Best Buy.

IPod Shuffle Gen3 - Volume Control is not Waterproof

As you may recall from my previous postings,  my iPod Gen3 was replaced by Apple when the volume control stopped working. Now the replacement one has the same issue.

It seems that the cord controller is not waterproof, and it stops working when wet. Worse, it sends commands to the iPod increasing the volume periodically. 

I have a work around. When the volume starts changing randomly -- pause it and unpause it. That will freeze the volume where it is. You can also turn it off, and turn it on, to reset the volume to the middle. When the controller is wet, it is hard to simply turn it down. It also helps to watch the LED on the iPod when you press the controller, to see if it is getting the message you are sending. 

I use my iPod when I exercise, and I do that most days. I like the lightness of this ipod, and I like being able to use playlists to control what songs or podcasts that I listen to. I use a regular iPod during the rest of the day, so I don't need advanced features. This one is somewhat nicer to clip to my shirt than my old Gen2 iPod.

What I don't like is the VOLUME CONTROL. It seems that the controller gets wet, and then it develops a mind of its own. Randomly increasing the volume. Preventing me from turning the volume down. Suddenly during the iPod off. This happens after about twenty minutes of exercise.

I sent my first iPod Gen 3 back to Apple because the Apple Support guy did not know what to do. Apple sent me a new one by FedEx, so that was good.

I was disappointed when the second Gen3 iPod did the same thing.

Now, I am thinking of wrapping the controller in teflon tape or something similar to waterproof it. It should not be too had to keep the ends dry. Truthfully, a few drops of epoxy glue would probably seal it well, but I would like to start with a temporary repair

!!Click here to keep reading. Lots more on the ipod saga above.!!

My iPod Went Through the Washing Machine and IT STILL WORKS!

I came home from the gym, and took off my earbuds, but I left the iPod snapped to my waistband as I went to water the plants. Afterwards, I put the clothes in the wash, and as it was washing day, the next thing I knew, Jenny found my iPod in the dryer.

I was so sure it was wrecked that I ordered another one from Amazon the next day. I have had terrible problems with my iPod shuffle in the past because of water. See four previous posts. There was no change it would work after drying out.

However strangely and miraculously the iPod lives. It was working the next day, although I needed to recharge it.

The iPod works fine as an iPod. The docking port is a little noisy when I plug it into my car. Maybe that will get better.

Apple gets static for gluing the nano together which prevents users from changing the battery and so on. In this case, the glue is probably keeping the water out as well.

Kudos to Cupertino.