iPoddity

I have a 16 month old 20G Photo iPod. I've loved it since I first pulled it out of it's package. I have taken very good care of my iPod. It's been covered and protected since day 1. I have never dropped it or done anything jarring to it. The first sign of a problem was one day on the train home. It froze up on me. I got home, went to the iPod support page and was able to reset it. The next time it froze up on me on the plane to New York at the holidays. I could not reset it and it stayed on until the battery wore out. Once again, it seemed fine when I got home.

I did not use my iPod at all between Christmas and New Year. One New Year's Day, I charged her up. I realized that the little charging icon wasn't showing up. All of a sudden, my iPod was making a frownie face at me http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61771. It dawned on me that it was probably not a good sign. I followed the IPod support instructions but to no avail. I could not get my iPod to respond. So off to the Apple Store I went at lunch time today.

She wouldn't respond for them either. It was when the Genius behind the counter asked me if I had the Apple Protection Plan that I knew it was not good news. So with no protection, I could not get a replacement iPod. It was interesting to note that the protection plan only covers you for 2 years and they recommended I get a Nano insted since it has no hard drive.

I dejectedly walked back to work mourning the loss of my iPod. When I Googled to see if anyone had any suggestions other than just getting a new iPod, I was pleasantly surprised by the Whack-A-Mole theory of iPod repair found here. http://supamb.com/supafine/2006/02/16/resurrecting-your-dead-ipod-whack-a-mole-theory/

Apparently, whacking your iPod against a hard surface a couple of times might be enough to get it up and running again. I figured I had nothing to lose so I got home from work and plugged my iPod into my computer. I then took it in my hand and whacked it hard on the floor 5 times. At first nothing. But then, it was a miracle! It came back to life with the "Do Not Disconnect" screen and ITunes was able to pick it up again.

It is now charging away and in seemingly fine working order. Who would have thought that a whack would do it! I'll take it on the train tomorrow and see how it works.