Spongebob¶
298 words on Apple defects , Hardware , eBay
Of course my neverending history of Apple defects continues. The latest victim (and I think I didn't even mention that my MacBook's 6 month old top case broke again while the machine kept overheating in summer...) was the first generation iPod shuffle which I bought last year. I still think that it's an excellent design and it did its job rather well -- until it stopped working. Well, in fact it still works at this stage as an oversized overly expensive USB stick, but it refuses to play music now.
If I read its blinkenlights correctly that is because the battery doesn't charge - despite the device blinking and heating up slightly when connected to the USB port. The battery was perfectly good before it stopped recharging, so here's another mark on the shitty quality scorecard:
Because I like the idea of the first generation iPod shuffle so much, I tried getting another one. And eventually I found one on eBay which I could get for less than €20 (what an outrageous price for two year old used plastic toy with a tiny capacity!) and it does the job - let's hope for more than just a few months. Less agony and boredom at the gym!
What's a bit of a nuisance now is the naming drama. Of course every nameable toy needs a name. Hence my first iPod Shuffle was named 'Spongebob' and I quite like that name! To keep it around I thus re-named the broken iPod Shuffle to 'Bernd das Brot' (another rectangular bit of kiddy-television) and the new one remains Spongebob. Whew!
Anyway, in case you have use for a non-working first generation iPod shuffle called 'Bernd das Brot', send me the postage needed to get it to you and it's yours...
