9 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
Troubling experience with iPOD
Date of Review: Jan 30, 2005
The Bottom Line: I can't give a recommendation on the quality because I can't get the thing to work!
I bought the iPOD Mini yesterday around noon and by 8:30 PM, after messing with it all day, I am ready to return it.
I am convinced that I have a defective unit. I am a rather computer literate person, but this one baffles me.
In a nutshell, here is what I spent over 8 hours messing with yesterday:
1) After the battery was charged, the "do not disconnect" message with a ghostbusters-like slash in a circle kept flashing. This is a very annoying icon as it seems to indicate something is wrong. When I made my ONE FREE CALL to Apple customer support, I was assured nothing was wrong. That flashing symbol and message is normal when the iPOD is hooked to the computer.
2) The message that appeared during the CD installation was that my iPOD needed to be formatted (I have Windows XP 2nd Edition). This formatting message appeared for about 2 hours, and wasn't moving. The users manual made no mention of the formatting time so I thought 2 hours was "normal." Again, on my one free call, I asked her about that formatting time, and the rep told me it should only take about 2 minutes. She told me to "CANCEL" the formatting process and proceed to enter the serial number and the rest of the stuff during the CD installation. Then I got a series of encryption errors. She then told me to log onto Apple's website and download the more recent version of the iPOD software--the CD in the package I bought must have been "outdated" or "defective." I did this, and the iPOD software seemed to download fine.
3) I set up my iTUNES account, gave Apple/PayPal my credit card, and presumed I was ready to start downloading. I bought 5 tunes, which are stored in my iTUNES, but for the life of me I cannot get them to download to the iPOD unit.
There are no icons anywhere on the iTUNES screen that tell you how to download to the IPOD. The manual and the Help screen directions just tell you to plug the iPOD into the computer (I used the USB cord) and the tunes I've selected will automatically transfer to the iPOD. I don't have to click anything. Well, I tried 5 times, with no luck. No music got transferred to the iPOD. That annoying "do not disconnect" button continued to flash on the LED screen of the iPOD unit. But the message at the top of the iTUNES screen seemed to indicate that the 5 songs I put in my PURCHASED MUSIC list were moving to the iPOD (the "transferring to iPOD message" flashed for about 5 minutes----that seemed to be a long time for the FOUR songs to load to the iPOD). I was talking to a friend who owns an iPOD while I was doing this and he was scratching his head too.
3) Before I decided to pack the iPOD unit back in its nifty little box, I tried to access the music in the menu one more time. The battery is fully charged--I waited about 4 hours before attempting to install the software. I cannot move around the options at all. I press the center button and the backlight keeps coming on. I move my finger up and down to scroll around the menu and there was no reaction at all on the iPOD unit.
I am hoping the unit is simply defective. I was not about to call Apple support again after using my "one free call" (doesn't $260 buy you at least one year of unlimited calls to customer service? What ever happened to companies standing by their products? The first person at Apple support I talked to seemed to be more interested in selling me their extended plans than helping me. Luckily the second person I spoke to was a lot more helpful).
I plan to go back to the Apple store and tell them this story. I want the iPOD to work--I think it's a great product. My friends love their iPODS. The iTUNES program is holding on my computer. If I can't get the iPOD to work or get any help with it, I guess I'll just keep the iTUNES program and download the music to CDs. But did I buy an iPOD to burn downloaded music to CD?
