My iStory of my iPod(s)
This past summer really was the Summer of iPod Hell... or maybe just iHell. I dunno. What I DO know is that currently right now Gabe is sitting there reading this, thinking "iPods suck." Well shut up. Hippie. Anyway. I have decided to recount the story of my iPod Hell. It actually goes back a ways back though...
I have wanted an iPod probably since I graduated High School. However my requests and begs to my parental units received a well-heard NO. This does not come as a surprise. I mean the cheapest iPods were between $250 (for 4 gig) and $300 (for 20 gig). I asked many a Christmas for one, but my parents used the (good in this case) excuse that if they got me one, they would have to get my older bro one as well. While I disagreed (hehe) I saw where they were coming from. So I went without one. Meanwhile many of my friends are already i-Fanatics... a roommate (Stephan) frequently flashes around his mini friend. Kim even receives a new iPod nano for Christmas '05 (though I had heard of horror stories involving nanos shattering upon being dropped, and had little interest in investing in such a device). And onward I looked... pod-less. :-( I had even helped create a group on Facebook: "So what, I don't have an iPod."
Let us fast forward to 2006. I had discovered my brother had used a Band grant to purchase a 5th gen 60 gig iPod for very cheap at the MSU bookstore... I was amazed and kind of jealous actually... but I kept my promise and didn't rat. I knew mom and dad would find out sooner or later anyway.
That November, I was flipping through a Wal-Mart advertisement and i saw, on sale, an mp3 player... not an iPod, but a 2 gig none the less. I think the co$t was about $60 or $70. I then proceeded to email my parents telling them I knew I would not get an iPod for Christmas (as I had unsuccessfully asked for two years running), but that I had found this great deal on another mp3 player. Well... little did I know that my parents had just been in SAMS CLUB and seen a 2gen iPod nano on sale for only $130 or so. Now if I were my parents, I would have just gotten the nano and then seen my exclamation Christmas day as I opened it completely blindsided! However... my mother shot me an email TELLING ME that they were going to get me an iPod nano and asked me if that was ok. :-O I was shocked yes, but I was disappointed I already knew I was getting it!! ::sigh:: But I went on happy to receive the undeserved gift that Christmas morning. The first song I loaded on it? "Vertigo" by U2 of course. Duh. ;-)
My mom can't understand how it can be so small and play music... she doesn't even understand what an mp3 is! In actuality I realized (as had my brother) that the only way I was able to get an iPod for Christmas was because my bro had gotten one before me, thereby allowing my parents the justification to spend that money on me for a gift. That Christmas was an interesting one, as Nolan too had gotten an iPod for Christmas, and Jannah had purchased the very same silver 2gig herself the day after Christmas.
Back at school I was enjoying my lil silver iFriend... until sometime in April or May. I would often keep my iPod in my backpack, so I could listen to it while at the computer lab or going to work in the REL Dept. Anyway, one day I look in the back and it is not there. The earbuds were though. Hmmm. I will never know I suppose if someone stole it out of my backpack or if it just fell out one day as I was rushing to class. I prefer to believe the former... it makes me feel less stupid. Kind of. Anyway, I do not tell my parents about my lost iPod. I figure they have enough to worry about without a trinket of mine being gone. It was not easy though hiding the fact from them. My mom wanted to buy me a case for my nano... either a decorative or protective one. It took great effort of coming up with so many "oh that's too expensive for one," "i don't really like that design," "let's look somewhere else mom," etc.
I had decided I needed to save up my money and purchase an iPod for myself without troubling my parents. I was hearing rumors of newer iPods coming out soon, but I just desired to get a higher-capacity iPod that could hold more than 2 gig. Sure, a 2 gig is better than a no-gig, but it had become very frustrating deciding which songs I would want to listen to and when. I had 20 gig of music. I wanted to at least be able to hold 4 gig at a time. Similarly my mac-friend Colleen was looking for an iPod for her journey to Japan. She was traveling to do mission work and wanted to have her music collection with her on the plane and while she was there. She told me that she had gone to a street-side records and found and purchased a 20 gig 4th gen iPod for $200 + a $50 rebate!! 20 gig for $150 (after rebate)... when a new iPod nano that holds only 2 gigs is the same price! I was hoping too to get a good deal. I went on eBay searching for a good deal on a 4 gig or maybe an 8 gig nano, when Colleen one night suggested I look for deals on 20 gig iPods. I heeded her advice and actually found a pretty darn good deal... a power-seller was offering a refurbished 30 gig iPod photo (4th gen that was in color and could store pics) for only $155 with tax!!
Wow. I explained the situation to my less-than-happy father, and got him to order it for me after I gave him the cash to do so. He ordered it for me, and it arrived a week or so later while I was in Farmington visiting Kacey. I instructed my dad how to sync it up to my computer so it would download music and be ready for me upon my arrival home.
I got home from my weekend in Farmington expecting to play with my new iPod... this did not happen. My father went on to tell me it had crashed multiple times the day previous on its own. :-( We had to purchase an external power supply as it had been restarted. After a few days we found one and got my iPod going great. yay! 30 gig was enough to store all of my music on... though it was 2/3 full or so. But one day at work I went to turn it back on as I was finishing up my job for the day... and it crashed. Complete crash, not even able to be restarted. I wanted a refund, but my dad decided to just exchange it for another iPod from this fellow. By this time I had learned the Apple Store online was selling a refurbished 30 gig 5.5 gen able to play videos... and was hoping to upgrade for the extra $25 or so. But we sent the broken one in and waited for the replacement. And waited. And waited waited. waited. FINALLY it arrived. But the back? said 20 gig. ?!?! I plugged it in and sure enough it was a 30 gig, but I suffered a minor heart attack I think. It seemed to work well and the case was in better condition than the previous one had been.
Everything seemed dandy with this one... but one night at work I was listening to a Podcast from John Pipper and I discovered some problems. I went to turn the volume up... the player paused. I would turn it down, it paused. the biggest problem came when I sat it down on the table (gently mind you) and it turned OFF!! WHAT?! Yeah... less than happy. This guy from eBay was continually giving us crap. This particular problem did not occur much after, but it would skip randomly or pause from time to time. I had had it and decided to send it back to Mr. eBay seller man. Problem: he claimed he could not refund us as the refund policy only extends the first month. I quickly reminded him that from the time the package arrived at my location until the day we were emailing him had been less than 30 days. He reluctantly decided to take it back... but was still charging us the 15% re-stocking fee. Imagine that... he was going to restock a broken iPod. Fun. Later on I would look at his rating from customers on eBay... those buying phones from him seem pleased. Another customer though had purchased an iPod, received a broken one, and too was upset with the seller when he demanded a 15% restock fee. The seller could only say "READ THE AGREEMENT. IT CLEARLY SAYS 15% FEE." Yeah... that justifies you selling bad iPods to people... psssshhhh... Kacey never could figure out why I was purchasing a high-end electronic such as an iPod from eBay. She knew it was a bad move. Good for her. :-P I wish I was so wise in this area.
Meanwhile, the new iPod classics were shipping... the 80 gig had been brought down in price to $249, and I was hoping I could afford it. However just as I was deciding to send my buggy iPod back to eBay, my friend Jackie IMed me out of the blue asking if I still was in need of an iPod. She proceeded to tell me that she was purchasing an iPhone and wanted to unload her iPod for cheap and decided to offer it to me first. It was a black 5.5 gen 80 gig... still under warranty. Price? ONLY $200! WOW! Pretty good deal. So I told her that YES I was going to purchase it...only to have her retract her offer as she was going to opt-out of the iPhone. :-(
So I proceeded to purchase the iPod classic from the MSU bookstore. It actually took me an hour to decide if I was going to buy a black or silver (the white was discontinued) 80 gig, but I chose the silver. Part of the money would be paid in cash, the rest deferred. I justified that my dad had already given me permission to buy the 80 gig from Jackie for $200... and this was only (about) $50 more... SO I worked an extra weekend and earned the very $50 that would make up the difference. But I had my iPod.
Interestingly I rarely use it for music... I listen to more John MacArthur and Fox News Radio Updates Podcasts than anything else.
So that is my iPod story. Interestingly enough, I have a friend who may buy my iPod from me and pay full price for it to help me out (she says). Why would I do such a thing? Because I don't know if I deserve an 80 gig iPod. This all started out with a 2 gig! Now Apple Store online also carries VERY cheap nanos... a 4 gig (originally $199 new) are only $99. 8 gig nano is only $149 (originally $249). I am considering these as an option if I DO sell my 80 gig. Sure I won't have all my music with me. But I will be saving $100... that is a LOT to a college student you know.
Anyway... that is my iStory. if you are still reading now... wow. I'm impressed.
fin.
another thing... Kevin has a 4 gig blue nano... when we compared iPods he said he saw mine and proclaimed "I don't want a big one like yours!" Yeah... that was interesting. Think about it a little. ;-) lol
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