[imitchellg5]

My friend will sell me his immaculate 4G 20 gig iPod for $50. The only thing bad is that the clickwheel is bad. Should I go for it and buy a new clickwheel for it? I'm not afraid to take the little monster apart Is it a good deal? I think I could get a clickwheel for around $20. If nothing else, it makes a good shuffle ( is is stuck on shuffle songs).

[firefly]

A very good deal indeed, as long as the hard drive is still in good condition. This can be checked in diagnostics mode but since the clickwheel is dead you may need a computer to scan it.

[takewarning104]

What is/how do you get to diagnoistics mode?

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by firefly

A very good deal indeed, as long as the hard drive is still in good condition. This can be checked in diagnostics mode but since the clickwheel is dead you may need a computer to scan it.

Thanks for the info. The hard drive should be in good condition since it isn't to old, it's younger than my mini. I think it may be under warranty now that I think about it. According to Disk Utility, its SMART status is Verified as opposed to dead.

[brokenjago]

I'd go for it. Does it have a color screen? If so, it's an even better deal. If not, it's still a good deal. If it's still under warranty, take it to a genius bar and have them give you a new one or fix this one, and then buy AppleCare

[imitchellg5]

No it is black and white. It's actually about 2 months out of warranty

[brokenjago]

Aw. It's still an awesome deal at $50. At the very least you can end up using it as a portable HD, and even then it's a good deal.

[jais09]

Originally Posted by imitchellg5

My friend will sell me his immaculate 4G 20 gig iPod for $50. The only thing bad is that the clickwheel is bad. Should I go for it and buy a new clickwheel for it? I'm not afraid to take the little monster apart Is it a good deal? I think I could get a clickwheel for around $20. If nothing else, it makes a good shuffle ( is is stuck on shuffle songs).

Personally, I wouldn't pay $50 for something that might work when I could buy something newer for a bit more, even if I would have to wait a month or two to afford it. I say you would probably have a total of $80 - $90 into the IPod for it to work properly -- and that's IF the harddrive is not bad. If the click wheel is broken, I would be concerned about other things being broken as well, and I would question how well it is actually taken care of. I have a 2G that still works perfectly, now THAT's well taken care of -- I just bought and recieved the new 8 GB Nano for working out though.

Just too risky, IMO.

[imitchellg5]

Well I just got it. Thanks jais09 for your opinion, but I saw it after I got it. What is great is that the clickwheel is working right now! At Apple's website, they had a little doc about doing something with the hold button- and it worked! However, it seems a bit unsensitive, but that might be because I am coming from a mini. It is the HP iPod, so I think I will put an Apple backplate on it.