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celebi23 · Mar 31, 2005, 05:42 PM

Not sure if I'm the only one that this has happened to but, yesterday I was removing the shuffle from the shuffle dock and the bottom portion of the shuffle snapped off. Full pic here along with updates:

http://www.spymac.com/gallery/show_p...p?picid=378471

Sooo furious at Apple right now

celebi23 · Mar 31, 2005, 06:57 PM

Called apple and they won't sodder the ribbon. Applecar apparently doens't cover physical damage and I'll be charged for a new one. Then, I went looking for a computer repair shop and found one in Wethersfield that initially said they couldn't do it because it's a 1 piece unit and I realized that the board inside was on a tray and looked like it could be removed. Went to this amazing site: http://www.chipmunk.nl/ipod/ipodshuffle.html and got the tray out. Computer Resources will reconnect the USB ribbon long enough for me to get the data off of the shuffle and for only $80. And i just realized that my dad won a 512MB shuffle through work

Stuff it, Apple

celebi23 · Mar 31, 2005, 07:49 PM

http://img195.exs.cx/img195/3968/dscn01378ev.jpg
The shuffle taken apart:-)

ibook_steve · Mar 31, 2005, 09:03 PM

You must have had some *really* important data on there to go through all this and spend $80 to get it off of a $99 device. If it was that important, you should have had it backed up or been more careful with your Shuffle.

Steve

Moderator · Apr 1, 2005, 04:02 PM

Originally posted by ibook_steve:
You must have had some *really* important data on there to go through all this and spend $80 to get it off of a $99 device. If it was that important, you should have had it backed up or been more careful with your Shuffle.

Steve

dick

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Apr 1, 2005, 04:49 PM

Just call Apple and I am sure they will give you a new one.

celebi23 · Apr 1, 2005, 11:51 PM

Went ot the repair shop in Wethersfield, CT which turned out to be the Apple Reseller that my family used to use up until 2000

The guy who helped was going to try and take the USB ribbon and plug from his 512 shuffle and put it on mine so i could transfer the data. Turns out that he had an incredible time popping out the USB plug. It looked like I wanted my files, the guy would need to severly damage his shuffle (that he wanted to sell in the near future) and that I would have to pay for a new one. I had some b-day money left over and put it towards that#mad So, he gets the USB plug onto mine and I get my files. In his shuffle, there was a TON of glue and on mine,almost none. Only the 2 clip things on the sides held my USB cap. He then used the parts from both shuffles to make me a working shuffle.

Left some details out of this for some reasons. ( Big Apple is watching you) send me a message if you want the rest of the story.

teknopimp · Apr 2, 2005, 08:12 AM

Originally posted by celebi23:
Left some details out of this for some reasons. ( Big Apple is watching you) send me a message if you want the rest of the story.

thanks for sparing us the details. is this the first defect you've ever gotten? remember, it was made in china, so get over it already.

Zimphire · Apr 2, 2005, 08:42 AM

Not even sure if the thing was defective.

That couldn't have happened by a "defect" or a "design flaw"

Looks as if you were in a hurry and just ripped it off the USB slot, and there go.

Could happen to ANY USB device when doing such a thing.

Things like that just don't "snap off" with normal usage.

That is why you got no help from Apple.

They wont replace things that were "abused"

jamester · Apr 11, 2005, 02:43 PM

While I doubt it is a "design flaw", it might well be a lemon.

My first Apple portable was an iBook. Both front corners on my ibook cracked off while I had it. I hadn't mistreated it in any way, but sure enough both corners did crack and come off. I took it in for AppleCare and they told me that there was no way that could happen without "abuse".

I was miffed, for roughly the same reasons the OP in this thread was miffed. *I* hadn't abused the iBook. Nobody I had shown the iBook to had abused the iBook. But still, they seemed to feel it necessary to tell me that I HAD abused the iBook.

That's a hell of an assumption.

In this instance, maybe the guy applying the glue fell asleep. Who knows. There may be one unit that happened to, or it could be 100 or 1000. There's no real way to tell.

It is, however, unfortunate. As a computer tech, I encourage people regularly to back up their data, and 9 times out of 10 when I ask when the last time they backed up was, the reply will vary between "a few weeks ago" to "never". I highly encourage people to buy USB storage devices for the simple matter that they make backups of important files very convenient.

THAT SAID, if you choose to use a USB device to store your important in-progress papers, please keep a second copy on a computer somewhere.

Glad you got your data back, OP =)

StonedRose · Apr 12, 2005, 04:57 PM

Glad it worked out for you. However, the path to get your issue resolved was good, I still would have barked up Apple's tree in regards to possibility of it being a manufacturing error. I haven't seen many similar issues like this. Have you seen or heard of cases similar to yours?

Aloha.

jon l. dawson · Apr 14, 2005, 04:14 PM

Wow, I can't believe how unsympathetic the posters on this thread are. What if it were you? Why assume that he's at fault? Whatever, it's not like it's so impossible that there was a manufacturing defect in his iPod Shuffle. It happens, and it's unfortunate, and I'm sorry that Apple was not more helpful in this matter, they really should have been.

jon l. dawson · Apr 14, 2005, 04:16 PM

BTW, just want to add that some people use USB flash devices solely because they don't want to store particular data anywhere else, like encryption key or passwords, sensitive data and the like.

teknopimp · Apr 14, 2005, 05:46 PM

Originally Posted by jon l. dawson

Wow, I can't believe how unsympathetic the posters on this thread are. What if it were you? Why assume that he's at fault? Whatever, it's not like it's so impossible that there was a manufacturing defect in his iPod Shuffle.

i am sympathetic, it has happened to me. i think everyone has had something break on them. big deal, get a new one. and if you need to tell the world, go ahead, just expect replies like these.

Zimphire · Apr 14, 2005, 11:58 PM

If it was a defect, it would be happening more often.

A friend of mine broke his in the same way.

But he yanked the thing off his USB slot and cracked it.

Looks just like yours.

That isn't a defect. That was abuse.

DeathToWindows · Apr 16, 2005, 06:07 PM

I concur with the overall opinion... unless that was a bloody awful solder join on the board, there is no way in hell that came apart through normal use (several months of board soldering and battle testing mean that I can tell where the failure usually is)...