CONSIDER YOURSELF A NERD

A question for all you iPod owners in LJ Land
Either my MP3 player is jealous of all the time I've spent listening to that Dresden Files audiobook, or it's a poorly-designed, cheaply-made piece of crap.

I haven't used it much since I got the audiobook on Good Friday; just a few afternoons at work, maybe. I put it in my pocket every morning and bring it work, then plug it in to its charger for the day, then bring it home again.

I noticed after I plugged it in this morning that the display was still on the welcome page, and the "loading" icon was spinning and spinning and spinning. Huh. So I hit the reset button with a paperclip and plugged it in again. It froze again. I reset and started it while it wasn't plugged in. It froze. I held it up and listened--whirrrclick, whirrrclick, whirrrclick, whirrrclick.

I reset it and ignored it for a couple of hours. Still nothing.

I stuck it in my pocket on the way to the doctor's office, and managed to hit a button while waiting for the doctor. It started up and froze. I pulled it out as I was getting ready to leave work and it had run itself out of batteries, so I hooked it up to its charger and left, disgusted.

It's around a year and a half old. The (poorly thought out) volume slider fell off several months ago, and I'm not sure how terminal this little glitch is. God only knows what Sony would want to have a look at it. Meanwhile its much older counterpart, my Discman, which has survived riding around in my car and my bookbag, is still in service, sitting on my desk next to the MP3 player.

So... are full-size iPods rugged? Do they stand up to the rigors of riding around in pockets and cars and bags? I've been eyeballing the 160GB Classic for several months now, but if it's not going to last, forget it.

Current Mood: irritated
Current Music: Charles on the treadmill