Over the Independence Day Holidays I was out running errands in my FJ Cruiser and hit a pothole. The experience wasn’t bad (it never is in a FJ), but believe that it may have been the final blow to the 80gb iPod Classic that has been with me for several years.
The device had been in sitting in gloveboxes of my personal and company vehicles the majority of it’s existence; and run non-stop over countless hours and miles. If I wasn’t on a conference call or intense phone discussion, it was either blasting rock music or providing pleasing background noise. My theory is that the pothole in the road bounced the device enough to jam the hardisk. It would display, but wouldn’t sync with iTunes – even after several ipod resets.
30-pin iPods aren’t difficult to find, but most are used or low-capacity models. There were some refurbished possibilities, but their prices weren’t far from new options. It seems that the 4th gen market hadn’t grasped the idea of owning a lot of music. Many retailers returned their unsold inventory when 5th gen models were common. My old iPod also sat in the drawer of a repair shop for a week without being touched; representing an entirely separate saga.
The iPod Classic is available in a 160gb version now, and has the 30-pin connection, but uses the older hardware that contributed to my device’s failure. The price is better, but not enough to warrant the risk, a newer device is flash storage is best. The old device also had formed some rust on it’s side, and had an air bubble in the display, representing a couple design flaws that weren’t worth reliving.
I thought about dropping Apple reliance altogether. Google Music is very cool and a joy to use on my Nexus 7. There are some new Android Phones that support storage additions, allowing for the download of an entire library. It would retire several of my acessories (which will likely EOL eventually as Bluetooth options are picked up).
Minimizing accessory purchases was a motivator to sticking with Apple and buying the latest iPod. However, I also felt that leaving large amounts of content in a separate device was still a good practice for me. For many, it will be better to just sync to the cloud and download to your phone.
It wasn’t easy to find, but after looking through cases a 64gb iPod in Black/Slate was among several versions. Even on a USB 2.0 port the sync is taking a while. There are over 3600 photos and over 1800 songs on my PC; along with Outlook Contacts and Calendar. With three Google Apps, there is already just 36gb free on my new device.
Despite my Android/Linux preference, the new iPod is a positive experience. Wrapped it in a Zagg invisible shield and Survivor skin. It’s small, light, and fun to use.
The Lightning to 30-pin Adapter cable works on my Bose ipod player, that I rarely use. Hopefully it work work as well in my FJ. The bose controller didn’t seem to be effective at first, but got the hang of it again after a while. Shuffle mode was refreshing on the Bose.
Didn’t turn on iCloud storage during the setup, wasn’t a need for two cloud-storage providers.
That old iPod feels like a paperweight 🙂