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4G iPod questions

N

ncook06

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 11, 2006
184
0
Tampa, FL
I would like to get an iPod, and I'm eyeing a refurbished 4G monochrome 40 GB iPod with click wheel, dock included, for $200.

I know from my friends' experiences that old iPods had a ton of problems with locking up, erasing music, and basically sucking. Perhaps this is related to Windows. As far as I know, new (5G) iPods haven't had as many problems.

If I buy this iPod and keep the software up to date, will that prevent the problems? And will I still be able to use the included FW400 connector?

BTW, the only features I care about are the two in my questions, so please don't let this become about color or video capabilities.
 
My 4G iPod (color) has had no problems with general suckitude.

If you keep the FW Cable, you can still use it.

Enjoy the iPod!! :)
 
katie ta achoo said:
If you keep the FW Cable, you can still use it.
Click to expand...

The reason I asked was a quote from the buyer's guide to the 5G here at MR:

"With this iPod [5G], Apple dropped FireWire support from all iPods."
 
ncook06 said:
The reason I asked was a quote from the buyer's guide to the 5G here at MR:

"With this iPod [5G], Apple dropped FireWire support from all iPods."
Click to expand...

My 4G iPod syncs fine over FireWire, even with my Intel Mac. As for sucking, it does have a problem where it doesn't play the song you selected, it skips to the next one. That problem seems to be widespread and it is annoying, but it doesn't happen too often.
 
mduser63 said:
My 4G iPod syncs fine over FireWire, even with my Intel Mac. As for sucking, it does have a problem where it doesn't play the song you selected, it skips to the next one. That problem seems to be widespread and it is annoying, but it doesn't happen too often.
Click to expand...

How often is "not too often?"

A simple "x out of 100 times" would suffice.
 
i have a couple prolems with mine. sometimes a song wont play and I'll have to uncheck it then update my ipod then recheck and update my ipod to get it to play. sometimes my scroll whell wont work and Ill have to put it on hold then put it back to normal. and also the 6 o'clock to 9 o'clock area on my scroll wheel dosent work, idk why. but also I have dropped my ipod quite a few times on hard slate floors and the thing still works so overall I'd say their pretty good. some of those problems might be due to the droppings but I'm not sure. because when all my friends drop their ipods they always break and have to send them back.

hope that helped
 
mduser63 said:
My 4G iPod syncs fine over FireWire, even with my Intel Mac. As for sucking, it does have a problem where it doesn't play the song you selected, it skips to the next one. That problem seems to be widespread and it is annoying, but it doesn't happen too often.
Click to expand...

I've had that happen to me about 3 times since I've had my 4G color, which I got back in September. When it's happened, I've noticed it's the actual MP3 file that's currupt, and won't even play in iTunes.

I have a 4g (granted, it's color), but have had no problems with it sucking. It's been great and hasn't given me any single issue.
 
I bought a refurbished ipod mini last year and the battery life is terrible. It crashed a couple of times and just not fun. Jusy be careful with used ipods. The battery life may be low.
 
ncook06 said:
I know from my friends' experiences that old iPods had a ton of problems with locking up, erasing music, and basically sucking. Perhaps this is related to Windows.
Click to expand...
Or a hardware failure in the iPod itself. It should've gone back to Apple for service.
 
ChrisBrightwell said:
This is covered under AppleCare.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but I don't have AppleCare on my iPod. To be honest, while it's a little annoying it's not like it makes me want to throw my iPod out the window or anything. I have a 5G iPod too, and it doesn't have the problem at all. Still, I use my 4G iPod at least as much as my 5G, if not more.

I'd say it happens about 5 or 10 times out of 100, but that's just an estimate.
 
X5-452 said:
I've had that happen to me about 3 times since I've had my 4G color, which I got back in September. When it's happened, I've noticed it's the actual MP3 file that's currupt, and won't even play in iTunes.
Click to expand...

My girlfriend doesn't have a working computer right now (switching and getting a MB in a couple weeks), so we've been updating and charging her 5G iPod on my computer. I had some songs that wouldn't play, and iTunes wouldn't let me copy them to the iPod. Perhaps 4G iPods didn't have this "safety net."
 
Well, one month ago, I ordered myelf a 20gb 4g color screen ipod refurb. Since I have it the only time it crashed was the 1st time I used it .... and the button wouldnt respond .... since then, it's been working as clean as a .... hum ... clean ipod. Syncing via firewire is cool too. That's one of the reason I bought this one because it would fit my belt clip, the dock, the remote control and the FW from my dead 3G iPod :S

See ya around
 
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