two-twenty

planned obsolescence, part i: iBuy therefore iAm

Remember, like, over a year ago when everyone realized that iPod batteries were neither replacable nor designed to be particulary long lasting? We do, cause we wrote about it. And you do, because, well, everyone did!

Well, in typical mainstream newscycle fashion, New York's CBS Channel 2 just discovered the game, and they are shocked! Shocked, I tell you! So much so that they have made Apple a target of their "Shame On You!" series, hosted by Arnold Diaz (we have to point out here that the guy is kind of creepy looking - we'll give good odds that if you said the words "schiesse video" to him, you wouldn't get a blank stare in return. Kidding!)

image from www.cbsnewyork.com

The gyst is that Apple plans for the batteries to die after about 18 months, and plans for you to just go out and buy a new iPod rather than deal with the hassle of sending it back to them and paying $99 for a replacement battery. Worse, it turns out if you send yours back you will not get yours back- you will get someone else's crappy refurbished iPod in return, and lose all of your music. The story implied that you might even get an older generation iPod as a replacement.

For all of those reasons and more, Apple has joined the sad company of the NYPD, school bullying, and stealing money from a baby in Arnold Diaz's Hall of Shame.

shame, shame, shame!

Incidentally, the story featured the Neistat Brothers, whose iFilm (made on an iMac) "iPod's Dirty Secret" we linked to in our above-mentioned post in early 2004.

The good news: we learned that there are now service professionals dedicated to preserving our beloved iPods- at sites like iPod Mechanic and iPod Parts Center you can buy replacement batteries starting at under $30, and even have them installed. And there's always eBay.

But you probably already knew that.

The "Shame On You!" video clip is now up on CBS 2's homepage, here.

Shame on You! | cbsnewyork.com