iPod Mechanic Revisited
A more recent article on iPod Mechanic is available. Click here.
We have a 30G iPod Photo that failed within the past year. I previously reported that I’d sent it to iPod Mechanic for repair, where it received a new hard drive. We had an excellent experience with iPod Mechanic.
Between then and now, several things have happened. One is that iPod Mechanic experienced a significant backlog and even stopped accepting new orders until they were able to get caught up. This indicates that the demand for repair services exceeded iPod Mechanic’s ability to provide repair services. While no doubt the review at this site steered additional customers to them, this demand isn’t a good sign. It indicates that iPods are more of a disposable electronic item than a long-term investment.
Another event is that our repaired iPod failed again with the same symptoms of the first failure. Matt had been using the iPod, and this was the third time that an iPod had broken while he was using it. While he couldn’t be sure, he thought that the problem may have occurred when playing a specific album each time. We’re still not sure if that was the case, or if it was coincidence, but either way, that album is no longer in his iTunes library!
We returned the broken-again iPod to iPod Mechanic, where the new hard drive was replaced with another new hard drive. Since the repair was under warranty, there wasn’t any charge for this second repair.
The third event that has happened between then and now is that the iPod has failed yet again. Just today, I mailed it back to iPod Mechanic for another warranty repair. I expect another good repair experience.
This is the fourth iPod failure that we’ve experienced. A 20G 2nd generation iPod has failed, and a 30G iPod Photo has now failed three times. (Actually, it may be four times. I may have returned it twice already for warranty repair.) In contrast, we have a 30G iPod Video that is still running like a champ. It seems odd to me that we would have experienced three hard drive failures in the same iPod. I suspect that there is another problem, perhaps with the hard drive controller circuitry or in the operating system, that is the true culprit.
March 1st, 2007 at 11:45 am
jeff, do you have a phone # for iPod mechanic? They wanted $189 to replace the hard drive in a $228 iPod. The only other choice they offered was “donation.” I said I want it back so I could try and get a settelemnt from my cerdit card insurance. They said maybe they could do it for $150. then have not responded to e-mails for two weeks. The phone # on their website is no good. Thanks, Ray
March 1st, 2007 at 12:57 pm
I just happened to receive an iPod back yesterday after warranty repair work. The number listed on the label is 269-978-2535.