Re: Brand new Ipod Nano is malfunctioning right out of the box

Shawn Hirn wrote:
In article <%p9ti.64463$Io4.35384@edtnps89>,
Robert Montgomery <info-block@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


I just bought my first Ipod ­ an two-gigabyte Nano.

As soon as I plugged it into my USB 2 hub, Itunes and the Imac froze and
I couldn't even restart because the color wheel kept spinning on my
screen and I couldn't even get to the Finder to quit any programs, so I
pressed the power button and even that took a while to have any effect.

The Ipod screen still says "Do no disconnect" and a burgundy circle with
a line through it is flashing on the dark screen.

There's supposed to be a Setup Assistant that automatically opens, but
it didn't, and after restarting the computer, Itunes won't open.

At home, the Ipod hadn't shown up under "Devices" in Itunes, as it did when the salesman at the Apple store demonstrated, but at home I was able to scroll to "Eject" in Itunes.

Unfortunately the Ipod manual only says on the last page to look at the Apple Web site for more complete help, and it's only on the Web site that the instructions say to plug the Ipod into the hub first and then into the Ipod. Because I was only reading the skimpy little Ipod manual that came with the manual, I plugged the USB cord into the Ipod first and then the other end of the USB cable into my USB hub, so I think that probably caused the glitch, or maybe it's because I plugged the cable into my hub and not into my Imac (Late 2006 model with OS 10.4.10).

At some point during this process, Software Update asked if I wanted to download the latest Itunes. I pressed "Okay" but the installation stalled so I cancelled the installation and now
Itunes won't open.

I tried relaunching the Finder but that didn't help.

What should I do?


Apple has tons of information about all its products on http://www.apple.com including an extensive array of troubleshooting documents. Check out http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61705 and see if that helps. If not, take a look for other info on Apple's web site or simply take your iPod nano back to the store and tell them its not working. It is after all, under warranty. Good luck.

Thanks. I got it to work again after a lot of experimentation.

I tried to download a free sample song from the Internet to see if I could load it onto the Ipod, but I couldn't find any because all the links in Google for free songs led me to paid music sites (typical of the Internet swindlers), but I found a site with some free music loops, which I managed to download to Itunes and copy onto the Ipod and deleted them and downloaded some more and re-synced the Ipod.

But it's a difficult, stressful, slow learning process. A 'steep learning curve' as the cliché goes. The way you scroll with a light touch, for example. At first it wasn't intuitive; I've never used a device like that. It feels so strange - like learning to use a computer for the first time.

I kept thinking I've broken the machine, but then I get it to work again. For example, when i pulled the USB cord out of the Ipod, I had to pull like hell and nothing happened, because they stupidly camouflaged the release buttons, and I've never seen a connector like that before, and there's no instructions in the manual that comes with the Ipod about how how to disconnect the USB cable and I didn't know if I had to have one side up or not to connect the USB cord to the Ipod.

I'm done for today, and I'm having a drink to try to steady my nerves (which where shaken because I kept thinking my brand-new device was broken because I kept getting the damn "Do not disconnect" message amd had to keep restarting the Imac to try to rectify the situation and then I finally blundered into how to reset the Ipod to the factory settings.)

(And when I bought the Ipod this morning the salesman didn't give me much confidence because he said if it's broken, don't bring it back to us; send it back to Apple instead. I don't think I want to shop there anymore.)

This device is certainly not all it's 'cracked up to be' as the saying goes. Not exactly 'plug and play' to use yet another cliché. Certainly is not intuitive. As another example of that, there's no button marked "On" or "Off" or "Power" - standard things on devices like a TV or radio. Instead, the off button, which doubles as the pause button, is marked by an arrow and two vertical lines. Like what the hell's that supposed to signify? They should have put more buttons and some words on the machine to make it easier to learn and use. I think they put too much precedence over the simplicity of the design over the ease of use, because more buttons would certainly help - like on a TV remote control, with each button labelled with a word instead of some unfamiliar symbol. (That's what I hate about my Olypmus camera, too, it's got all these goddamn symbols instead of words, so you have to try to remember what all the frigging symbols relate to to use the camera and my old Alesis multi-track sequencer and what makes it even harder to learn is when a hierogrlyphic symbol has two functions.)

Robert
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