First My Hard Drive, Now My iPod

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[ 2005-January-28 16:40 ]

Not more than two months after my PowerBook's hard drive died, now my iPod is broken. I bought it at the same time so it is one of the "second generation" iPods, which means that it has 10 GB of storage instead of the original 5 GB. The big problem with the original design is that the firewire port at the top has no strain relief. Basically, it is just soldered to the printed circuit board and not anchored to the case. This means that after long enough (in my case, 2.5 years), the solder connections on the FireWire port break. The result is that I can still charge my iPod, but I can't connect it to a computer. Apple's repair cost is $50 less than a new iPod. No thanks. There are companies out there that do this repair for less (search Google), but I'm going to attempt to solder the port myself, since that's the kind of geek I am. My battery was dead as well, so while I have the case open I'm going to upgrade the battery. Of course, I won't be able to do this for a few weeks, when I actually get all the parts.