Point To Point

Oh, for Pete’s sake, its finally happened. Yes, my beloved video iPod has finally bitten the dust and floated off to the big pit of planned obsolescence. There I was, listening happily to my 2 year old iPod only two days ago, and then when I tried to turn it on yesterday it started to reset itself, flashed a few defiant pixels, and then gave out. Why, oh why? I know we are constantly warned that iPods are highly vulnerable; after all, they are just a glorified hard drive. But how can something so beautiful give up the ghost so suddenly: its not as if I have been shaking it around or dropping it all the time… No, my iPod had a really good life. From the comfy silicon case it was placed in, to the plastic screen protector I placed on it and the way it basically sat in one place for the last year (my desk), I never really put it in harms way as an mp3 player.

The truth is, this is my second ipod. I had one of the 3rd generation ones, which also gave out suddenly 2 years ago. Despite this, I decided to continue as an iPod aficionado, and purchased the brand new ‘video’ iPod soon after my last one died out. I’m not really sure what made me come back to Apple a second time- you would have thought one failure would have been enough to send me packing. In all honesty, its probably the fact that the iPod is an iconic piece of technology, and not least because of its aesthetics; even so soon after my video ipod has died, I am already looking into a replacement; after the first one died I made sure to get insurance for my 5th generation iPod. But what is it that makes the ipod so fragile as an mp3 player? And why do we keep coming back for more?