Gripes about iPod breakdowns grow

Sun-Sentinel ^ | 12/11/2006 | Nick Wingfield

[Swordmaker]

Unexplained malfunctions, battery failure among common complaints

This holiday season Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod is once again a top seller in stores, and the music player's white earphones remain a nearly ubiquitous sight on city streets and at gyms. But as it reaches deeper into the mainstream, more users are becoming familiar with a new sense of loss: the death of an iPod.

Among users of the device, it's long been common to hear of iPods laid low by batteries that no longer hold a charge, malfunctioning hard disks and screens with cracks. In some cases, problems are caused by users who accidentally drop their iPods or otherwise subject them to abuse, but other users say their iPods go belly up even after normal use.

[Swordmaker]

Some of this is verbatim from a much older article... it looks and smells like FUD.

[Swordmaker]

iPod Fud

[Echo Talon]

How can you have FUD about the best selling product? WTF...

[Terpfen]

Since when are sales figures an insulation from FUD?

[Echo Talon]

FUD(Fear Uncertainty Doubt) a tactic used against a new or less known product... i.e OSX, MS Zune, Or Windows Vista...

It wouldn't work to well against Charmin toilet paper now would it?

[Echo Talon]

dang it Jim, I think I just did it again...
I think this is an Apple thread.. sorry in advance.

[Terpfen]

The application of FUD is not limited to products that aren't leading the market. The very idea is absurd.

[Swordmaker]

How can you have FUD about the best selling product? WTF...

You can if you are trying to instill Fear and Uncertainty and Doubt about the best selling object so you can sell the poorly selling Zune.

Regurgitating old stories of problems with the iPod, including some quotations that are verbatim from two and three year old articles about issues that have long since been fixed (Batteries, etc.) as though it is current is, I submit, FUD.

[Swordmaker]

i.e OSX,

Working on seven years since the release of OS X Server... that is not a "new" product...

However, look at the timing of this article... right before the major portion of the Christmas Shopping season. It's FUD, Jim.

[Echo Talon]

i.e OSX,

Working on seven years since the release of OS X Server... that is not a "new" product...

Still "cherry picking" and taking me out of context... You and Antirepublicrat love to do that...

If you notice I said "new or less known product" I believe OSX fits that bill quite nicely with its Less than 5%(AND YES IT IS LESS THAN 5% TOTAL MAC OS MARKETSHARE IS 5.39% including OS 8,9 Etc...)

[Echo Talon]

You can if you are trying to instill Fear and Uncertainty and Doubt about the best selling object so you can sell the poorly selling Zune.

the word Zune was not in the article anywhere.

[Swordmaker]

...the word Zune was not in the article anywhere.

It doesn't need to be... but when you go into any store selling MP3 players (Except an Apple Store) there will be two featured players... the iPod and the Zune. Now, not knowing anything about them except what you've just read in an article spreading FUD about the iPod... which do you buy???

It's FUD.

[Echo Talon]

Despite the beefs, consumers' love affair with the iPod shows no sign of going sour. In spite of determined competitors in the portable-player market like Microsoft Corp. and SanDisk Corp., Apple's share of the market for 2006 will likely end up roughly where it was last year, between 73 percent and 75 percent, says Stephen Baker, an analyst at retail sales tracker NPD Group Inc.

In an online survey of more than 6,400 consumers that NPD conducted earlier this year, the firm found that 82 percent of iPod owners were completely or very satisfied with the device, compared with 76 percent for rival music devices.

Yep, just a bunch of FUD.

[HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath]

My four year old iPod is real squirrelly about holding a charge. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. When it does, I can play it for about two hours before it needs a recharge. For about the first two years, it always held a charge, and lasted about six hours.

[Swordmaker]

If you notice I said "new or less known product" I believe OSX fits that bill quite nicely with its Less than 5% (AND YES IT IS LESS THAN 5% TOTAL MAC OS MARKETSHARE IS 5.39% including OS 8,9 Etc...)

And there you go again spreading your interpretation and distortion of the facts. The current (November 2006) market share (Percentage of computers sold in the US) is, according to Gartner, 6.2 percent, or according to IDG, 5.8% (IDG includes Servers in their stats).

Where do you get your facts that OS X is less than 5%? OS 9 and lower is not the same operating system as OS X.

[Echo Talon]

www.netapplications.com take a look... Maybe you need to realize that the US isn't the center of the universe, we do have a global economy.

[Swordmaker]

Yep, just a bunch of FUD.

Two paragraphis out of how many?

What is the headline and thrust of the article?

It's FUD.

[Swordmaker]

My four year old iPod is real squirrelly about holding a charge.

Then have the battery replaced... or Do it your self iPod replacement batteries sell for $15 to $39 dollars...

[Swordmaker]

www.netapplications.com take a look... Maybe you need to realize that the US isn't the center of the universe, we do have a global economy.

Nor is netapplications.com the ONLY source of computer market share statistics. Popular Science did a survey of computer users and found 16% of responders were using Macs. Consumer's Reports did a similar scientific survey which reported that 14% were Mac users. The Software Publisher's Association reports that 18% of all software sold is Mac software.

Echo, this is the UMPTEENTH TIME we have repeated this same set of postings! You are not going to win.

[Echo Talon]

You are not going to win.

and as you said, OSX has been on the market a long time... but still has low marketshare, even by your #'s. Looks like I already won. ;)