why does my ipod keep breaking

I doubt its you. I'm on ipod # 2 (the replacement I got last month for ipod # 1 purchase December 2004). I have a sad mac right now. I haven't even put all my music back on it yet. I am so frustrated with ipod right now. It takes about a month to send it have it diagnosed have them send it back when they can't figure out whats wrong have you send it back again for them to send a replacement.

Ugh im just as upset. I have had my ipod for like a year now. It broke on me twice and best buy took it and said they fixed it...4 days before i leave for indiana and it gives me the sad icon..ive done everything i can and im pretty tierd of it. If apple really cared they should do something about it. If im gonna spend 400 dollars on a mp3 player it mine as well work! I guess apple isnt as good as we thought..

My experience with 4G 40G iPods has been similar. Reliability has been poor. (I have three 40G units of which two have failed and been replaced a number of times by Apple).

On a positive note each time one of my iPods failed it was replaced promptly with another unit by the local Apple reseller.

The pain was dropping-off and picking-up the units. (My choice after using the courier service with the attendant lead times).

In a post to this forum someone suggested the 40G 4G iPod is particularly prone to failure and this seems to be borne out by a survey done last year by

http://www.macintouch.com/reliability/ipodfailures.html

The best you can do is to follow the Apple's 5Rs, read the guidance on the Apple site and keep an eye on the date when your warranty is due to end. The extended waranty is also worth considering if you've been plaughed by unreliability.

In addition to Apple another useful resource for iPod maintance is:

http://www.methodshop.com/mp3/ipodsupport/erase/index.shtml

oh yeah? my son's ipod nano keeps freezing. This last freeze is worst because none of the usual tricks is working. I told my son to call Apple to have it replaced (more money of course) and I loaned him mine. I bought a
Rio to use in the meantime and i love it. It also has an fm tuner. I told my son no more anything to do with apple.
Instead of buying another apple product, I have him looking at Rios and Irivers. Better looking and better quality as well as better customer service all the way. Apple really ***** that's why I bought IBM compatibles instead of Macs. My father in law finally listened to me and bought an IBM instead od replacing his Mac and is just amazed at the difference.

Hmm . . . This probably isn't the place to be saying that "Apple really *****." Someone might get angry.

I know people that have had iPods replaced several times, but none of them treat theirs respectfully.

My iPod has never been replaced, in two years. I'm very careful with it.

I'd say you're just really lucky. The one I just took (2 months old) in for the Sad iPod was replaced with a 3rd ipod. I do take care and be cafeful with mine. The mac genius said it was in prestine condition so he could tell it wasn't my fault (by dropping it or something). Its very frustrating and I'm going to post about it. Maybe if Apple sees the problems and the frustartion its customers are having they will do something to improve the quality of the ipods. Maybe if I didn't have to go through 3 iPods in 1 year and 4 months I wouldn't feel a need to vent about it.

I purchased 2 ipods (20G) in dec 2004. My wife made the mistake of updating her IPOD with the updater from Jan 2005 and the IPOD has been nothing but trouble ever since. The IPOD will work for a while and then for some unknown reason it will not respond to anything. The hard drive cycles on and off and the file folder eventually is displayed. the only way I can get it back to the land of the living is to take it apart and disconnect the battery for a few hours. I have reloaded it with the original updater that came with it and it is still a POS. I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER APPLE PRODUCT AGAIN.
This is clearly an updater software problem that Apple will not acknowledge. I have been to Future shop on unrelated issues and have spoken to many people that have had the same problems with new IPODS.(Sent them back multiple times etc.) My own IPOD was never updated to newer software versions and runs fine. Obviously due to the number of complaints on this board this is not a user problem and Apple should own up to the problem. The "5 rs" is absolutely useless for this problem. I am glad to hear that the alternative players are of good quality and I will likely replace my wifes IPOD with something different.