An article in the Chicago Tribune laments the “pain in the iPod”, which is reportedly its propensity to break down (link via Infinite Loop).
According to an unscientific Macintouch survey referenced in the article, iPods have a 13.7 percent failure rate and models that are no longer available for purchase are more likely to have failed than currently available iPods.
“Whether this is because newer iPods are built better or because they just haven’t had as much time to fail was not covered by our unscientific survey,” said Macintouch’s Ric Ford.
Because the survey was voluntary, Ford admitted that people with an axe to grind might have been more likely to respond.
“We also had some kids who wrote ‘booger’ in for every answer,” Ford said. “After some discussion we decided not to count those.”
Ford declined to offer an opinion on whether or not 13.7 percent was high.
“What I will say is, if I’m someday forced to return to the past to prevent a robot apocalypse in the future, I’m not going to be picking up an iPod while I’m there, because it’ll be more likely to break down.
“Plus, there’s the whole issue of having to be naked for time travel. I mean, you might get a shuffle through, but I’m not bringing back a 40 GB click wheel one, if you know what I mean.”
Ford then acted out what he thought a robot apocalypse might look like using several Transformers he happened to have handy.
Also quoted in the article was (surprise!) the habitually incorrect Rob Enderle. Enderle apparently had to stand up to pull, not a 40 GB click wheel iPod, but a number from his ass. Miraculously, Enderle’s number echoed Macintouch’s, rounding it up to 15 percent so it would sound like he had independent confirmation.
Enderle said that this was comparable to cell phone failure rates but added that “cell phones are much easier and cheaper to repair” than iPods.
When asked if he had ever actually owned a cell phone or an iPod or had dealt with a cellular provider or Apple repair, Enderle said he prefers to use walkie-talkies and hum to himself.