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iPod nano Owners In Screen Scratch Trauma
wellington map writes "TheRegister reports iPod nano users have discovered that it is unbelievably easy to scratch the screen, which quickly makes the colour screen all but useless for viewing album art and photos stored on the machine. Apple's discussion forums are already host to hundreds of threads on this topic."
Always wait until the second generation to buy from Apple. This has been true for years, and it is apparently continuing. iPod nano 2.0 will cost less, have more space, and probably a better screen.
:)
:)
It hardly ever pays to be an early adopter. Let other people work out the bugs, then enjoy the fruits of their labor
(Posted from a Rev. 2 15" Powerbook G4
My other car is first.
I remember seeing this recently and saying something along the lines that users should 'wake up' to the fact that they had this device in their pockets with their keys. He also laughed at the fact that the screen wasn't made from some high-grade polymer, which would be cheap enough to cover the square inch or so of the screen.
And let's not forget Apple is making these for a $100 profit, can they really not afford that extra 50c?
I'll subscribe to Slashdot when I see a month without a dupe, a typo, or an article the "editors" didn't read.
You'd think with all Apple's advertising resources, they'd have had "Tim from marketing" put it in his pocket for a day just to test it.
Obviously not. It does seem something of an oversight to launch the product way before the covers and cases are available too. I wonder how long it'll be before we see a 2G nano with modified screen coating...
I'm curious, as somebody who comes from a manufacturing background... how did this product get shipped with such a glaringly obvious flaw? Does Apple test their products, or do they simply have a team of yuppie designers who send their designs to China, which in turn drop ships them directly to customers? Apple is going to have to announce a full recall, and I'm assuming, start firing people pretty quickly.
You wonder how much real life testing these things get away from a lab if the screens scratch within seconds and no-one has noticed. I would at least of hoped they would have got testers out and using them in the real world.
My IPod 30gb Color, also scratches very easily screen. Screen, case, you name it. That's why the ipod case business is so large!
Best Quote:
How am I supposed to use something "pocketable" if even my CLOTHES SCRATCH IT?
iPod Nano found to be as scratchable as all previous generations! President Bush will be addressing the nation on this crisis within the hour!
Seriously, these things have scratched if you looked at them funny since the first generation regular iPod, it's what they do.
Move along people, nothing to see here.
Dealing with lawyers would be a lot less tedious if they all looked like Casey Novak.
Showm me photo before I believe the screen becomes useless. And it WILL scratch. It's a device that you use constantly in not-very-friendly enviroment. Last I checked, the purpose of exteriors is to protect the interiors, and that means some damage.
Oh, yes, iPod is for looking at, not for listening to, I forgot...
One that hath name thou can not otter
>Apple is going to have to announce a full recall
More like they'll write a support entry of the form "Don't scratch your iPod Nano. HTH. HAND."
Remember, Apple can do no wrong. If this statement feels odd to you, please report to your local Apple Store for re-indoctrination ASAP!
They're just trying to make screen scratching so easy that anyone can do it. Way to go Steve, you've come through again!
It scratches... but not from just being put into my pocket. They're making a mountain out of a hill. (not an ant hill... it is a problem) Buy a case. Simple!
http://www.sandstorming.com
Nano users! Post big huge pics so we can all see.
At first this reminded me of the similar controversy about the PSP's screen when it first came out. Then I read the Apple discussion thread linked in the article, which included a post from someone who says he put it in an empty pocket and it still got all scratchy. So just clothes can scratch the thing, apparently.
Something shouldn't be considered "mobile" or "portable" if it has to be treated with the care of a Faberge egg.
Andrew Lenahan http://www.starblind.com/
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* Keep out of reach of children.
- Your stupidity got you into this mess, why can't it get you out? -Will Rogers
Read through those comments, some of them are just insane. Like one said they kept it in their pocket with a travel pak of tissues. The reply was "That would mark it no problem.... I think it is just something we will have to live with."
Another one says "I am not certain apple is responsible for that... freedom of choice"
My bet is that steve jobs could kill a baby with an ibook, and they'd defend him.
They should have used a more brittle (but harder) acrylic for covering an LCD screen. It's not like it has to be particularly strong.
I will continue to support Steve Jobs in all his endevours. At least it's not a Microsoft product. I'd rather push an Apple than drive a Microsoft.
Couldn't some sort of spray-on coating fix the problem? Might require a bit of masking tape around the screen while applying it, but still...
I seem to recall a few months ago that TDK (I think) developed a new ultra-hard coating to protect either Blu Ray or HD-DVD discs (can't remember which). Sounds like a suitable coating, since it obviously has to be optically clear. While it's probably best applied at the factory, I wonder if they could turn it into an after-market spray for iPods?
iPod Nano found to be as scratchable as all previous generations! President Bush will be addressing the nation on this crisis within the hour!
Nope, there will definitely be a delayed response, because as some have already pointed out here before, George Bush hates the Mac people.
A response to this comment of mine about how to get rid of the scratches suggested toothpaste. I tried it and it actually works reasonably well with a bit of effort. After having scratched the front on the first day and subsequently used toothpaste to fix that I've been more careful since and have not noticed anything really since then.
I've had mine in my pockets alongside keys, my cell phone, and my wallet at different times, and it's still as slick and shiny as the day I've bought it.
What's the secret? Until you get a case (you did order a case, right?) put the display side facing your leg. Hello, that's why one side is metal, for some protection.
If your hairy legs scratch the screen through your pants pocket, then you've got other problems.
This whole thing sounds like people who would carry a TabletPC inside a hard briefcase with their pens, calculators, and change jangling around inside, and then complain that the screen got scratched. Hello, it's an MP3 player, not a Rolex Submariner.
What's your damage, Heather?
I made the mistake of buying the Generation 4 (The one released just before the iPod photo) iPod shortly after it came out. The screen on that one scratched just as easily. Sad thing was, I would have been more than willing to purchase a protective case when I bought the unit but they were not out yet! I believe the nano owners are in the same boat.
I have had mine for over a week and carry it in my pocket along with a cell phone in the same pocket. No significant wear and tear so far, but the battery life is disappointingly inferior to what was advertised. I'd estimate it gets about 60% of the advertised battery life at best.
Amazing magic tricks
This thing is tiny, and is clearly designed to be put in a pocket (only geeks clip gadgets to their belt). If you put it in your pocket, the screen quickly becomes scratched to the point where it's unreadable. How is that acceptable? Should the letters on your keyboard wear off the first time you type with sweaty hands, too?
Hmm. I have noticed threads in the past discussing similar failure modes with other Apple products: PowerBook paint chips, PowerBook palm stains, PowerBook warping, iBooks getting dirty, iPod battery life, mouse ergonomics. Perhaps with the emphasis on industrial design, Apple has given real-lift usability testing a back seat.
In their software, too, there are similar issues. For the most part, OS X is an ingenious, very user-friendly operating system, arguably the best implementation out there of a desktop Unix. But there are some rough edges. For instance, keyboard navigation is incomplete and inconsistent across applications (e.g. Cocoa vs Carbon). Perhaps Apple would have noticed that issue in usability testing if they had included more keyboard navigation users, and specifically, people who spent much time doing keyboard navigation in Windows.
Really, I would like to see Apple succeed, but to do that, they may need to focus more on the usability and reliability of their products.
Washington, DC: It's like Hollywood for ugly people.
How rotter, considering the depth of the market out there, Apple should understand that people buy iPods for the looks more than just about any other reason, and they ought to have made the screen out of something damn-near bulletproof-- now a scratch-resistant screen would be a really nice selling feature.
...And has anyone tried getting out their CD repair kit and burnishing in the scratch removal stuff onto the screen by hand? You know, that scratch remover supposed to be good enough not to interfere with CD optics, it must be good enough for your Nano screens.
Height: 38U, Weight: 0 Newtons, Eyes: #0000FF, OS: Gray Matter 1.0 (Alpha)
I got an iPod nano last week, and yes, it has been scratching up like mad. And I'm not doing anything remotely bad to it -- just the kinds of things that "respectful" users do.
I've taken pictures of the damage and written up a log of how I've been using my nano. Here's a picture, and here's the full write-up.
When's the recall?
Use Brasso, the light abrasive normally used for cleaning brass. A little Brasso will bring a scratched screen up nicely and will also do for the back of the iPod as well. Don't be conned into buying more expensive preparations and products that people are trying to sell.
Plays violent online games as: Nerfherder76
All this bitching is useless. Protect your investment.
Feh.
BS, this is a device that is made to life in a jeans pocket. Hell, even God Steve himself showed us that! So I guess Apple will work very to make sure this problem gets solved. They cannot afford to sell inferior iPod's, because the iPod is what makes them rich nowadays.
-- Cheers!
Does Apple test their products...
Absolutely, they have a team of hardcore fans who are willing to pay for the privilege of QAing their products for them.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
As a chemist when I read in the register article:
"When the point was put to the head of Apple's iPod division, Jon Rubenstein - who in the past oversaw the development of the Titanium PowerBook - the one that killed off Wi-Fi reception, because metal cages do that - he replied: 'Nah, you don't really think that? It's made of the hardest polycarbonate... You keep it in a pocket with your keys?'"
I thought it had to be a joke. Apparently this is made of polycarbonate which scratches easily and this has been known for a long time. Apple probably just asked the supplier for their hardest material without taking scratching into account (basically they asked the wrong questions of their supplier). Admittedly an excellent supplier would have pointed out that a polycarb cover would scratch easily, but it's Apple's responsibility to do the research. I find it difficult to believe that no one noticed this in their tests of the device.
They'll have to do something to fix this I'd imagine. What a blunder.
I've been an owner of a 3rd-Gen 10GB iPod for over 2 years and my iPods screen doesn't have any scratches. Why? because my iPod spends almost every second if its existence in a leather case with a clear vinyl/plastic covering for the screen.
I only remove the iPod from this protection when it is in the dock for syncing/charging. And I remove it slowly.
The back of my iPod's leather case has a sturdy, metal belt clip woven inside, allowing me to hook it into a a pocket (the device outside the pocket) while I walk/do work.
I don't know about others, but when I spend more than $100 on something, I do everything in my power to protect it. I don't ever operate my iPod "naked" and would never consider just dropping the bare device in a pocket knowing that the simple motion of walking can grind your pocket lining against your screen with the pressure of your pant's fit and body heat to exacerbate scratching.
Blame Apple for the "1,000 Songs in your Pocket" slogan. Blame Steve Jobs for pulling an iPod nano out of his pocket. Blame Apple for not having nano tubes ready on launch day. But blame yourself if you don't make every effort of prevention.
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, START
i think one key element of iPods is that they work with Macs. remember at first there was just 3rd party software to get PC users the ability to load songs on an iPod. Apple never intended the iPod to be such a cross platform hit. i realize a ton of PC users now buy iPods, but before the iPod (and even today) there is nothing for the Mac that comes close to the iPod in terms of software to load songs from your desktop/portable. yes, most people just load songs once and don't care, but with podcasting, to do lists and whatever else, people are more prone to sync their digital music players than they may have been in the beginning. really, if somebody made a good MP3 player that had Mac support, it's quite possible Apple would have never bothered making the iPod in the first place. kind of funny when you look at it that way.
yeah, there are ways to jam songs on some other MP3 players, but it's a pain. why should a Mac user support a company that does not support them? Linux users are used to having to hack a lot of things and make them work, but when there is a Mac friendly solution ready out of the box it makes sense.
all companies make profits. that $90 cost to manufacture was a guess, the real numbers will be in the next quarterly earnings report.
"Apparently this is made of polycarbonate"
Should read:
Apparently this is made of uncoated polycarbonate.
There are coatings which can make polycarbonate scratch resistant.
We can't post huge pics! The nano is impossibly small!
Step 1: Buy plastic screen guard (12 for $4)
Step 2: Cut to size
Step 3: Quit bitching about this solved problem
Obviously, that's how they tested it. :)
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Alright, so the screen is easily scratchable. Enough with the bitching and finger pointing... what can you do about it?
Try Brasso. It's available in your supermarket and costs $3-$4 for what will amount to a lifetime supply if you're just cleaning your iPod.
I managed to drop my iPod Nano on asphault the day after I got it. The player skidded and bounced on the asphault and had some rather nasty scratches on both sides. Naturally, the player still worked perfectly since it doesn't have any moving parts but it looked like hell. Brasso worked like a charm. Here's what you do...
1. Put a drop or two of Brasso on a soft cloth
2. Use a lot of elbow grease to buff out the scratches. Brasso isn't a magic potion; it's actually a very gentle abrasive. You are effectively resurfacing the iPod so it's going to take a few minutes of work.
3. Ta-da!
Now, since you're effectively resurfacing the iPod, I imagine that there is a finite amount of times you'd want to subject your iPod to this. It will leave your iPod looking great though.
I've tried this on my iPod Nano (front and back) as well as my 3g 20GB iPod. Worked great. I imagine it would work on other models as well with the possible exception of the aluminum iPod Minis since their surface differs from the polycarbonate used on other models. Should work, but I don't know.
OtakuBooty.com: Smart, funny, sexy nerds.
In my opinion, here is the benchmark as to what is resistant to scratching in normal everyday use. They -never- scratch. I like their advertisement where they expand on Timex... after a truck drives over the watch, not only does it "keep on ticking," but it shows no scratching or damage.
The concept that you don't want to piss your customers off with such an obvious flaw is a very rudimentary one in the business world. Flaws such as that are found with the most basic of testing. Given Apple's problems with class action lawsuits in the past, one would believe that they would be taking care of obvious blunders such as this and put more effort into engineering their iPods thoroughly.
There are other music players out there, ya know.
Right you are, and when it becomes very well known that the iPod Nano scratches this badly, many other people are going to be aware of this as well.
Personally, I don't care if my iPod gets scratched. It's a music player, not a mirror in the Hubble space telescope or something.
The market will very likely not share your apologizing view, which is why so many people find it amazing that Apple could screw something like this up. You should take a look at some of the pictures going around. This isn't a matter the screen not being imune to scratches, it's about displays that are barely readable after a month of carrying around in a pocket.
I'll add that I've been a big Apple fan for a while. However, it's discouraging to see these obvious flaws pop up in Apple's work when I think about how badly I'd like to buy a Yonah Powerbook next year. Something like this isn't excusable from an engineering perspective even if its first generation.
When they sell them, I don't think they put a warning on the box saying 'gets horribly scratched just by using it normally'.
Something like that is clearly a faulty product. An mp3 player which can't even sit in your pocket without being damaged isn't much use. Like car tyres which burst on contact with tarmac.
Personally, I don't care if my iPod gets scratched. It's a music player, not a mirror in the Hubble space telescope or something. As long as it plays music, it works for me.
I thought the whole POINT of an ipod over cheaper and more functional devices was its appearance? If its scratched to fuck or you have to put it in an ugly case, surely that defeats the object?
Actually, the worst part of my (short) MiniDisc experience was the software that came with it. Brought my computer to it's knees. You could use Realplayer as well, but it lacked some of the features, and still sucked. ATRAC didn't bother me horribly (though yeah, when converting MP3-ATRAC the quality got sketchy), and I'm a huge fan of the Minidisc media format in general because, ironically, it resists scratching.
In fact, if Sony had made a MD player at the time that played MP3 natively as data files, I'd probably still own a MD player. The size wasn't too bad, didn't skip, and I liked the discs as storage. As it is, I took it back after about two weeks.
Oh, and as far as pack-in earbuds go, the white iPod headphones are actually some of the better ones out there.
Brasso contains ammonia, too, which is why it works so well on brass.
It's one of those items that rookie ammo reloaders want to use in their tumbler media because it does such a nice job on candelabras, but the ammonia weakens the brass so it's a no-no for cleaning brass ammunition casings.
I'm not sure what ammonia would do to/for the polycarobonite.
I got a Shuffle for my birthday several months ago, and just love it. It's so small, and so simple. There's almost nothing to break on it, there's just the one 4-position button, and I guess you might be able to break the jack mooring or something if you really tried. It's so light and solid that I'm not worried about dropping it. And if it slips out of my shirt pocket while listening, I have headphones for it that hook over my ears, it's so light that the jack doesn't pull out, it just hangs from my head if that happens. When I eventually have to replace it, I'm positive that the reason will be the battery no longer holding charge. I'm cool with that. I don't need to look at pictures while I'm listening to music, I like my player to be tucked away somewhere. It's so light, and my headphones are so comfortable (the hooks over the ears mean the buds don't have to be jammed deep into the canal to keep them in) that it's like I don't even have a music player at all, there's just this music magically appearing in my head.
Simplify, it frees your mind.
My friend Nick just bought an iPod. He went ahead and got the mini instead of the nano and I'm glad he did after reading this article. I really like the iPod interface, and if it played oggs I'd probably have one myself.
t ectors.html
I think what makes this design flaw so bad is that it really should have been picked up during the testing phase. If you get a group of test subjects to use it for a month, how could they not get feedback when the screens start to scratch and break.
I've read some post talking about nice cases you can get for your iPod such as this one:
http://www.theinvisibleshield.com/ipod_screen_pro
It's a nice case, transparent and looked like a good solution, however its something that should have come with the unit itself.
I have a feeling this device was rushed into the market on its coolness factor and not enough time was spent testing and developing it for real world use. It reminds me of those Apple cubes that came out years ago with a touch sensetitive power button that had the tendency to turn of if you waved something warm across them.
I love Apples. I wish I could affoard an iBook, however they do seem to place a lot in style and looks over actual preformance and cost in many cases, which I think has been one of the short falls of many of their designs.
Sumdog
You can get them at most retailers still while they sell down their stock. The website is all Nano.
I have a second generation iPod and have had very few issues with scratches. Of course I don't shove it in my pocket and there are some minor bumps and bruises, but as someone else pointed out already, if it's shiny when you buy it... it will get scratched over time, period. Get yourself some poly carbonate polish and clean the thing up yourself.
Perhaps the next apple will use a tougher material for the facing... but you know that will increase the cost, probably significantly. Plastic scratches, that's all there is to it.
AF-Design, web development.
I have never figured out why owners of Apple products refuse to hold Apple to a high standard across the board.
If Apple does some things right (and they certainly have in the past), good. They should be credited for this. What I don't understand is why people get unbelivably defensive whenever someone points out a flaw in Apple's products. I've skimmed the Apple forums involved, and all I can say is that the end user doesn't really care about the physics involved. All he cares about is that if he buys one of the earlier iPods, his product continues to look nice. If he buys a Nano, however, it looks like shit in short order. I think that it's *perfectly* reasonable for someone that buys such a product to be able to air criticism on those grounds.
You can argue that the scratches aren't so bad, that you don't need the screen, that people should "take better care of their product" (why they didn't need to with earlier products, though, is an interesting question), but it comes down to the fact that some folks are not happy with their experience. End of a story. Customer happiness is all that matters at the end of the day.
So now Apple can take a look at seeing what it can do to fix the problem. I doubt that it's so difficult to fix, given that they managed to do earlier iPods successfully, so I don't think that the iPod Nano can't be successfully fixed by Apple. So sit back and wait for them to churn out a fix.
The Register also referenced the Cube, which was a good point. The Cube had a case that often looked damaged, even straight from the factory. Apple's response was apparently to claim that the cracks were actually some sort of non-serious molding defect, IIRC, and a lot of Apple fans poured out and started accusing anyone that expressed unhappiness with their product. You don't win customers by acting like that. You tend to piss people off. All that the customer cares about is that his new, shiny product, which he bought to look new and shiny, does not, in fact, look new and shiny. Start dancing around the issue, and you start losing repeat customers. You can't keep a company running in the long term by simply attacking anyone that is unhappy with their experience.
Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
The cool solution, which Apple probably now has to use to get their reputation back, is sapphire. That's what scratch-resistant high-end watches use. Put an 0.15mm sapphire layer on top of the polycarbonate, and you can dump the thing in with your keys without worrying. It's not that expensive for a phone or music player sized screen. Some of Nokia's high-end phones have a sapphire screen.
Of course, doing it right might cut into those 40% profit margins at Apple.
One of those Clickie white latex erasers will remove the scratches.
Hi, I can resist to comment on this subject since I've ordered the nano on the day of its introduction.
Some people here have replied to complaints about the easy scratching of the nano with stuff like "take care of your gadgets, blah, blah" and the like. Well let me tell you about my experiences and therefore expectations.
I bought an iPod 3G 30GB and I didn't care about what it shared my pocket or rucksack with. And after two years it looked rough. Same goes for some mobile phones from Nokia. But one year ago I bought a Nokia 7610 and its display hasn't been scratched since. Obviously it's very scratch resistant. So, my expectations in the direction of a day-to-day-in-use gadget changed.
Now looking at my nano after a week seeing more and foremost deeper scratches on it, I'm sure lot's of you will understand my disappointment. From my experience The nano scratches a lot easier than my G3 iPod or Shuffle, if not easier then at least deeper scratches. But my N7610s display doesn't seem to get scratched at all and it certainly is the most abused out of the four. So that's what I've come to expect.
With Steve Jobs talking about people getting greedy, I wonder why the nano has such an inferior surface than it's predecessors.
Thanks for reading.
AndY
I have never figured out why owners of Apple products refuse to hold Apple to a high standard across the board.
I think it's the other way around. Apple owners complain about the smallest things. I have an 3D iPod, and it has the odd scratch on it, but nothing really noticeable. I put it down to being a white product, so it doesn't show scratches up as badly.
My 2GB black nano however, shows scratches more visibly. But it doesn't worry me because I also have a black shiny clock, a black shiny desk calculator, a black shiny PDA and another brand black shiny mp3 player (name withheld to keep the flaming down).
THEY ALL SCRATCH WORSE THAN WHITE PRODUCTS DO. The nano scratches just as badly as any of them, or no worse than any of them depending how you want to look at it. Black shows scratches far worse. Period. Apple-only users have never had to deal with a glossy all black product, so they're all in a mouth frothing tizz over it acting like all the other shiny black products on the market. It would be nice if it weren't this way, hell it would be nice if Apple were able to do what other manufacturers couldn't do, but they didn't. It's not perfect, but it's not a glaringly deficient design fault like many are making it out to be.
I like Apple's products, but their fanbase can be utter retards sometimes.
Hey,
I looked at a Nano at Best Buy. I understand the point of producing a quality product from the start, but what what buying a screen protector for it? Get one for a Palm Pilot, cut it to fit, and put it on the screen. I put one on my BlackBerry, even though it's not a touch screen device, just to make sure the screen stays nice.
Just a thought.
-m
http://www.invisik.com
While black shows scratches and dirt way more than white, the issue here is about the screen material beeing way more prone to scratching. This has nothing to do with the black or white body.
It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
OK, I agree that it is a frustrating thing that every item, from pet rocks to drag-line shovels have flaws when new and, once purchased, get more flaws as they are handled, but somehow through the process of growing up (which I did way too long ago), I quit stressing over it.
Most of the folks who've chimed in with the ancient history of the Cube hairlines are the same folks who gripe about a hairline scratch nobody else notices on their car. They just have a slightly stronger obsession with perfection, no matter how many times science proves the inability of humans to produce perfection (yes, even Steve).
These folks are the TRUE AppleFanBoys. They think that Apple is so perfect that Apple can create perfect products. Me, I've gotten enough eMacs and iMacs that were DOA that I know better. Thing is, I realize that every computer manufacturer has DOAs to a point and, unless it goes beyond a empirically-measured statistical point, it is not unusual. Many of the folks griping about the screens on the Nano are the same folks who believe that there should be no DOAs.
Problem is, most of these folks are just the type to gripe about their iPod getting scratched and funky-smelling on a spelunking trip whereupon they dropped it down a slope of 15 yards of solid rock and then into a 3 foot accumulation of guano. Then they claim they carried it in a lamb's wool pocket equipped with some sort of alien-developed deflector system and air-ride suspension (and their friends are pretty sure of where the funky smell comes from).
Has anybody stopped to think why 3M and others make money on consumer screen-protection films for PDAs, cell phones, and other everyday-duty plastic screens? Scratched everyday-use screens are not a new occurrence.
And exactly what are these folks with only a gum wrapper in their pocket REALLY doing to scratch the screens? Although some of them are telling what they believe to be the truth (and may have forgotten that stray piece of agate they popped in their pocket), I'd bet most of them are making up their situations. The Nanos at the Apple Store I visit don't seem to get scratched badly and they are handled rather roughly (esp. by children), slid around face-down, and even intentionally gouged, but they don't look as bad as some of these folks iPods. And no, the units aren't being swapped out with new ones often enough to make a difference.
I give up, maybe I just need to quit trying to act my age. Never mind the important things to focus on, like my country's lousy economy as of the past couple of years or even those folks who've just been bulldozed by two hurricanes, I think I'll gripe about my chewing gum losing its flavor on the bedpost overnight.
I found this on the forum linked, it looks like it might work for digital camera displays too, although I'd like to test it before recommending it to my family and friends. If it doesn't remove cleanly after many weeks or months, then it's not a great idea.
"Jase Roberts
Joined: Sep, 2005
Posts: 1 I keep my cell phone in my jeans pocket, and used to have major problems with scratching (to the point where it was very hard to read). I found that a piece of clear packing tape cut carefully to the size of the screen worked great and didn't leave any residue when I removed it. If you trim it to the size carefully, it'll stay on well. Maybe try sticking an oversize piece on, trace the screen with a Sharpie marker, then remove it and trim it exactly. Costs nothing and provides good protection that you can replace easily when you need to. "
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
Novus plastic polish
I use this stuff to shop pinball machines. You can take plastic that's been rubbed on cement and get all of the scratches out with it. Just start with #1 and work your way up to #3. Works great on plastic headlight lens too. Amazing stuff.
Need Free Juniper/NetScreen Support? JuniperForum
One solution to scratched displays (I had this problem with my Palm PDA) is to get some Turtle Wax or other solid car wax and buff the display with it. It also helps protect against further damage.
http://homepage.mac.com/matthewdotcom/nano/cracked .html
I wonder how common that is.
Be careful of staining the click wheel though.
I found that one out by experience also. otherwise, works well.
sigs are for losers (except to point out that sigs are for losers)
You might think, at first, that it's because Apple users are brainwashed. However, the real problem is that they're incredibly picky. Take, for example, the Powerbook Ti, which had certain areas where the paint chipped off. When this became a known problem, owners went out and found replacement paint, being very careful to match the color exactly. A small market opened up, and people were selling paint specifically as "Powerbook Ti touch-up paint."
Now, has this happened on such a large scale with Sony, Dell, or HP laptops? No. Is it because Sony, Dell, and HP laptops don't ever have discolorations or chipped, faded, or worn away paint on their casings? No. It's because if you've owned a Sony laptop for 3 years, and a little paint gets worn away, you probably don't even notice. You just expect that something being carried around all the time like that will eventually have some wear and tear. Mac users, on the other hand, get incredibly upset that their little pride and joy has a tiny little flake come loose.
I'm sure it's the same issue here, though I haven't seen any pictures, I've just read reports that the nano scratches. Ho hum. My 4G ipod has scratches. Everyone I know who's owned an mp3 player for more than a few days, there's probably a little wear and tear somewhere. It's lost it's "new car smell". I bet the things still work and that you can still navigate the menu system. It's still a hell of a little device.
Which brings us back to why Apple owners are going to be forgiving: it's still a hell of a device. Like I said, Apple users are picky. They're annoyed by the fact that the products they buy have occasional flaws, but that's nothing compared to what they view as the mountain of flaws afflicting the products made by other manufacturers.
I'm looking forward to the Rolex(tm) Edition iPod nano, with 10k gold-plated clickwheel, obsidian faceplate, and quartz lens (the back will probably be polished titanium). It'll weigh about 2-3 times what the nano does now, and cost ten times as much, but it won't scratch.
Seriously, guys. It's a cheap gadget. It's a REALLY cheap gadget. Last time I checked, you couldn't BUY removable flash memory for the same $/GB as the 4GB nano. Unless you're in the Vertu (fancy-schmancy cellphones) crowd, just expect that an uber-cool gadget that you can afford might have a few flaws. It's still a good value on the grounds of functionality. If you want a super-flashy fashion statement, either wait for another vendor to copy what Apple has done, or protect what you have a little better.
--Jasin Natael
True science means that when you re-evaluate the evidence, you re-evaluate your faith.
i don't think sandpaper is what you want. probably diamond dust. my grandmother, who deals in antique glass, uses this thing that looks like an eraser that has diamond dust embedded in it. You just rub it on a scratched area and it smooths it right out.
It doesn't take a genius to go buy a Palm or PocketPC screen protecter, cut to size, and put over your iPod's screen.
This is supposed to be "News for Nerds"... you'd think more "nerds" would have figured this out by now.
I don't even own an iPod, and even I thought of this. (I *do* have a PDA, though.)
"Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
Where is 2000 and NT? Ya missed those, otherwise dead on.
I got the black one to match my Motorola Razr v3.
I didn't expect it to look like THIS after a week or two!
It's a joke
I'm a 2000 man.
> Now, has this happened on such a large scale with Sony, Dell, or HP laptops?
I've never seen a Sony, Dell or HP laptop that was painted at all. Much less painted in a way where two inch long strips peel off the thing. This was a problem very particular to that model of computer.
Yes Apple users tend to view Macs as luxury goods, and therefore are picky, but painted titanium just turned out to be a lousy idea for a laptop shell.
Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
I've never seen a Sony, Dell or HP laptop that was painted at all. Much less painted in a way where two inch long strips peel off the thing
Got one right here. Dell latitude D600, painted all over with some sort of damn ugly semi-metallic silver paint. Within a couple months after I got it, giant strips of the paint started coming off of the back of the LCD, caused (as far as I can tell) by nothing more than my putting it into my laptop bag and taking it out again.
"Fortunately", I had to get the LCD replaced because the entire hinge assembly snapped into two for no reason, and the new one has had no such problem. But no, it's not an Apple thing particularly.
Another example is the "battery life" issue. People complain that some powerbooks experience unexplained battery problems. Is this at-all unique to powerbooks? Are you seriously telling me that no one has experienced battery problems with Dell, Sony, HP, or IBM laptops? Cell phones? PDAs? Or that no other computer manufacturers have sold systems with defective motherboards or video cards? Other OS vendors haven't shipped operating systems with security holes or usability bugs?
Really, this happens all the time. I'm not saying, "shut up and take it". I'm not saying Apple products are perfect, and no one should ever complain. However, when someone asks, "Why do Apple customers stand for defective products?" the answer is, "For the same reason Dell, IBM, HP, Toshiba, and Creative customers do." No one is making perfect devices which never break or scratch or suffer from defects. You just hear more about the chipped paint on Powerbooks because Apple customers are more likely to freak out if they have a little chipped paint on their laptop.
My £ 38 (uk) "no name" portable 512 Mb MP3 player has no screen (other than a crappy little LCD character display).
Wow. Sounds like a real piece of shit.
Another thing to try is actually an automotive scratch remover. It's made by Meguiar's and is called Plastic Polish. It is designed to removing hazing and microscratches from clear plastics like headlamp lenses. It seems to work okay...just okay. And to clean up the metal on the back, try Mother's Mag Aluminum Polish. It's intended for things like polishing engine bay metal, unfinished wheels, exhaust tips, etc. It should smooth out some scratches and leave it nice and shiny.
You put a deep gouge on your Gen 4 iPOD with your fingernail?
If it is a true statement then I suggest you clip your nails.
I have dropped my Gen 3 iPOD to the point it has a dent in the metal.
I let it slide around my car when I am taking corners.
It rides along in my jeans pocket/laptop case with no protection.
While the metal is showing signs of damage, the screen is intact with no visible damage when I look at it to change songs.
All true, but it makes no attempt to explain why. I suppose a big factor is that Apple products are often sold on sex-appeal value rather than pure functionality. When the TiBook came out, I'm sure that many owners headed right for the nearest coffee shop just to show it off.
But the biggest factor is that the Apple ecosystem is very much Love It Or Leave It. I've had crappy Dells and wished I had an IBM. No big deal. But with Apple, the decision point is much greater -- it means leaving the platform. And therefore when there's a doggy model like the TiBook, it puts the userbase in a much higher state of consternation.
Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
See Amiga Persecution Complex. It's not really their fault, you see.
The real reason is that after decades of Mac users being told Apple is dying, Apple is now a darling among consumers and in the press. Whenever an article is written about some Apple flaw, it's written in a way that implies Apple is facing impending disaster, just like this article which claims there will be vast lines of returns of the nano and that "so much is riding" on its success.
Just like how every single freakin' MP3 player is touted with a headline, "Is this the iPod killer?" It's like the press is obsessed with everying "killing" off something of Apple's. I guess that happens when the industry relies on Microsoft everything.
"Sufferin' succotash."
Sorry if this was mentioned earlier, but I've no iPod or care to discuss!
My Rio Karma's screen is also very susceptible to scratching. The solution we (the Karma fans) found was to use a PDA static-film cut in the shape of the screen. I went even cheaper, and just covered the easily-scratched part with clear packing tape. You only need to smooth the air bubbles out when applying, and removal is easy. Just make sure you cut it to shape BEFORE applying. Either way is inexpensive, easy, and non-obtrusive. Protect your ASAP.
Aside: From pics of the iPod Nano, does anyone even care about album-art? It looked like they were smaller than an index-fingernail, 32x32 or so? looked nearly useless.
Mod me down if redundant, but the above two solutions are cheap and easy for people not wanting to deal with a case for their DAP!
I wonder if the other iPods are coated lexan, or a different grade of lexan etc. If they thought they were using the exact same material, then I can see how they overlooked it.
PowerBook paint chips, PowerBook palm stains, PowerBook warping, iBooks getting dirty, iPod battery life, mouse ergonomics.
I acknowledge the online bitching, but the only one of these that has had any legal legs is the iPod battery problem.
I think there's a strong meme/peer influence factor at work online. A few loud people bitch about a problem, and suddenly it seems like everyone has the problem, the company fucked up and the product is in trouble. It's like the hundreds of calls the CDC gets everytime a local news broadcast covers some terrible disease. Remember the furor over Google redirect hijacking? Huge numbers were thrown around describing the scope, but could never be proven. And many of the people who thought they'd been hijacked ended up having much more mundane problems.
Personally I'll refer judgment on this latest crisis until some time passes.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
No. The big draw of syncing with iTunes is letting it choose which songs to copy based on playlist, rating, etc. For example, you can tell it to take songs from the "80's music but not new age or heavy metal", pick higher rated ones more often, use up X% of the space on the Shuffle, and not pick any of the same songs it picked last time. That isn't even close to what Unison does.
The real way you would do this sort of thing with a non-iPod music player would be to highlight the songs you want (e.g. "select all" in a playlist, or whatever), and drag-and-drop them to the flash drive icon. Of course, that's a pain because it's not automated -- it's only one step above just using the Finder.
A more sophisticated way would be to make an Applescript to do it. However, it would be quite a complex script: you'd have to detect the drive-mounting event, match the volume name to make sure you don't try to copy your music to the wrong one, select the right playlist in iTunes, copy all the songs over (possibly in random order!) checking each one to make sure it's not already there, and deleting one old song for every new one you copy (using file modification times, I guess), and stopping either when you hit the end of the playlist, run out of space on the drive, or use up X% of the space.
Now, this wouldn't be a big deal at all for the guys at Apple, but it's much more than a typical end user would be able to handle. So for all practical purposes, no, iTunes doesn't work with third-party players.
Incidentally, Unison would work pretty well for syncing an entire library, such as when you're using a big iPod, but you still don't get the playlists, song ratings, address book/calender/todo/notes stuff, etc.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz