Apple at £35

hello there

no, this has nothing to do with them links you have seen around the internet. as you have browsed around news sites and things like that you will have seen things along the lines of "consumers exploiting this trick to get iPads (or whatever) for £18 (or some low random figure)". i have not clicked on any of them, and i would suggest you don't either, as they will be a con or there will be some sort of catch attached. 

this is all rather about the only decent product Apple ever made, the iPod. this was a brilliant, ace product, which of course they went on to ruin, and just never followed through on the promise of with all this other "i" nonsense they have shamelessly hoisted on the world. but hey ho, they get good PR and convince people that they are ace, so good luck to them.

first off, then, a chance sighting led to me purchasing this item for £35.

this is an iPod "touch", 2nd Generation, 8GB model. despite the robust and competitive trade in market here, i was surprised to see it so low in price. the trade in models i have seen are usually at least £10 higher than this one was listed, if that's some sort of guide.

it was marked "C Grade", so i asked the chap in the shop what that meant exactly. he advised me that whereas the device is in good working order, C Grade means no box, so scratches on the casing and some of the accessories were missing. like i or anyone else would use second hand headphones. anyway, as this all sounded rather reasonable, and i could see nothing all that wrong with it at all, i took a chance on the device, figuring some of the 75% of my family that people actually like would get some use out of it.

and yeah, all good, really. well, except for the usual "dick move" stuff by Apple. this version of iPod can only use up to operating system iOS 4.2.1, and the majority of games require this iOS thing to be over 5. there usually was versions of games that worked on this "older" iOS, but you cannot access anything like that via Apple; only new versions are available. so no throwing birds at pigs for some reason on this device.

it does, however, play music - the purpose and intention for which the device was created - rather well, and if you insist on doing so, as you can sort of see here, it does do the video thing too.

was this a worthwhile purchase? yes indeed. there's no camera on it either, but it can be all internet with WiFi if you wish. my (considerably) better half rather likes it, and has loaded it with vibes that please her a very great deal indeed.

a luxury purchase, perhaps, but an astute one, and not a waste. nice find, i think.

i would also like to think that Frank Koloski would approve, too.

hang on a minute, none of you are saying. did i not forward my other iPod to the menders of the pod of i? does the above purchase represent a failure in mending? no, no it does not. ta, and indeed, daaah.

nice one! after not working for a year, and being sat packed away, travelling the seas and sitting in storage for six months of that, the menders were able to repair it. well, when one says repair, i mean they were able to replace the battery, for that was all that was wrong.

cost of repair? £35. go figure, really. there's some sort of symmetry and/or balance there, i guess.

as an entirely unexpected bonus, and i had heard some horror stories to the contrary, was that the device had retained all of the vibes and that which i had placed on it over a year ago. a properly built iPod, look you see. these new "touch" ones are designed in such a way that they just blank the memory if they think it's a good idea to.

i am delighted to have this back. not least of reasons for this is because my Dad gave it to me, but mostly because it has that user friendly thing that Apple so hate - buttons and proper controls. touch screen nonsense, like 3D, is a novelty for kids, but it is not a proper thing for grown ups.

this also means i have extracted some 10 years of life out of this iPod, and will probably get further life and use from it. this, for an Apple product, is supposed to be impossible. their business model for success relies on the double whammy of their customers wanting to upgrade every year, or failing that needing to every 2 to 3 years when the product just breaks for no given reason.

no doubt you wish to see and hear this one in action, so here you go.

i suspect, or would like to think, i will be using this one when i am out and about on my travels. just as soon as i get a sensible case to hold it securely in as i am out and about. i am reluctant to get one of them armband things as it would make me look far too much like a dick, or more like if you like, so will keep my eyes open for some sort of pouch thing that can be attached or threaded to a belt, not "clipped" on.

meanwhile, i got this in the post today. a very smart and nice thing to get in the post indeed, thanks!

also i got knacked for getting this in the post. it is a splendid gift to have been given, but someone got quite cross about me getting a gift that was not Phil Collins related. hey ho.

i understand some will say "but if you get an iPhone or iPad you can play games, watch movies, browse the net" and so on. well, maybe, but i just want a device to play the vibes. for 20 or so years i managed just fine with a tape walkman, and not once do i recall thinking "this would be even better if i could bung a videotape in it, or throw birds at pigs on it, or access porn off of it". well, maybe the last one.

anyway, if you are all that bothered, you can do video off of this one too.

i appreciate that the above shall be all of limited, if not no, interest at all to many of you, but one person in particular requested most of the info above, so there you go.

i suppose the point here is that the single best device on the market is the one that does what you want it to do. for me, just playing the vibes is all i want, man. you can keep the fancy extras, nice as some of them are.


right, off to bed then.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!