Apple's iPod Touch Turning Sour

Here I thought I was getting a sweet, crunchy red delicious apple. My ipod touch is pretty. It's sleek. It gets me online. Has neat features and gadgets. Oh yeah, sweet.

Unfortunately, that sweet taste has turned bitter. Like someone replaced my original apple with a mushy, sour, wormy, barely-good-for-baking apple. I'm ticked off and frustrated. I'm close to tears. It's even causing tension between my husband and I. I'm now asking myself if it's even worth it. Is having all these neat little tricks at my finger tips worth the contention? I know I didn't have this problem with my cute little Sansa. Their interface is nice. It's easy. It takes almost no time to figure out. I never spent DAYS at the computer trying to get the thing to work.

If I was Apple, and wanted to pull customers away from the competitor, I would make it as easy as possible for them to switch. This experience has left me with the feeling that Apple is arrogant. As if they're saying the days of frustration are worth it because they're so much better. "Of course you'll jump through hoops to use our software," says the little invisible devil- horned-make believe apple on my shoulder, as it laughs.


Some of my frustrations:


So far, I can receive email, but I can't send it. So, if you don't hear back from me for awhile, I've probably read your email, but I'm just not near my computer to reply.

It took me HOURS to figure out how to transfer ebooks, and not all of them have transferred because they're not in the right format. And the ones that did transfer, didn't all transfer correctly. Author names have disappeared, or been replaced with names I've never heard of. Way to go, that'll make it easier for me organize them. I'm so happy I jumped through those hoops and snapped at my children over Christmas now.

Did you know, you can borrow audio books from some libraries? Yep. You can and I do. Unfortunately, these go into my ipod under music, not audio books, even though there's a lovely little shelf for them. But they're in there, right? What's the big deal, you ask? The big deal is that you don't get the benefits of an audio book - like the handy little automatic bookmarks - if it's viewed as a music file. This means, if you leave the book/music to look at something else, you're on your own if you want to pick up where you left off.

Music has transferred - but I have no idea if it all did. I don't even know how to check. However, I know that my playlists haven't. I've spent all day trying to figure out how to get them to transfer, and it still hasn't worked. It boggles my mind that Apple would think that I'd never used other music software, never made playlists, or that I'd never want to listen to those playlists again just because I got an ipod. Yes. I'm so overwhelmed by its greatness that I've forgotten every other music experience I've ever had. Not. There was a reason I made those playlists, and I don't relish the thought of re-doing all of them, and you know what? I shouldn't have to. If you want my business, you should make it easy for me to switch.

I understand trying to retain my patronage once you've sunk your sticky claws into me, but at least romance me a little before you ... Well, that's a thought best left unwritten, but you get the idea.

So, Apple. Thank you for helping my husband excite me this year, then utterly frustrating me. I really appreciate it, because the holidays weren't stressful enough by themselves. You've helped make this one memorable. Now, I just need to decide how much more of my Christmas break I want to invest in getting this gadget to work as well as my $30 Sansa did, or if I can live with the disappointment of its under performance and limitations. At this point, I can't see myself switching to a mac book anytime in the future - not unless someone repeatedly clubs me over the head, erasing my memory of this experience.

**If anyone has solutions to any of these problems, feel free to share. However, the solution of taking it back, has already crossed my mind, so that one isn't necessary.