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."

When will people learn?

[jrockway (229604)]

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 :)

Re:When will people learn?

[pgpckt (312866)]

I see that we are now on stage 22 of the apple product lifecycle, to wit:

The obligatory "I'm waiting for Rev. B" discussion appears in the Mac forums. People who've been burned by first-generation Apple products open up their old wounds and bleed their tales of woe. Unsympathetic technophiles fire back with, "if you can't handle the heat, stay out of the kitchen. pussy." Everyone has this stupid argument for the twenty-third time.

http://www.misterbg.org/AppleProductCycle/ [misterbg.org]

Re:When will people learn?

[EpsCylonB (307640)]

It hardly ever pays to be an early adopter. Let other people work out the bugs, then enjoy the fruits of their labor :)

Of course if everyone did this there wouldn't be a second generation.

I guess we all do owe the early adopters some sympathy.

Re:When will people learn?

[jrockway (229604)]

I always put my 4G iPod into its own pocket but that thing is so scratched I don't even want to look at it. So if you were to ask me, I would say that iPods are not scratch resistant.

I realized that as soon as I opened the box, though. Something that shiny isn't going to stay shiny unless you put it in a locked glass case and never touch it. It's a music player (with a 1.5yr life thanks to the battery), people, not a Lost Relic Of The Past. As long as mine plays music, I'm happy.

If you want durability, get a mini. Mine still looks new, and I certainly don't go out of my way to not abuse it.

Re:Blame yourself for wear & tear.

[Tibor the Hun (143056)]

I only remove the iPod from this protection when it is in the dock for syncing/charging. And I remove it slowly.
...my prescioussssss...

Unfortunate really

[megla (859600)]

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...

Best Quote

[gustgr (695173)]

Best Quote:

How am I supposed to use something "pocketable" if even my CLOTHES SCRATCH IT?

Apple Fanboys

[jdc180 (125863)]

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.

Re:Apple Fanboys

[BasilBrush (643681)]

I only touched my Nano whilst wearing white cotton gloves. Unwrapped the shiney thing from it's packaging and wrapped it in bubble wrap and cotton wool, then put it in a titanium case, and left it locked in my desk drawer for 24 hours. When I came back to it, it was horribly scratched. Who'd have believed it possible?

Re:Apple Fanboys

[Anonymous Writer (746272)]

My bet is that steve jobs could kill a baby with an ibook, and they'd defend him.

Current iBooks [apple.com] are equipped with Apple's Sudden Motion Sensor to instantly stop hard drive motion and protect data upon impact, so at least your data will be safe.

Polycarbonate scratches easily

[Ancil (622971)]

Despite being incredibly strong, polycarbonate is actually quite soft. You can try this yourself. Take a pair of polycarb safety glasses.. These things can stop a shotgun pellet, but you can easily scratch them by just using the edge of a quarter.

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.

Seriously! What a mistake.

[SuperficialRhyme (731757)]

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.

Re:Seriously! What a mistake.

[SuperficialRhyme (731757)]

"Apparently this is made of polycarbonate"

Should read:

Apparently this is made of uncoated polycarbonate.

There are coatings which can make polycarbonate scratch resistant.

Apple Could Shit on a Pie Plate - I'd Still Buy It

[by Anonymous Coward]

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.

Toothpaste to the rescue!

[Snosty (210966)]

A response to this [slashdot.org] 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.

Re:Toothpaste to the rescue!

[Apathetic1 (631198)]

You may also want to try Novus plastic polish. My dad bought some to use on the tables of our pinball machines and it works beautifully. My sister had a car accident that left a scratch all the way down the side of our Saturn - my dad used Novus on it and it's barely noticeable now.

Focus on Industrial Design

[SecretAsianMan (45389)]

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.

Brasso

[BlightThePower (663950)]

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.

Recall? BWahahaha.

[by Anonymous Coward]

>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!

CAUTION!

[Kjuib (584451)]

There is Malicious Code in Parents Sig. Conforming to his sig will cause chaos to your web browser and all unsaved work will be lost.*

* Keep out of reach of children.

Wrong

[PeeAitchPee (712652)]

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.

Re:My nano

[CastrTroy (595695)]

The whole appeal of that nano is that it is so thin. What's the point of having an iPod Nano, if you have to make it thicker with a case. Maybe they should have made teh screen recessed a bit, and have some sort of piece that can be used to cover the screen.

Re:Testing

[RradRegor (913123)]

That's what you'd think. But when I saw the development schedule for the Nano, I understood how something like this could have happened. I think it was months, not years they've been working on this. Less than a year is not enough time to do a lot of development, not to mention field testing. Its an amazing accomplishment to get a high volume product to market that fast, and things like this screen problem are the price you pay for taking that risk.

Re:Sounding like an ID10T problem

[gozu (541069)]

You have got to stop saying "hello". You sound like an airheaded teenage girl.

We can't!

[Anaphiel (712680)]

We can't post huge pics! The nano is impossibly small!