Busted iPod: Stitch or Pitch?
Photo by Apple Computer
(I don’t have an iPod, but Mark’s iPod troubles inspired me to draw up this little guide to taking care of your invalid MP3 player. You can thank Mark, who runs 3R Living in Brooklyn with his wife, for the links.)
Good ol’ Murphy is always hard at work, and if he wriggles his fingers and you drop your iPod on your hard kitchen floor (or some other Machiavellian surface), you’re basically left with a very expensive paperweight or doorstop. What are your options now?
1. Throw it out
Nein! Your iPod contains toxic battery components, including lead, which will leach into landfills and poison our water table, generally bringing about misery and gnashing of teeth for all. Just don’t do it. Electronic waste needs to be disposed of by professionals who know what they’re doing, i.e., not you or me. Now back away from that trash can, with your hands where I can see ‘em.
2. Get it fixed
In our massively disposable-loving society, it’s often far cheaper to purchase a replacement rather than fix something that’s busted. Manufacturing an iPod from scratch consumes far more energy, fossil fuel, and resources, however, than merely spiffing up an iPod that can still be restored. If you want to do right by our one-and-only planet, check out iPodMods, which offers a free diagnostic testing service—you just have to pay for shipping—to figure out whether your little white box is truly toast, or if it has the potential to rise from the ashes anew. A certified technician will contact you with a repair quote 24 to 48 hours after the company receives your iPod. If you’re happy with the price, iPodMod’s crack team will get right on it. If what they quote has one too many zeroes, you can sell it to the company for salvageable parts.
(Also, if you have a head for tinkering with electronic innards, you may be able to fix it yourself like this dude did.)
3. Recycle it
After hearing a lot of kvetching from environmentalists, Apple announced a free iPod take-back and recycling program for anyone in the U.S. The company will dispose of your iPod in an environmentally friendly manner, plus give you a 10 percent discount on a new iPod. Bonus! (Check out option 2 first, though.)
