Earlier , Chris Breen write about composition of static and disturbance problems with the new 4 G iPods . Since then , I ’ve tried several times to get hold of Apple for comment about the trouble , but with no fortune .
In addition to writing and editing a magazine about all thing Mac , we at Macworld are also consumer of mathematical product . In fact , I purchased a novel 40 GB Click Wheel iPod recently that suffers from the static affliction . So , I forecast I ’d try and touch Apple tech musical accompaniment as a regular consumer instead of PR as a member of the press .
After giving my name , phone number , and serial number of my iPod ( to check that I was still entitle to spare support , I ’m infer ) , I was reassign to a someone who ask me what the problem was . I explained to him that I got stable through my headphones , especially when the hard drive spin up . He call for about my phone , and I told him I ’d try several dissimilar single . How about the Apple earphone ? Those worked very well , I told him . His response ( not an exact inverted comma ): “ If it vocalize fine with the Apple - supplied headphone , there ’s absolutely nothing wrong with the iPod . ”
Eh ? So Apple does n’t corroborate third - political party phone , I pondered . “ If you put some third - party software on your computer and had a problem , ” articulate he , “ we ’d tell you to contact that vendor . ” The problem is , this is n’t a computer we ’re talk about , it ’s a consumer electronics equipment . You think Sony would betray you a candle player and tell you that you may only use the headphones that arrive with it , especially when those headphones are of modified quality ? And it ’s not like I ’m using some cheap pinna slice — mine are custom - built in - ear monitors from a ship’s company calledUltimate Ears , which , well , be more than the iPod itself . Just to be sure , I plugged my earpiece into two other 40 GB 4 g-force iPods we have in the office , and had no trouble — obviously , the headphone are n’t the job .
It was at this point that I felt like I was part of the game show , The$10,000 ( up to $ 100,000 ) Pyramid(or justPyramid , as the new , Donny Osmond version is known ) . In case you ’re unfamiliar with it , the game has teams made up of a fame and a contestant , who endeavor to get the other someone to guess a word or idiomatic expression without being too specific ( or using part of the word or phrase itself ) . When I asked if I was the only person with this particular problem , he say “ uh , that I bang of , yes . ” Had other people called with inactive problems in general ? “ Er , in the past , there have been people with some type of issues . ” I felt like he was reading from the “ these are the thing you are n’t allow to say ” manual of arms , lest his supervisor bang a bell and charge him packing . OK , I ’m mixing biz show metaphor ( apology to Chuck Barris ) , but my peak is , if he used a phrase such as “ we ’ve seen that trouble , ” or “ that ’s a ironware defect , ” I ’m pretty certain he ’d be execute on the smirch . Of course , I already know that I was n’t the only individual with these problems , but I want to hear it from him .
I ’ve found that pull out the headphone jack slenderly can solve the problem , but there ’s definitely some shielding or other computer hardware issue — and I should n’t demand to jiggle the phone on a blade - new iPod to get it to sound right , do n’t you recollect ?
( Do n’t forget to record Jon ’s update about this issue . – Ed . )
