How not to fix an iPod shuffle
A friend of mine has an iPod shuffle … or should I say, DID. Mentioning no names, he decided to hunt out a site to see if he could fix it himself as it was out of warranty. He dived onto Google and found a site all about opening up his ipod.
He quickly checks to make sure his iPod is defiantly dead by plugging it into his laptop, looking back probably a bad move, mainly because he got straight into “fixing it” and didn’t let it discharge but we will never fully know 
.
Using a metal knife he started to ease the bottom of the case off… then with a kind of jabbing notion started to hack at it well then he must have hit a small capacitor and I found him running around the room swearing and screaming like a school girl wondering what to do. The iPod basically exploded in his face and caught fire, sparks flying and thick black smoke, and in the end he placed it on an electric fan, which in turn started to turn black from the smoke and heat coming out of the tiny little ipod…
I feel there are two morals of the story:
1) Apple made the iPod shuffle in a way for it not to be opened… there is a reason for this!
2) Project Managers should never think of themselves as “Hardware Engineers”.
The Dead iPod:
Ouch!
Funny.
TKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TKS！！！！！！Verygood!!!
I’m sure he feels stupid now, but its better that the digg headline reads “man melts ipod” than “man killed by ipod”… not that they pack that kind of punch,but it would be funny, no?
“caught”
lmao
Lmao. That’s awesome!
i took apart my ipod shuffle in the same way. luckily no explosions/fire though
Not surprised it caught on fire…It probably cost them something like, em, not a lot to make.
Idiot, or “Testing The Product”? Its a thin line
Dingis.
Did has? Learn your language!
Hahahaha, this is the funniest story I’ve heard in a while. Hopefully the guy is fine, I don’t hear of any hospital need required.
The iPod’s most likely have some sort of capacitor assisting the battery in charging or perhaps it’s just a capacitor. But yes they can quite dangerous. My early TV repair days we used to charge up capacitors and toss them to each other. The first one to get shocked had to buy the beers that night.
LOL
nice nice
THIS ARTICLE == TRASH
haha my name is chris t as well.
Hahaha! Thats great
originaly known as “Melting Pod”
Looks like the poor Doctor got it wrong.
HAHA!
wow. I was just about to “fix” mine… it just stopped working. I tried the software update first, thank god.
All props to steve and his “we expect you to buy a new IPod every year”…
It shows that Mission Impossible operatives no longer receive their instructions on analogue storage…
This ipod will now self destruct in 5 seconds.
Ouch, it must be hurt and shock!
too bad the shuffle went down in flames. at least it made a good story.
we just blogged about it on methodshop.com: http://www.methodshop.com/2006/06/kentucky-fried-shuffle.shtml
Did it fix it though
man, i am really surprised at how much it melted as well. being a tech repair guy, that’s a great wall-hanger!
he must have stabbed the li-ion battery. there arent any capacitors in there big enough to cook.
The shuffle sucks. I’ve had three die under warranty. One drop of sweat falls on it and gets into the switch and it’s gone. Apple’s lost a ton replacing mine, but when this one dies it’s gone. Unless I buy the $30 iCondom to keep it dry I can’t wear it on my bike or at the gym.
You know it doesnt look like he hit a capacitator but the battery itself…
one word:
IDIOT.
Yeah it must have been the battery, not a cap.
Cheers, Ed
>> he must have stabbed the li-ion battery. there arent any capacitors in there big enough to cook.
OH GREAT! Now here comes another iPod lawsuit.
THAT IS THE FUNNIEST THING I’VE EVER READ/LOOKED IN THE GENERAL DIRECTION OF. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…FIRE…
I go to TKS
Didn’t he listen the “This message will self-destruct in five seconds” ?
Will serve the man right for buying an i-pod shuffle instead of a much superior product like the mobiblu cubes.
But then people will always be sheep huh
It was probably the battery pack that exploded – the reason lots of cheap mobile phone battery packs have been exploding recently is because a chemical reaction occurs when the different layers in the batteries are shorted out (such as by a knife sticking through them).
I had an iPod for about six months, during which time it was dropped often and replaced somewhere around 3 or 4 times. I gave up on that piece of crap…
But last christmas I got a Creative Zen, which has been dropped the same amount, and I’ve had for LONGER than six months, and has NEVER given me any problems.
Thks I will not try open it.
I think that Apple made it so it wouldn’t be opened on purpose. so that there project ideas wouldn’t be stolen by some other company. For example let’s say SanDisk wanted to make a cheaper version of the Apple I-Pod Shuffle, so if they tried to open it, it would blow up in their faces.
I dont know about you guys, but i think that it was smart for the Apple Team to do that.
“well then he must have hit a small capacitor”
He stabbed the battery pack. If you looked at the pictures on that site, the battery is in the bottom of the Shuffle. The way the iPod melted and essentially burst into flames, it’s pretty obvious that’s what happened.
I have done this, but with much more success.
Top 10 reasons to stab an iPod shuffle with a knife
1. Wanted a nano
2. Didn’t like the music
3. That is was the DEVIL
4. Was upset when Sweden equalized
5. Wanted to see what would happen
6. It was being worn by his wife’s lover
7. Trying to invent a lawsuit against Apple
8. Microsoft engineer frustrated trying to reverse engineer it
9. It won’t accept his WMA files
10. I thought it had video!
ops.
That’s Great
lamao
That wasn’t a capacitor. Capacitors pop, and this only happens when they are electrically mishandled. Lithium-ion batterys explode/burst into flames, and that’s why internal batteries aren’t only stupid, they’re dangerous.
Do any of you out there no where I can have inexpensive repairs (£60 quoted by Apple) done to my daughters ipod shuffle? It could be a ploy for an upgrade but i’d like to try the old-fashioned route of trying to get it fixed first! Thanks
You people complaining and dangerously ripping open iPod’s realize you can get a brand spanking new Shuffle for $69?