Yesterday I disparaged Microsoft for some compatibility issues. Apple, today it’s your turn.
This morning I loaded some audio content onto my new iPod Nano. Then I pulled the connection out without ‘ejecting’ it first. I had no idea, but doing this is tantamount to running over it with a semi.
Now, every time I choose ‘Music’ on the iPod’s main menu, it reboots. I plugged it back in again, no joy. I’ve tried resetting it, no joy. I even restored it using my Apple laptop (it doesn’t show up in Windows anymore). No joy on the Windows machine, where all the music is.
Apple, why do you hate me?
I could pull the plug on my old iPod at any old time, and the thing would be happy as a clam. What gives?
Here’s a PR idea for Microsoft and Apple. At the next trade show, put some project managers or executives in a dunk tank. Charge everybody a dollar a throw, and donate all the money to charity. Old school, but it would play well in the press. And I’d be first in line with a handful of Washingtons (or, uh, loonies if you do it north of the border).
UPDATE: After restarting my Windows machine and once again restoring the iPod from there, things are looking up. I’m thinking of just buying a big ol’ ghetto blaster and some eight tracks.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
That sounds very frustrating – I have an older 40gig iPod and I have to say I rarely unmount it correctly but I haven’t had too many problems with it. I’d certainly throw a few sponges at Apple, my brother had some major issues with support issues on the iPod recently.
A dunk tank for software execs? You could wipe out the national debt. Or most of it, anyway. I’ll take eight!
I’ve got $20 on Ballmer.
Then you’re careless and lazy.
The iPod is simply a hard drive. Do/Would you expect your PC to just hum happily along if you pulled the power on it mid-operation over and over and over again?
Of course not. But, a toy! That’s a different thing altogether, I guess.
BTW, running it over with a semi, if the case holds up, is probably LESS dangerous to the iPod’s operation than yanking connection without unmounting first.
Dave: I wonder, then, why I was able to unplug my old iPod without unmounting it on dozens of occasions? James (above) seems to have had the same pain-free experience.
It seems to me that what I did was a pretty common use case. I expect the average consumer does it all the time. Does that make the average consumer lazy and careless?
I should add that we can unplug plenty of other devices without any ill effects. Take, for example, the laptop or the cell phone. This only reinforces the likelihood of the average consumer doing it with an iPod.
Finally, I’m a pedant, so I should point out that the Nano is not, in fact, a hard drive. It uses a flash drive, so there are no moving parts.
My 14 year old daughter did the same thing with her iPod and got a similar result only worse. Her initial attitude was pretty much the same as yours.
After confirming the death of iPod I took her to the Apple Store. They gave her a new one gratis. That improved her attitude considerably. She has now sensibly realized that computers (the iPod is a computer) should not be turn off by pulling the plug.
If my daughter can figure it out I’m sure you can too.
R.
Ooh, the judges are divided about whether “careless or lazy” or “you’re smarter than a 14 year old girl, right?” should win in the Mac user hyper-defensive groupthink sweepstakes.
I know, Andy, tell me about it. I feel like I could offer incontrovertible evidence that Apple kills babies to make iPods, and a bunch of Apple enthusiasts would still rise to their defence.
Lame. Glad it’s working again though. I agree, you should be able to unplug it at any point. For the record, I’m a Mac user, but I certainly wouldn’t call you either lazy or careless, or less smart than a 14 year old girl. I want my technology to “just work”, and for the most part, that’s what I get with my Mac.
I’m not sure if you meant the power cord on laptops or cellphones, but my guess is that if you’re transferring data on either of these two devices and you pull the plug, they won’t be too happy either. But I wouldn’t expect them to be totally non functional. A corrupt file, sure, but the thing should still boot.
I have a 3rd gen 40gb iPod and on occasion I’ve accidentally disconnected it without ejecting first, and while I get a warning, it’s never caused any (noticeable) problem.
I would pee in that tank 😉
btw, I’m a Tech writer too, and everyonce in while drop by your site, and throughly enjoy your unique insights.
USB and Firewire are classic dancing-bearware. They’re worlds better than the alternative (plug in the paralel cable, adjust IRQs, etc, reboot) but they still fail on the usability front. Plug and play is great, but what I’d really like is unplug and don’t crash 🙂
BTW, the dunk tank idea rocks. I would have voted for it if it had made the ballot when I was living in Seattle.
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