Claiming that the iPod Nano has a widespread propensity for scratching easily, lawyers this week filed a class action suit against Apple Computer on behalf of those who have purchased the diminutive music player.
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2005-10-18
lol There have been class action suits versus MS in the past! I remember we had an opportunity to claim some cash out of a 1 Billion $ suit. I don't remember what my dad did with the papers though.. It was only like 100$ for combined Office and Windows softwares. still not bad..... I'll ask him what happened 
I find that this suit is unfair though, Although I don't have a nano, suiing becuase some expensive toy scratched easily? If I spent a lot of cash to get a nano, I'd make sure to treat it well!!!!
--ZaNkY
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2005-10-02
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2005-09-15
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I am wondering if the new iPod (the one that plays the videos) has the same problem? I'm wondering if they use the same processes to produce them, and therefore have the same problem?
Apple should talk to Motorola. My mobile (cell) phone shares my pocket with my car keys and house keys, and I chuck it around the place, and it only has 1 small scratch after 6 months of use.
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Obviously some people expect little black shiny things (like the iPod nano) to remain pristine and flawless forever, no matter what they do. Shoot, I've already put a few hairline scratches on the shiny back of my 4Gig iPod Nano (black). Am I ranting and raving about it?
I've also left the plastic covering over the front of my nano, to preserve it as long as possible, until I buy an "InvisibleShield" for it.
I know the black nanos show fingerprints and scratches more than the white ones and I would have got a white 4Gig for that reason, but... the ONLY place that had 4gig nanos *AT ALL* was this one Best Buy in Phoenix, AZ. And not white ones... just black. And not the Apple Store... oh no... the very company that MAKES the nanos can't keep them in stock, but you can get them elsewhere (if you're lucky).
Common sense seems to have left this planet, when it comes to some people. I mean, would these same people be suing Apple over this ridiculous issue, if Apple threatened to stop making iPods because of it... or close up shop all together? It might teach them a lesson...
Or maybe these idiots are the once who will look for ANY excuse to bash and hurt Apple... or get a dollar. It's insanity, I tell ya. And it needs to stop.
Now, as far as bad iBook/PowerBook batteries and flaws with computers and such that are genuinely Apple's turf... THAT I have no problem with. Sue 'em til they learn!
But this whole iPod Nano issue... it's just utter nonsense and I hope it gets thrown out of court or... better yet, Apple gets money from the plaintiffs instead for them brinig such a silly issue to court! Ha!
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Apple thought the ipod dead battery issue was a non issue too until they lost the class action suit.
The fact of the matter is that the Nano is easily scratched. People who have been very careful not to scratch it has still managed to do it.
They advertise the nano as 1000 songs in your pocket. Maybe it says in the fine print that "you can't have the nano in your pocket because then it'll get scratched beyond recognition".
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Correct me if I am wrong, but any portable media device with a LCD screen scratches easily.
If I put my PSP in my pocket with my keys would it scratch as easy as an iPod? You bet.
I have owned 6 iPods since they came out. iPods are something you cannot live without once you get one, but never have they been a quality product. The previous 5 that I owned had harddisk failure about 14 mo into owning them (Warranty WAS 1yr., now its 6mo.). At least the nanos are flash based and that won't happen.
Oh yeah, and all my iPods got scratched to hell. Wether it was the LCD or the shiny metal backside, none of it withstands scratches.
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ALL of the cars I have ever owned have scratched easily. ALL of the electronic equipment I have ever owned have scratched easily. In fact, all of the electronic equipment I own (Canon Digital Rebel, HP 48GX calculator, Motorola Cell phone V60) have LCD screens that I have had to protect with LCD screen plastic protectors. My Motorola phone LCD screen got scratched so I bought these LCD screen protectors and put them on all LCD screens I have (as well as my wife's phone and son's phone).
- Mark
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2005-06-29
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2005-07-06
There's actually some truth to this whole thing. I know someone with a nano, and thirty minutes after taking it out of the box, it was notably scratched. I was with him the entire time, and all he did was hold it, set it down on the table, hand it to me to play with, and then put it in hi *empty* jacket packet for a total of like 5 minutes. I had heard about the scratching, so I asked him to look at it, to see if there was any evidence of what I thought was a load of crap. Yes, Virginia, there is a scratch problem. So, I decided to do some more testing on my own. (He said that he didn't mind, since he was going to get it replaced under the warrentee if it got too scratched.)
First thing I tried was gently rubbing the side of it with the same cloth I use on my glasses (it's a lens cloth from walmart, works rather well.) Yes, there were noticable more scratches in the corner after I finished. I tried felt, and then the cotton cloth from my shirt. All of them left fine scratches, except the cotton, which really seemed to scratch the hell out of it. I had my friend come over, and asked him if there was one more thing I could try: I wanted to rub the side of it along the carpet for 5 seconds. I was gentle about it, trying to simulate normal wear and tear. Man, the thing looked like shit when I was done.
My friend has sense decided that sending it back under warrentee is too much, so he did what he did with his old ipod: he bought some large tie-dye stickers, and cut them to fit the nano, and made a home made skin for it. Over the screen (which I'd been careful to keep pristine) he put a screen protector from his palm-pilot, cut to fit. (That went on before the skin, so you couldn't tell it wasn't stock. Now, he has a sweet looking nano, with no worries about scratches! However, there is some truth to all this.
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Of course there's some truth to this. If there weren't and this thing didn't scratch any worse than other LCD mp3 players, then why are companies making scratch-resistant products specifically for the Nano?
http://www.macminute.com/2005/10/13/ipod-nano-scratches
Of course, Apple pundits will scream that there are no problems with this device, because afterall ... we all know Apple is perfect.
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2005-07-06
so you scratch it, ......... Big frickin whoopdy-do.
If I buy something and I don't want it scratched I take care of it.
If I scratch it I don't go and whine to the manufacturer because I scratched it, I don't call Okley and b!t(h because I dropped my sunglasses in the gravel.
why should this be any different
deal with it people.
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2005-10-22
The problem with the nano wasn't that it scratched in general, it's that it scratched with VERY minimal effort. People reported putting their nanos in their pockets with NOTHING in them and them getting scratched. It's not people mistreating their nanos, it's that some of them scratched just by looking at them.
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An artist at my work recently bought an iPod Nano. Having heard the rumors, he coddled it like a mother would coddle a newborn. Yet after two weeks of being toted around in an optical grade chamois bag, it is more scratched up than my cellphone (which I abuse horribly). There are even clearly swirling scratches around the scroll wheel, and he doesn't have fingernails. A plastic so soft that it can be scratched by skin? Users have reported that within weeks they can become so scratched that text on the screen is illegible.
While many posters here are dismissing this as a natural part of modern gadgets, there is a real manufacturing flaw here. Apple used a grade of plastic that, while pleasing to the hand, is far too soft for real use. I can't seem to find the link, but the plastic that the Nano is made with clearly should not be used in the outer coating of any consumer device.
Apple sells the Nano as a sexy, sleek uber-toy. Yet due to a negligent plastic choice, which is compounded by choice of color and scale, Nanos quickly lose their main selling point. Again, they're selling these things because people can't help but find them irresistable. You expect that to last for at least a little while. When that attraction ends so quickly due to a major manufacturing defect that should have been easy to spot, you can't help but feel swindled.
Sure, cars can scratch too, but if you paid a premium for a BMW and within a month of normal highway driving the windshield was so scratched you couldn't see through it, you would demand your money back. Or a fix. Or at least an acknowledgement of the problem. Apple has pretended that the issue doesn't exist. Unfortunately when a company does that, the only recourse left is to sue.
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I believe it. I saw a nano today, the display model at a local CompUSA. Never been in someone's pocket, just out being held in people's hands. All scuffed up - lots of very fine scratches that just destroy the nano's slick, shiny black look. Looked awful. The 4th gen, 20 GB iPod color next to it was in much better shape (and had been on display much longer). And I held the 4G model at various angles to really check to see whether it was scratched as much as the nano (white does not show them as much as black); it wasn't, nowhere near. The 4G iPod looked pretty good, the nano looked tired and worn.
There *is* something wrong with the polymer that Apple selected for the nano. Someone else asked the same question I have - will the new 5G video iPods have the same issue?
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2005-06-29
STOP BUYING STUFF YOU HAVEN'T RESEARCHED! Sorry for the all caps, but sometimes you have to yell to get through to people.
Maybe the whole US should form a class action suit against these people for encouraging badly thought out products to get them to market quick 
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If you ask me. The only thing wrong with the Nano is that silly color screen... I don't want to spend $200 to break a color LCD in my key pocket (that's the name of that small pocket on your jeans, you'd never fit your keys in it ). So why didn't they put those nice, sturdy, non-color screens on them? Because people are stupid and they buy things based on looks not craftsmenship..
A color screen in no way helps you navigate a text play list, and there's almost no reason to keep pictures on your digital jukebox -- it's as stupid as bell bottom pants.
I still don't think they have a right to a class action suit though. That's what you get for being an early adopter... It'd be silly to expect every first-gen product to not have some major defficiency.
As far as scratching the case though. There they're just being panzies...
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2005-09-10
Sometimes you have to yell to get through to people. ...Because people are stupid and they buy things based on looks not craftsmenship...it's as stupid as bell bottom pants....That's what you get for being an early adopter... It'd be silly to expect every first-gen product to not have some major defficiency...As far as scratching the case though. There they're just being panzies...
Wow. This problem is really bringing out the best in the OSnews community.
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I don't think anyone expects a device made out of plastic to survive constant abuse without any cosmetic damage. If it was just scratched when dropped or put in a pocket with keys and coins then I don't think this class action suit would exist.
From what I've heard the Nano is getting badly scratched even when people are careful with them. A bit of pocket lint or slightly rough cloth shouldn't scratch the hell out of it. I've had a Rio Carbon for about 6 months, that's made out of plastic and I haven't been particularly careful with it, but it only has a couple of tiny scratches.
If other devices aren't so easy to scratch then it's clear that there's a real flaw in the Nano's construction. Whether that justifies a class action suit is another issue...
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Some people's may scratch easily...if you're worried about it buy apples nanotubes. They actually work pretty well. If you can afford to shell out $250 for a music player, I'm betting you can afford $30 for some plastic sleeves. And for anyone wondering about the Nano's durablilty, I had mine in my truck when it caught fire 2 weeks ago. It got a little melted and hosed with water. I popped it open a few days later, cleaned it and let it dry, recharged and voila! it works again. Even the half melted scroll wheel still works.
This is what it looked like before I cleaned it up:
http://mysite.verizon.net/hartsec/crispy/images/p1004243.jpg
So its not all bad
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2005-07-06
I like always to defend consumers from manufacturers greediness; but I don't want also to harm those comopanies which feed the children of their workers.
For US market if you don't like a product you have 30 days to return your product. So, anyone dissatissfied with the product I say RETURN IT. This class action suit will be appropriate in other countries, where you might get punched if you dare return your product to whome you bought it from.
Member since:2005-06-29
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No comment aout the suit. My 2G Mini is an pristine as the day I bought it. Why? Because I bought a killer TrailVue case and treat it well.
All Apple iPods scratch super easy. (The mini a little less easy) soo scratching isn't new. If there is a class action over this Apple owes 2/3rds of the market some dough, but not me... Because anything I pay $200 for is going to be well cared for. (Geez anything I pay $20 for).
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Scatched LCDs are a fact of life. Unless you keep your PDA/MP3 player sealed in a lead-lined box or covered in wax ;-) it's going to get damaged. How serious is this problem compared to, say: my scratched Palm, heavily scratched Sony Minidisc player's screen, scuffed iPod or the front of my cheap Casio watch?
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I think some of this people should visit Africa once.
I know, I know, it's oversimplicistic and rethorical; but please, this is just too much.
We're going a bit offside don't you think? OK it's not a crime to ask back money to the people we actually gave a lot or OUR money, and who constantly "steal" (please note the quotation marks!) from us by forcing us to buy everithing by the means of invasive advertising, but maybe we could avoid all this. How?
Trying to only buy what we really need and assuring ourself it's exactly how we need it to be. Opinions?
on a side note: does Preview works in Konqueror?
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I have had an iPod mini since february or march. It actually has no scratches on the screen. I am surprised, since I don't take particularly good care of it. I have dropped it twice that i can remember. I I never put it in jean pockets, but I put it in my sweatshirt pockets.
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