Ding ding ding ding!dejo said:
The first thing to touch my iPod's screen (other than the protective wrapping that I peeled off) was the inside of the case that came with it... Heaven only knows if that's where the scratches first came from.
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iPod Hairline Scratches on iPod Gen5
- Thread starter clayj
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The first thing to touch my iPod's screen (other than the protective wrapping that I peeled off) was the inside of the case that came with it... Heaven only knows if that's where the scratches first came from.
clayj said:
So, even if you plan to take your brand-new iPod and put it in some after-market case and never take it out again, it may still get scratched. Apple really needs to do something about this.
dejo said:
The act of polishing it to that lustrous, famous shine during assembly introduces scratches, too. There's no way to win.
clayj said:
I hear what the poster above me said, but i could really see this issue snowballing into a "My iPod gets scratched from the case APPLE gave me" and if that's the case i'll be pushing myself to the front of the line to petition as well.
I thought my 3rd Gen held up extremely well, for the conditions it was put through, it literally traveled around the world with me for 4 months, in my bookbag, in my pockets, in addition to being used to supply music for all of my apartment parties which were rather frequent and had many intoxicated hands all over it. It did of course have scratches but they were more along the lines of VERY slight but frequent shallow hairline scratches. Which after almost 2 years of usage under all of those conditions was fine with me. Since i went with the black case this time (I was under the impression that the screen was the only thing to show scratches and not of the propensity for the black cases too!!!) i know i'm gonna have to be super careful with this thing, but it does get to a point where it is ridiculous the amount of care you need to show this thing.
If it wasn't meant to go into pockets and bookbags(probably not a good idea for any electronic, but APPLE needs to assume the usuage of these things) because it scratches so easy then why even make it small, why even give it a 2.5 screen, understand? BTW i was first skeptical over how truly easy these things scratch and i assumed ClayJ probably threw this thing in his pocket with keys and then started complaining, but after viewing his site(very very nicely done, did you create it? My mom wants me to build a site to sell her artwork)it appears he is a rather clean and organized person, so i don't he's trying to scheme or wine to Apple.
ClayJ any closer to maybe getting some pics up?
I literally will not take this thing out of the box until i get a case for it if need be. I don't plan on upgrading anytime soon unless they release one that doubles as an obedient non-whiney girlfriend, so i wanna keep this thing new looking for the longest amount of time possible!
Gee, I don't know if I should be upset because I have soooo many other things to concern me other than if my iPod got scratched today OR if I should be joyful because my life isn't so one dimensional that the only thing I have to occupy my time is to feel up my iPod and b!tch and moan about the scratches. Maybe some of you guys need a tall glass of water and some Exlax.
I've owned a model from each iPod generation. Yeah, they get beat up. It's not really all that shocking. They are not plasma TVs mounted on a wall. They are portable music players made of acrylic and chrome. But if you put a PDA screen protector (What! PDAs scratch up too! Outrageous!) on the screen, hey, no screen scratches. Wa la. You can now try to resume having a life (assuming you ever did). And if that solution doesn't work for you, then just don't buy an iPod. Every time you buy a new iPod you are telling Apple they are "doing a great job, the iPod is perfect."
BTW proud 5G black 60 GB owner here. No scratches...at least from what I can tell. I don't really look THAT hard for them. Of course I just trimmed down the attached screen protector until a proper 5G case is available.
I've owned a model from each iPod generation. Yeah, they get beat up. It's not really all that shocking. They are not plasma TVs mounted on a wall. They are portable music players made of acrylic and chrome. But if you put a PDA screen protector (What! PDAs scratch up too! Outrageous!) on the screen, hey, no screen scratches. Wa la. You can now try to resume having a life (assuming you ever did). And if that solution doesn't work for you, then just don't buy an iPod. Every time you buy a new iPod you are telling Apple they are "doing a great job, the iPod is perfect."
BTW proud 5G black 60 GB owner here. No scratches...at least from what I can tell. I don't really look THAT hard for them. Of course I just trimmed down the attached screen protector until a proper 5G case is available.
I agree that it seems like even some very soft microfiber cloths are scratching up the iPods-- that's why I didn't take my nano out of the Apple plastic until I was about to place my Martin Fields cover on it... I didn't want to risk it.
And yes, there are more pressing matters in life than scratched on a personal music player, but it would also be nice if a product wouldn't get so 'beat up' from very soft cloths much less the case it ships with!
And yes, there are more pressing matters in life than scratched on a personal music player, but it would also be nice if a product wouldn't get so 'beat up' from very soft cloths much less the case it ships with!
No, that's a totally different issue... nano screens cracking, breaking, etc. What we're talking about is a fundamental problem with ALL recent iPods... they're far too easily scratched, because of the nature and composition of their design.WaxTheories said:
Not at all. What I am becoming is someone who's rightly concerned that some current Apple products are not as durable as they should be.WaxTheories said:Alright. You're becoming quite the apple hater aren't you?
I have to agree with ClayJ. There is an expectation that any new product is somewhat resistant to the daily stresses it is put through. An iPod being scratched in a pocket full of keys, or while dragged across a table would be fair, but if an iPod is getting scratched while being wiped with a soft cloth this is evidence of a major design failure in my view.
If even Walt Mossberg is complaining, there is something REALLY WRONG with an Apple product... If for anything, they'll listen to him since Steve likes to quote him.
It's a price I'm willing to pay.dietcokevanilla said:But.. but... but... then you won't be the FIRST to post pictures again!
It does seem bizarre; how many people drop their iPods hard enough to crack them against how many end up having them scratched from doing very little to them?
Why can't they use the stuff that they put on mobile phones? My t68 and k700 were carried around every day for a over a year in a combination of handbags and pockets and never got a scratch on the screen. They also didn't crack when I dropped them...
Why can't they use the stuff that they put on mobile phones? My t68 and k700 were carried around every day for a over a year in a combination of handbags and pockets and never got a scratch on the screen. They also didn't crack when I dropped them...
Yeah, I think Apple severely miscalculated on this one. They switched from hard-to-scratch-but-easier-to-crack-or-break acrylic to EASY-to-scratch-but-almost-impossible-to-crack-or-break polycarbonate... so, rather than the 1% (or whatever low figure it was) of people having broken screens, we now have 99%+ having scratched screens.Applespider said:
Seems like a really dumb trade-off to me. I treat my gear with kid gloves... nothing goes in the pocket with keys or change. Bring back acrylic screens! (Or crystal-hard screens... my preference.)
clayj said:
Or they just assumed that since ALL iPods scratch even with gentle usage, getting those scratches a little faster was worth making a more durable iPod. Like a car or any other cherished possession that gets put in the face of danger, after the first few scratches, you get over it.
The difference in difficulty to scratch is very small (look at acryllic aquariums or bus dividers or the like), but the difference in strength is a factor of 25.
Chupa Chupa said:
I seriously doubt that anyone that posts on these forums life is hanging by a thread so thin that a scratch on their ipod will mean certain death, but incase you stumbled into here by accident this is a Mac Forum, you post things about the Apple products you own or desire to own, you can ask questions, and give reviews and even complain(GASP!)
If i spend 300 dollars on this thing and it gets scratches from a sneeze well then i have a problem with that and i desire to know what the causes and what the possibilities of repair maybe. This however does not mean i can't enjoy my beer or the fact the sun is still shining and i seriously doubt/hope that people are clinging to life based on the scratch resistance of their ipods, take it easy dude this is a forum about products and software, what do you expect people to talk about? I'm not trying to get into a flame war, but if you have such a cool happening life and you don't care about your Apple products getting muffed up, well then what are you posting on these boards for. If all you care about is politics or community discussions well then there are about a million other sites to go to, i'd be glad to give you some examples.
iDM
iDM said:
I think that was a fair post, except for the quoted section. This is the thing that I have a sworn duty to debunk. The price of an item does not have ANYTHING to do with its ability to resist scratches. The fact that it's not a $15 disposable toy is absolutely irrelevant to this issue. Costing more does not give it some magical expectation to be scratchproof.
Scratchproof watches start out above $600, while watches themselves can be purchased for as little as $10. Even a relatively expensive, nice, $250 watch scratches, possibly even more easily than a different $100 watch. Money is not a measure of protection. Period.
The crystal used in those watches is made from sapphire (or a synthetic aluminum oxide) and is many tens of times too expensive for a commodity item like the iPod. The shiny, brightly polished surface of the iPod does suffer from scratches. The aesthetic (and functional, because it allows for different color iPods at a lower cost) decision to put a clear layer on the surface that in some respects acts like a magnifying lens has been made. Switching back to acrylic like the 1G and 2G would mean significant increases in cost for the housing components and a substantial loss in the durability of the iPod along with at least a minor increase in thickness and weight.
Every iPod I've seen that's more than a month or two old and used regularly without a case has a layer of scratches on it. Every single one. The nanos reach that stage a little faster (I'm only now starting to see nanos that have this similarly complete "worn in" look...and they've been out now for six weeks). A tougher, thinner, lighter, cheaper iPod is easily worth this trade, especially since the cosmetic condition is EASIER TO FIX than with acrylic.
matticus008 said:
I think you may have mis-interpreted my point, it was more a response to Chumpa Wumba or whatever his name was. I completely agree that at no point does Apple say that their iPods are scratch-proof and the price is irrelevant. I was attempting to remove the validity of his post by stating reasons for why macrumors members are involved with this forum.
Well in that case, I take no exception to any part of your postiDM said:
. But I'm going to leave it up as a warning for people who wander in and say "$300 and it scratches! Down with Apple!" because I WILL jump down their throats.
matticus008 said:Well in that case, I take no exception to any part of your post
I don't doubt you would
matticus008 said:Well in that case, I take no exception to any part of your post
The Ipod shouldn't scratch this easily for $300, period. Since about a year and a half ago I owned 5 ipods. The first one that I got had a few scratches and that was only because it came with the old leather belt clip case where you had to remove it to use it. Handling it lightly and it still got a few scratches. All my others went scratch free only because I put them in a case right out of the box. You have to handle them like a egg, actually worse. You could roll a egg on the floor and it'll still be scratch free.
On to my point.
With price is supposed to come quality. It's an unwritten rule, but it's still a rule. Same applies to other places. You go to a restaurant that charges $100 a plate. It doesn't say it on the menu but the service better be better then Mc Donalds. The ipod gets scratched due to poor design materials. Simple.
You made a statement about scratchproof watches. Scratch proof and scratch resistant are too different things. I don't think it should be scratchproof, but if a microfiber could scratch an item you have a problem. It should be stonger then that. An ipod without a case is like a sky diver without a parachute. Case should be an option, not mandatory.
I have a Treo 650. I've tried hard, even ran a key across the screen and I still didn't scratch, dropped it a few times, etc.. It's still flawless, only thing that shows any wear is the stylus from putting it in and out. That's a $5 item. Two different products but same point. When you pay more anybody in their right mind would expect more. Treo actually surpassed my expectations many times.
Ipod is like a glass house next to a golf course. Pretty, but doomed.