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iPod Hairline Scratches on iPod Gen5

clayj

clayj

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jan 14, 2005
7,664
1,557
visiting from downstream
Well, it turns out that the screen surface of the Gen5 iPod is JUST as prone to hairline scratches as the screen surface of the nano. :mad:

The next time I buy an iPod, I will be thoroughly examining the screen before anything touches it... so far as I can tell, there is NOTHING that you can use to clean the screen that won't scratch it in some way.

EDIT: I just found out why this is, from an engineer who works on cleaning products for iPods... not sure if you all know this, but the new iPods (nano and 5G) use a polycarbonate front surface, rather than the acrylic surface of the older iPods. Polycarbonate is better than acrylic in MOST ways, but because it's softer than acrylic, it scratches VERY easily. There's virtually nothing that can clean a polycarbonate surface without scratching it... even the engineer I spoke to said that his 2-day old 5G has scratches all over it... and God help you if you have a black nano or 5G.

Dammit, Apple, 'fess up to the change and either switch BACK to acrylic, or give us crystal-hard screens next time. This is really pissing me off... my iPod's one day old and the screen is COVERED in hairline scratches.
 
Doesn't sound good then - my 3G screen after 2 years is still scratch free, I even tried dragging my nails over it and nothing..!

My white 5G hasn't arrived yet, but it's a little concerning to hear it scratches so easily :(
 
are you kidding me? I just got my black 60 gig 5g iPod. What the hell is the purpose of apple making something that scratches this easily? Its better in most ways, but the whole purpose of the clear coating is to PREVENT SCRATCHES! I hope I didn't just buy a 400 dollar scratch pad, I wish that scratches were covered in the apple protection plan.
 
First of all, the black ipods will show the scratches more, but the white ones recieve just as many scratches. Thats the downside to the sexy black.

To remedy the scratches, I highly reccomend IceCreme from Radtech. They make amazing products! www.radtech.us

The kit will remove scratches and make your ipod look brand new. Definitly check it out. They are also planning to release on of their famous skinz for the ipod 5g so thats something to look forward to.
 
Yeah, Apple tends to royally screw up after they should have learned their lesson from the 1G and 2G iPods. Apple is really stupid in this sort of way, ie. like getting rid of the headphone remote.
 
I left the front plastic on my 5G 60GB iPod and it's hardly noticeable. Should prevent scratching. I would suggest this for now since there really is no other way to protect it.
 
whalesalad said:
First of all, the black ipods will show the scratches more, but the white ones recieve just as many scratches. Thats the downside to the sexy black.

To remedy the scratches, I highly reccomend IceCreme from Radtech. They make amazing products! www.radtech.us

The kit will remove scratches and make your ipod look brand new. Definitly check it out. They are also planning to release on of their famous skinz for the ipod 5g so thats something to look forward to.
Click to expand...
IF you polish your nano or 5G using Ice Creme, do the following: Use only the Ice Creme A (not the B), and apply ZERO pressure... basically, the cloth should be pushing the polish around on the surface of the iPod. If you press down, you WILL make more scratches. And don't let any of the polish dry on the iPod... when it hardens, it becomes abrasive.

Oh, and dampen your cleaning cloth VERY slightly... this will help to cut down on the possibility of more scratches.
 
How does this product actually clear the ipod of scratches? Does it take material off of the surface? And also does it take away the writing on the back of the ipod (SN and other stuff)?
 
Mike Teezie said:
Ah, bummer.

How's the case that came with the iPod clayj?
Click to expand...
Rudimentary... I have no way of knowing if its interior surface put any of these scratches on the iPod. And of course, it doesn't help at all when you take the iPod OUT to do something with it.

I've just made a resolution... this is the last iPod I'm buying where I don't have a protective case for it (including 100% screen protection all of the time) FIRST. I encourage you to do the same.
 
That's what I planned on with this one. I learned my lesson with my Nano.

I babied that thing, and it still got scratched up. I have no idea how.

My new iPod won't be coming out of it's plastic until I have a case to put it in.
 
Mike Teezie said:
That's what I planned on with this one. I learned my lesson with my Nano.

I babied[/b] that thing, and it still got scratched up. I have no idea how.

My new iPod won't be coming out of it's plastic until I have a case to put it in.
Click to expand...

....and where all these cases. I hope they start to surface soon!
 
killuminati said:
How does this product actually clear the ipod of scratches? Does it take material off of the surface? And also does it take away the writing on the back of the ipod (SN and other stuff)?
Click to expand...

Yes, like most scratch removers, it buffs down the surface layer, rather than simply polishing it (adding a layer). It doesn't take off anywhere NEAR the amount necessary to affect any of the engraving, though. You could use this or similar products many, many times before you started losing engraved features. Of course, it's not a good idea to do this weekly, or probably even monthly. A couple times a year is usually what is recommended.
 
cheekyspanky said:
I have a feeling firewire support is never coming back..
Click to expand...


well fight em in the stores, online and anyother place i can to get FireWire Back
I'll use my 4g color screen until it breaks, then i'll gte a 6g or 7g and by then i'll
have give up being pro FW or still be fighting the good fight! :D
 
clayj said:
EDIT: I just found out why this is, from an engineer who works on cleaning products for iPods... not sure if you all know this, but the new iPods (nano and 5G) use a polycarbonate front surface, rather than the acrylic surface of the older iPods. Polycarbonate is better than acrylic in MOST ways, but because it's softer than acrylic, it scratches VERY easily. There's virtually nothing that can clean a polycarbonate surface without scratching it... even the engineer I spoke to said that his 2-day old 5G has scratches all over it... and God help you if you have a black nano or 5G.

Dammit, Apple, 'fess up to the change and either switch BACK to acrylic, or give us crystal-hard screens next time. This is really pissing me off... my iPod's one day old and the screen is COVERED in hairline scratches.
Click to expand...

I think the last iPod to use acrylic was the 2G (or maybe the 3G). At any rate, it's something like 25 times stronger than acrylic (and about 300 times stronger than your basic silica glass), and because acrylic is brittle, if you do manage to scratch it, it's much more difficult to take out than with polycarbonate. Polycarbonate also doesn't suffer from issues with cracking, and it insulates better against impact (kinetic energy transfer is much lower).

So for dropping or stressing/applying pressure to an iPod (things that conceivably happen often and threaten functionality), the use of polycarbonate makes sense to mitigate that risk of mechanical damage. Unfortunately, it does tend to get minor scratches more easily (but the major gouges that original iPods could get don't generally happen). It's a little more cosmetically susceptible, then. But at least the 4G and newer iPods have used polycarbonate, and I think, a form of lexan, more specifically. Oh, and I also forgot the part about acrylic being easily damaged by chemical exposure (including many foods), but polycarbonates not having that problem.

Lexan is famous for being the material on which "unbreakable" Nalgene models are based.
 
Does anyone have any experience with this invisibleSHIELD? Because if people have had only good experiences then i will buy it and not use my ipod(maybe even not touch it) till i put on this wrap, what do you think?

A couple questions about it for people who have used them....
1. Does it yellow over time(my iSkin literally looked urine yellow after a couple months)
2. How scratch resistant is the actually cover(basically am i going to have a clean non scratched ipod, with a scratched up invisible SHIELD?)
3. Is it noticeable?
4. Is it like silicon like the iSkin, or can it glide in and out of my pocket without wanting to grab the cloth if that makes sense.
5. How does it adhere? Is it sticky or static?

Edit:I forgot to put in the most important of the whole post, i'm such an idiot
 
Wow, I couldn't even tell you if my iPod has scratches on it or not. I never really pay attention to it, I just listen to it and it plays great.

I'm not trying to be a sarcastic, and I'm sorry y'all are having problems with the scratches, I've just never noticed.

Woof, Woof - Dawg
pawprint.gif
 
iDM said:
Does anyone have any experience with this? Because if people have had only good experiences then i will buy it and not use my ipod(maybe even not touch it) till i put on this wrap, what do you think?

A couple questions about it for people who have used them....
1. Does it yellow over time(my iSkin literally looked urine yellow after a couple months)
2. How scratch resistant is the actually cover(basically am i going to have a clean non scratched ipod, with a scratched up invisible SHIELD?)
3. Is it noticeable?
4. Is it like silicon like the iSkin, or can it glide in and out of my pocket without wanting to grab the cloth if that makes sense.
5. How does it adhere? Is it sticky or static?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you mean by "this," but if you're referring to the IceCream sold by Radtech, it's a cleaning agent, not a cover. So most of your questions don't quite work, but I'll give it a shot.

1. No
2. Not scratch resistant at all--it just removes scratches.
3. It's a noticeable improvement if you have scratches!
4. It doesn't affect the surface texture of the iPod.
5. It doesn't.
 
matticus008 said:
I'm not sure what you mean by "this," but if you're referring to the IceCream sold by Radtech, it's a cleaning agent, not a cover. So most of your questions don't quite work, but I'll give it a shot.

1. No
2. Not scratch resistant at all--it just removes scratches.
3. It's a noticeable improvement if you have scratches!
4. It doesn't affect the surface texture of the iPod.
5. It doesn't.
Click to expand...

I just edited my post, i'm such an idiot, i forgot to put invisibleSHIELD after "this" sorry about that.
 
iDM said:
I just edited my post, i'm such an idiot, i forgot to put invisibleSHIELD after "this" sorry about that.
Click to expand...

Hehe, no problem. But there's been no mention of the invisible shield in this thread. There are, of course, several threads elsewhere in the forum.
 
So it's actually the same as the 4G, and no worse?

So confusing keeping my iPod virgin...maybe I'll just keep it in the box. Ha ha-

If it's the same as the 4G, I don't think it's that big of a deal. I will be buying a case though.
 
madmaxmedia said:
So it's actually the same as the 4G, and no worse?

So confusing keeping my iPod virgin...maybe I'll just keep it in the box. Ha ha-

If it's the same as the 4G, I don't think it's that big of a deal. I will be buying a case though.
Click to expand...

I don't have a 5G iPod, but I have a nano and had a 4G, and I can vouch that the 4G and the nano are the same material, and Apple released a statement to that effect as well ("the same high quality polycarbonate used in the fourth generation iPod"). People are suggesting that the nano and the 5G are the same, which makes complete sense.

It might be that the nano and 5G are polished to a brighter shine--that's the only possible "actual" reason why it would appear to scratch more. I suspect that it's mostly psychological and people are just paying attention to their scratches more than before.
 
clayj said:
Rudimentary... I have no way of knowing if its interior surface put any of these scratches on the iPod. And of course, it doesn't help at all when you take the iPod OUT to do something with it.

I've just made a resolution... this is the last iPod I'm buying where I don't have a protective case for it (including 100% screen protection all of the time) FIRST. I encourage you to do the same.
Click to expand...

I feel your pain, clayj.
When I bought my 4G 60GB iPod, I also bought an Agent 18 clear case. I opened the iPod, took off the wrapper and, holding it by the top and bottom, placed it in the clear case. It hasn't been out yet, as it fits nicely in the Bose SoundDock without a dock adapter. Other than a couple of very light surface scratches on the clickwheel, it is pristine.

I will never buy an iPod without a same day case purchase.
 
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