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iPod iPod Video Scratches

No more iPod scratch worries (see video)

I was really paranoid about possible scratches on my 5G iPod, especially after all of these nano scratch horror stories. I bought an Invisible Shield for my new video iPod and decided to test its durability with a key and a bunch of coins. Any way, I made a video of my invisible shield key test. :)

If you wanna check out my homemade invisible shield video, here it is:
http://www.untenohana.com/archives/videos/ipod_scratch_test/
 
unten44 said:
I was really paranoid about possible scratches on my 5G iPod, especially after all of these nano scratch horror stories. I bought an Invisible Shield for my new video iPod and decided to test its durability with a key and a bunch of coins. Any way, I made a video of my invisible shield key test. :)

If you wanna check out my homemade invisible shield video, here it is:
http://www.untenohana.com/archives/videos/ipod_scratch_test/
Click to expand...


Now for a TRUE test, you have to buy another 5G iPod and do the same tests :p
 
As soft as the inside liner feels... I just don't feel too comfortable putting my IPod in the case included. I have IPod Socks too, but those feel pretty abrasive... woolly, y'know? I just had a little bag that I bought at a little sunglasses kiosk in the mall. It was a little baggie, and it's made out of extra soft cloth you use to clean your eyeglass lenses. It dosen't scratch a bit.. I'm currently waiting on a Martin/Fields film for mine.

I just make it a point to clean/swipe it just like a "CD cleaner" suggests.... straight, once-over swipes.. no circular motions, etc. :confused:
 
Lopez.T.H. said:
theinvisibleshield.com

$25. nuff said.
Click to expand...


I've heard a lot of good feedback about the Invisible Sheild... I've also heard a lot of people saying scary-ass stuff about them... like trapping water under it and whatnot. I'm just gonna try the Martin/Fields, as it sounds similar to the Invisible Sheild, only less complex to put on... I might end up trying one though.
 
Does scratch easily...

I have owned about 3 iPods prior to my new 5G 60GB. I purchased it exactly 14 days ago today (thankfully)...

I am being completely honest and as objective as I know how to be with the following...:

When I bought it, I recognized that it seemed to resemble the Nano in "shine" or finish...so I purchased the recommended "KlearScreen" kit as I needed it for my iBook anyways... The clear coating seemed to be thick and gave the 5G a glow!

Since I bought the 5G iPod, it has always been stored in the white case provided WHILE PLAYING (I would slide it out to set playlist, etc very so often) and was even kept in the white case inside of a Timbuktu case for carrying around.

For the first week or so, I did notice what looked like faint scratches and were no big deal as they were not visible while the iPod was playing, especially with the backlight (how video plays) on. As I will mention later, I think these may merely be "reductions" in the clear coating and not scratches or grooving of the clear coating.

While cleaning my screen today with the KlearScreen wipe I noticed several GROUPS of scratches, both vertical and horizontal. I could not believe that the cloth recommended was actually scratcing my screen. I have been WAY (overboard would describe it well) careful with keeping the iPod AND the cloth clean since I got the iPod. I have gone so far as to ensure that the inside of the white case provided stayed clean and free of dust, debris. IS THIS REALLY how we have to treat these things to keep them free of scratches that take away from the reason we pay so much for them - they are as beautiful visibly as they sound. If someone says that I have done something wrong here I must say that I could not have protected this thing anymore unless I just did not use it.

When the Apple store manager saw my screen he agreed that it was scratched and implied that he sure could not wait until the 5G cases came in for these things... wonder how many of these he has seen..... He was extremely friendly and VERY understanding of my points I must say.

As of now my new 5G has a Palm screen protector cut to fit....until I can get whatever case comes out first - then the one I actually want.

If you are OK with the scratches (camp) then you are in luck with the Nano and 5G iPod.. If you are not OK with scratches, put the thing in a safe until you can protect it... It is that simple.

One thing that I have thought is that with the new clear coating on the 5G iPods, some of these "hairline" scratches may not be scratches as much as they are areas where the pristine clear coating has been worn down. Objectively, this is different than a scratch. Thing is, it does not take long for the real scratches to appear.

I am not trying to tell anyone not to purchase a 5G, in fact I love mine and would not consider not having one. What I am trying to impart, is that IT WILL scratch easier than previous iPods and that new clear "glow" comes at a cost. As someone said earlier, you most likely know what camp you are in so you can make the call accordingly.
 
Well I live in europe and ordered a white 60gb g5 a few weeks ago. I got it on monday and I protected it as good as I could. I used the case that came with it and I only took it out to sync or to watch a video. By wednesday the display was all scratcht up, I couldn't believe it !! I called Apple europe and they send someone to pick my iPod up and replace it with a new one.
I also ordered a Martin/Filed and I won't open my new Ipod before I recieve it!

It's really a shame that if you buy a 300+ product you'll have to buy a 10 bugs shield to protect it! Apple really has to do something about it.

The iPod itself is just great!! I love it and the quality of the movies is unbelivable.I can't wait to get the Martin/Field and start using my new iPod !!
 
Many happy returns

I had my 5G ipod for exactly 6 days. I treated it like a god, only to have a screen full off scratches from day one. “I am not having any of this” I said to myself in a cockney wide boy fashion.

I called apple on Monday, explained the situation, and without hesitation told me they would send a new one out straight away. It will be arriving today. 5 days wait, Not bad considering it was built in Singapore.

I dont care what anyone says there is a problem and stevie needs to sort it out.

God my journeys to work are boring now!
 
how did you get apple to replace you 5G ipod video? i called the day after i got it and explained to them that it had numerous scratches and hadn't left mt desk. basicly they told me there is nothing they could do about it and that they had never heard of this problem before. please help.
 
what ive done, is that ive left the actual plastic on it, both of them, until a case comes out....i put some scotch tape around it so it wont fall off...
 
I have been using my Nano /blk clr for couple of weeks,
it really was scratches on it after the first few minutes I opened the box,
but it was very very tiny scratches even less noticable than my finger prints, now, there is still the scratches and didn't goes any worst. I proved it myself ipod Nano didn't get sratches or broken that easy as rumored.

Your decision is blk clr and you got to live with it , did any thing in elegant blk shouldn't be take great care to use it ?

I personelly didn't believes it's easily to scratch and I even didn't believes Apple would let it happens to their products, as their other products proved to me before.

I 'd redirect this to a conspriacy issue rather than design fault my self :)
 
IPOD Video scratch - Real problem

First i would like to set a thing: we can stop debating if scratches on ipod 5g is a real problem or not. The very fact that forums like this one exist and a lot of people are contributing to it, show how much this is a problem.
When forums talk more about IPOD problems then about IPOD functionalities, it show there is something going on.
Maybe Apple could have an image problem with this if they are not carefull.
This having been said, i will talk about my experience with it.
I am using my black IPOD video 60gig since about two weeks, and for now the only scratch i have were created while i was trying to shine it with a kleenex (i made permanent scratch with my nail!!!). At least they are on the edge, at top and on the right.
So there is no doubt about it, IT IS FRAGILE, and you need to be very careful (no pressure when cleaning is the moto).
I talked about "permanent" scratches, because sometimes you seem to see scratches depending of the lighting, and the angle. Sometimes what seem a scratch just go after cleaning. Even my permanent scratches are almost invisible when putting the ipod on a certain angle.
The way i transport my IPOD, i put it in the cheap sleeve that came with it, and keep it in my front pocket of my pants. The included sleeve did not caused scratches as of yet. I use my IPOD everyday.
I will probably buy the protective translucid stickers, as i don't find any case for the ipod video yet. What a marketing flop! They put a product on the market with NOTHING included, and there is no accessories available yet on the market. When you go on Apple web site and open the "cases" link on the "accessories" page, you see a lot of cases. But if you activate the screening to see only items for ipod video, there is NOTHING!
They put a very fragile item on the market, and no option is available to protect it. Bravo!
On http://www.nanoscratch.com a guy described how he repaired his scratches of his IPOD nano with a product called "brasso". He also posted a lot of pictures before and after.
 
garf666 said:
First i would like to set a thing: we can stop debating if scratches on ipod 5g is a real problem or not. The very fact that forums like this one exist and a lot of people are contributing to it, show how much this is a problem.
When forums talk more about IPOD problems then about IPOD functionalities, it show there is something going on.
Maybe Apple could have an image problem with this if they are not carefull.
This having been said, i will talk about my experience with it.
I am using my black IPOD video 60gig since about two weeks, and for now the only scratch i have were created while i was trying to shine it with a kleenex (i made permanent scratch with my nail!!!). At least they are on the edge, at top and on the right.
So there is no doubt about it, IT IS FRAGILE, and you need to be very careful (no pressure when cleaning is the moto).
Click to expand...
Nobody's debating on whether or not iPods scratch. Of course they do. The fact that people talk about it on forums is totally expected. People report problems at a disproportionate rate to the general population. Why? Because if everything is working fine, why talk about it? It works, who cares. Even if a thousand different people complained (a number bigger than unique complaints here or on Apple's site), and even if only 1 in 10 complained, that's still much less than 1% of customers. Pleasing more than 90% of customers is just about impossible for most products, so the iPod is doing pretty well.

It's also not fragile. Scratches do not indicate any sort of structural weakness or a delicate nature. Yes, you need to be careful with it if you're trying to keep it looking brand new. The same can be said of most anything. But you can drop it and sit on it and throw it around, and it will continue to work. That's not fragile.
 
Do this test to see if the iPod really is defective in regards to scratches

Go to BestBuy and look at all the MP3 players on display. Look at the older models that have been out for over a month and then look at the new iPod 5G's that have been there for a just a couple of weeks. The $300 and $400 iPods are all scratched up and look horrible. The sub $100 players look great. Take your fingernail and deliberately try to scratch the cheaper ones. I did this today and left no scratch on them. I tried a small section of the iPod and it clearly left scratches. The little screen on my $30 watch can take a lot of abuse, but the $300 iPod can't take a gentle rub with a cleaning cloth. Don't pretend that those who are complaining are just being more vocal than the satisfied customers. How about the free engraving they offer and then tell you since you personalized your iPod you can't return it. What a deal! What a scam! Lets see.... we know from the Nano that our plastic is cheap and frail. Let's keep using it but make sure that average person will take us up on our free engraving offer so they are stuck with it forever. I don't like class action lawsuits because only the lawyers really win, but Apple is going to have a hard time fighting off the Nano and soon to be iPod 5G suits.
 
flymach1 said:
How about the free engraving they offer and then tell you since you personalized your iPod you can't return it. What a deal! What a scam! Lets see.... we know from the Nano that our plastic is cheap and frail.
Click to expand...
Your rhetoric escapes you. "Cheap" and "frail" are not terms that apply to the plastic used on any iPod, because Apple could have gone with many cheaper plastics and they didn't do so expressly because of how strong polycarbonate is. Your $30 watch and $300 iPod have a much similar price than you might think. You know how much the shell of an iPod costs? Less than $10. The shell of that watch? About the same, maybe less by a couple bucks.

THE PRICE DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT. The average consumer and upset iPod owner might not understand that, but it's true. The iPod is only $300 because it leverages economy in its design. It's not a premium product and it's not a magic one. It's got a few dollars of plastic around it, exactly like your watch or DVD player or mouse does. The higher price tag comes from what's inside. If you want to trade some of the inside for a different outside, be my guest. Make such a player and see how it fairs in the open market.
 
matticus008 said:
THE PRICE DOESN'T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT. The average consumer and upset iPod owner might not understand that, but it's true. The iPod is only $300 because it leverages economy in its design. It's not a premium product and it's not a magic one. It's got a few dollars of plastic around it, exactly like your watch or DVD player or mouse does. The higher price tag comes from what's inside. If you want to trade some of the inside for a different outside, be my guest. Make such a player and see how it fairs in the open market.
Click to expand...

Price does have something to do with it. For if some one spends $300 to $400 on the iPod, they expect certain things. On the previous iPod's that I have owned, I know that small scratches are possible. But if the new iPod videos have the same possibility of sever scratching that I have on my Black nano, I will wait for Apple to correct it in the next version.
 
Chip NoVaMac said:
Price does have something to do with it. For if some one spends $300 to $400 on the iPod, they expect certain things. On the previous iPod's that I have owned, I know that small scratches are possible. But if the new iPod videos have the same possibility of sever scratching that I have on my Black nano, I will wait for Apple to correct it in the next version.
Click to expand...

Do you expect the same resistance to scratches from a $10 CD as you do for a $400 CD? In either case, the disc cost about ten cents.
 
matticus008 said:
Do you expect the same resistance to scratches from a $10 CD as you do for a $400 CD? In either case, the disc cost about ten cents.
Click to expand...


The issue is that the 2G, 3G and 4G iPods I have owned (or bought for family) have held up well. The nano is a big disappointment. I chalked it off to my use of it. But others I know that have them (and the new 5G's are built along the same lines) are very upset at the "lower" quality of 'build" as to what we are accustomed to.

Sorry, but you are sounding like some marketing flak at Apple making excuses for a 5G product that doesn't hold up to the exceptions built upon the previous generations of the iPod.

It appears to many of us that the new nano and 5G iPods are about the look rather than the ability to hold up to what we have come to expect.
 
Scratchpod said:
Here's the truth. I was one of the first people to order the new ipod 5G. I have had it for 7 days. I have taken EXTREMELY good care of it, only taking it out of the sleeve to charge and listen/watch media. I started noticing small scuff marks on the front surface. This was caused ONLY from putting in and out of the supplied sleeve. I tried to buff out the scratches with a high quality micro-fiber cloth made for Oakley sunglasses. Even the microfiber cloth left fine swirl marks! This product is defective, as is the Nano. They are made of the same material. Apple did not fix this problem before putting the new Ipod into production. Anybody who says they don't scratch, does not own one or does not care! I called Apple and they said they would gladly replace it. Thats great, but I will end of with the same results as the first! I am hoping that enough of us will call customer support with concerns so that Apple will make a recall and fix/replace the Ipods and Nanos. I did not pay $300 for an item that looks trashed a week later. Everyone who owns one, please call customer support at 1-800-275-2273 and let them know. Apple is a respectable company, and I am hopeful they will make right on THEIR wrong.
Click to expand...

Well that's your truth perhaps My truth is different. I've had a white 5th gen 60GB model for over a week now and have been using it every day, including several plane flights, etc. I'm only using the supplied case. It has no scratches. If anything, I'd say it is less scratchprone than the 30GB photo (4th gen) it replaced.

And, has anyone else noticed the number of newbies that are posting these "defective ipod/apple sux" messages (?)
 
Chip NoVaMac said:
The issue is that the 2G, 3G and 4G iPods I have owned (or bought for family) have held up well. The nano is a big disappointment. I chalked it off to my use of it. But others I know that have them (and the new 5G's are built along the same lines) are very upset at the "lower" quality of 'build" as to what we are accustomed to.

Sorry, but you are sounding like some marketing flak at Apple making excuses for a 5G product that doesn't hold up to the exceptions built upon the previous generations of the iPod.

It appears to many of us that the new nano and 5G iPods are about the look rather than the ability to hold up to what we have come to expect.
Click to expand...
um, if it isn't about the look then why are you pissed about the hair line scratches (or whatever the kids are calling it these days).
Also, I'd like to point out that the advancement in technology has made the ipod thinner and has more memory and plays videos for the same price as the 20gb 4g. Would you prefer a different audio/video player over the 5g ipod? I'd like to also note that I have had my 30gb 5g for over a week now, used it a ton (work, night class, around the apartment, and on the subway) and I have not noticed any sort of scratches. However, I have purchased the shield just in case of major scratches (i'm kinda anal about how I treat my baby, i mean ipod).
It really is disappointing to see so many people complain about what they didn't get and not talk about what they did get. Like little kids complaining on Christmas, makes you regret not using a condom...ok, enough about my personal life...
I know its $300, and I do agree that if apple came out with a more pricier ipod, same specs, but with a better shell, I'd probably buy one. But would as many people who are buying them now? I think apple considered a lot of things before they went through with production, I'm sure they weren't just like, "ITS SHINNY! GO WITH IT!"
 
All I know is that
1) My Tungsten T3's screen that I write on everyday without a screen protector has not ONE scratch
2) My Canon 20D LCD screen has no scratches whatsoever, again without a protector and throwing it around with my strap and everything in the bag
3) My crappy Korg chromatic tuner has no scratches on its screen even though its tossed around

Do I need to go on?

What good is making an iPod video if you can't even invest in better materials that won't get scratched to hell in 3 seconds. If anything, scratched screens were OK on the previous generations, but when the video solely depends on the user looking at the screen for most of the time, how can you NOT make a better screen? Does Apple do this on purpose to create demand for 3rd party junk? We shouldn't have to spend that extra money when we expect to receive a fine, quality product from Apple.
 
dhan said:
All I know is that
1) My Tungsten T3's screen that I write on everyday without a screen protector has not ONE scratch
2) My Canon 20D LCD screen has no scratches whatsoever, again without a protector and throwing it around with my strap and everything in the bag
3) My crappy Korg chromatic tuner has no scratches on its screen even though its tossed around

Do I need to go on?

What good is making an iPod video if you can't even invest in better materials that won't get scratched to hell in 3 seconds. If anything, scratched screens were OK on the previous generations, but when the video solely depends on the user looking at the screen for most of the time, how can you NOT make a better screen? Does Apple do this on purpose to create demand for 3rd party junk? We shouldn't have to spend that extra money when we expect to receive a fine, quality product from Apple.
Click to expand...

I have a 30gig white video... It's fine. It doesn't scatch anymore than my 3rd, or 4th gen ones did. It just seems that now people are actually making a big deal out of it. Never used to, everybody seems to be jumping on board now.
 
I guess the defenders are right

For those of you who keep slamming anyone who complains about the scratches and who notice the number of newbies who are complaining, I guess you are right. There is no problem, it's just a bunch of whiners deciding to waste their time over nothing. I'm glad your iPods are not scratched, I'm also relieved to know that mine isn't either, it was all in my mind and my absurd expectation that a $300 product might have a better shell than a $30 item. Your praise for the guts of the iPod are worthy (no sarcasm for that one), but the point is that the $10 shell should have been a $20 one and not the cheap (yes I said it and I'm right) one that doesn't hold up as well as other clear coatings. My agenda is to have a product that I take care of and not have it ruined in a few months because it is scratch prone. What is your agenda in slamming the ones who post their issues in a thread about scratches. If you want to sing the praises of iPods, do it in a new thread called "I Love the iPod no matter what it looks like, and I don't care what happens to others". Before you assume no one has a problem, do what I suggested and go to a store where these things are displayed beside cheaper products. The point is that cheaper products hold up better. Would I expect a $10 DVD to to be scratched LESS than $400 one? NO! I would actually expect them both to be about the same. If my $400 dvd was made of a less durable product than the cheap ones, and it scratched MORE, I would be unhappy. That's the point here, the cheaper products are protected better. I guess your world is flat since that's all you can personally see from your yard. Everyone who has traveled around the world and says it's round must be wrong in your small frame of reference. Also don't assume that the people that are complaing are idiots that don't know how to take care of their "baby". I have several thousand dollars worth of photography equipment, a couple thousand dollar telescope, and professional video euipment. I have taken quite good care of it all and I know know how to treat lenses and other "shiny" objects to take ensure they don't get damaged. I bought this product because of it's functionality, to be able to have the video capabilty. That capability will be diminished when the display is hard to see through hundreds of tiny scratches. If the audio developed tiny hisses from regular play, and over time became mosly overcome by white noise, would you be happy? It's the same thing with the video. I don't care if the back is scratched all up, this isn't about wanting some shiny piece of art. I DO CARE about scratches in my video window. If you buy an HDTV and you find out that the screen scratches up badly, are you going to keep praising the guts of the system or are you going to be upset? Put it in perspective. :mad:
 
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