My 4th Generation iPod: 2003 – 2007

My iPod was won from the “Free iPods” promotion that was all the rage in the summer of 2003. After getting the required referrals from acquaintances, I was able to secure my 4th Generation 20GB iPod, which just came out at that time. I remembered my roommate was jealous of my iPod for sometime that he was dumb enough to shell out some of his tuition refund money just to get a Photo iPod that came out a few months later just to outdo me.

The iPod served me well in storing all the music I had acquired from friends and random contacts on our former university direct connect networks. It was also a great tool to store video files and other items. At that time, there was much concern for the iPod’s battery life after two filmmakers exposed the poor quality and durability of the 4th Generation iPod. I didn’t really know what to make of my iPod when I first got it in the mail since I never really had a walkman or did I bother to use a Minidisc player that was given to me by an estranged relative.

The first thing that struck me about the iPod was the relative ease of porting music files over to the device without any problems that I experienced while syncing an MD player. The second thing that impressed me was the storage capacity to store at least 50 or so albums onto the iPod. Sometime later, the photo iPod came out and my roommate got one to flaunt it in my face. As time went on, I got used to having a free iPod and often used it when I was studying or working out at the gym. Despite the scratches and dents, it was still able to record and store music with no issues.

Around the 3rd month of 2007, my iPod started to have problems. First it would take at least 2 minutes for the player to transition to the next song, and later it would automatically delete stored songs that it could not properly play. Then, it had issues syncing with iTunes and kept prompting me to “Restore” the iPod to its factory settings. At every restore and every disc fragmentation, the iPod kept getting worse. When I could once hear the miniature disc drive spin to load the next song or data, the iPod simply locked up when the standalone tried to load a song or because it was unable to properly sync back to standalone mode after being ejected from iTunes. It was a sad realisation that my iPod has started to show its age from heavy use. I knew then it was about time that I backed up what remaining songs I could and save for a 5.5 Generation iPod that is the rage today.

After shopping around on google checkout, I was able to find a reasonably priced Black 30GB iPod that sold for $245 with free shipping. It may seem like a snap decision, but this latest incarnation of the iPod allows me to view my iTunes TV shows, downloaded clips, has more features, and offers slightly more storage capacity than my previous iPod.

To my 4th Generation iPod – Rest in Peace and hopefully it will ascend into Apple Heaven instead of Microsoft Hell.