I bought an Apple iPod about four months ago and it no longer works. Do these things have a short lifespan? Ann Perrott
Many products based on computer technologies have a short lifespan compared with traditional "consumer durables", including hi-fis, TV sets, cameras and so on, which can last for decades. Rapid progress means hi-tech products soon become obsolete, so when they break, they aren't worth repairing. The suppliers can sell you a much more advanced model for a lower price instead. However, the things are not supposed to fail after four months, and if you contact Apple, it will repair or replace your iPod under guarantee. Unfortunately, it will not replace music you might have bought from its iTunes Music Store.
Technically, the Sale of Goods Act should protect you if goods are faulty, even after the one-year guarantee runs out. But Apple and other suppliers generally do not support this view and, no doubt coincidentally, this encourages users to buy their extended warranties.
MacInTouch has published an excellent survey of iPod reliability at www.macintouch.com/reliability/ipod failures.html. I have seen no evidence that iPods are either more or less reliable than rival models, except for the discontinued 40GB Click Wheel model, which MacInTouch says "appears to have been a lemon".
Backchat: Steven Robinson says his first 40GB Click Wheel iPod lasted 11 months but its replacement stopped working after eight. Tim Davies says: "I have had four iPods. They kept breaking and PC World kept on replacing them. Eventually I got the money back and bought a PlayStation Portable." Kathy Fowler's iPod stopped holding a charge after 10 months but "these things happen, and Apple's service was second to none".
