iPod problems

Last year for my birthday, Joey bought me an iPod Nano since I love to listen to music and the little cheapo MP3 player he'd bought for me at Costco just wasn't cutting it. I need a few more than 14 songs to listen to when I'm running for an hour, know what I mean?

So far, the Nano and I have had a serious love affair. I have used it way more than I ever thought possible and have enjoyed every minute of it.

Until recently, I hadn't had any issues with keeping the thing charged up - and I guess mostly because I keep it plugged into my laptop all day and then only use it for about two hours at night if I'm working out. Then, back in August, I made the dubious decision to loan the Nano to Cat Door M for his trip to Maine. As in, he asked to borrow it, I said no, and then he said, "You mean you'll trust me with Monkey Man but not with your iPod?" (Insert guilt trip here.) He and his dad were taking a road trip up to some BMW motorcycle convention where he was going to purchase a combination navigation system/MP3 player for his bike. This was pretty surprising to me since M usually saves his electronic passion for his TV that is the size of a small European nation - the guy has no CD player in his vehicle, no iPod, nada. He recently decided to try a digital cable modem at his house and was so overwhelmed by it that he called the cable company and begged them to come take it back and restore his dial-up connection. He is pathetic.

Anyhow, apparently he was cruising up the interstate listening to my iPod (and probably questioning my musical taste quite a bit) and made it about 9 hours and the thing died.

Oops. One thing I forgot to get when I got the Nano...something to charge it with that didn't require a computer or a docking station.

Last Friday, prior to Drunken Packing, I decided to cruise over to the Apple store and see what they offered. One of my friends tipped me off that there was an Apple store not but two blocks away from where the Drunkenness was taking place, so I wobbled over there only to discover that it wasn't a TRUE Apple store, it was an "authorized dealer" that sells Macs and iPods and whatever else you can think of. The sales guy, although he looked like someone who lives with his mom and has about 23 cats, was very nice and sent me packing with a new power cord (mine had fallen apart) and an AC adaptor to use for charging.

Last night I got everything out to test it out, only to discover that I couldn't use the stupid cable that the guy sold me. I needed it anyway to dock into my laptop, but it won't work with the damn charger. So it was back to the faux "Apple store" today to try and find what the hell I needed to make this thing work.

I haven't had the guts to open it yet - I had to buy some Firewire thingy - but I am absolutely convinced that it will take one more trip. Especially when the guy couldn't get the credit card machine to work, only to discover after 15 minutes of me waiting that somehow the modem cord had been unplugged. Gives me a lot of faith in their advice.

And believe me, there was no Drunken Shopping today, so no excuses on my part. Hurumph.