What a dad does...

To start, full disclosure - I am an Apple diehard. Began using the Mac in the late 80's at a publishing house, and fought through the bleak "Apple is dead" days of the mid-90's. I raised a family of knowledgeable Apple fans. Not Apple zealots, but the kind that can have a reasonable conversation about why the like the Mac and where Windows' strength and weakness lay.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the success that Apple has enjoyed the last few years. It's been gratifying to see that quality does have a place in the market. The iPod has been big in my family. We own all types, from a first-gen to a new, 2nd-gen Shuffle. We love them.

BUT, I absolutely despise the silence that Apple has taken towards some iPod issues. What's wrong with admitting a problem, and presenting ways of correcting them? Not everyone with an iPod expects Apple to pay for every little problem - people just want to know that the "mothership" hears their complaints and is working on a solution.

All that said, my oldest son's (Ethan) 4th-gen iPod began experiencing the dreaded hard drive "click-of-death" recently. He first went to Apple.com and other related sites for help. He tried the "5 R's" and restoring the iPod. That didn't work at all. Then he brought it to me and asked for helping in buying a new one.

I smiled and spent the next 4 hours trying many a different trick found on various websites and Apple forum discussions on fixing. Staying up 'til 2:30 am killed my next day at the job. Sigh.

Then, acting on something Ethan mouthed off about, "some guy even dropped his off his deck and it started working again" I Googled "dropping my iPod on the floor."

Amazingly, 8 pages of hits came back! Yikes! Serious iPod troubleshooting and apparent rage.

Digging throught the results, I found the one linked above from Crunchgear on "how to fix an iPod that won't boot" with the hard drive click of death. This guy figured that if he put some paper or cardboard about 1/16th of an inch thick in between the iPod's HD and the metal case, it forced the HD to begin spinning again due to the added pressure on the HD's case. Amazing.

So, in my better judgement, but attempting to give my kid back his music - I followed the steps on the posting. AND IT WORKED!

What a dad does for his kids. I lost many hours of sleep, but ultimately got the iPod to work and made my kid smile. That's why you do it, right?

Needless to say, much love goes out to Crunchgear for their great tip.