So I've got this aunt, she's a lovely lady, but getting close to 70 years old she's not very adept when it comes to electronics. She's got an old android phone that she uses for talking and texting and she wanted to use it to play music in her car, but alas it wouldn't work properly for that (problem with the output). "Andy6025, please help me!"
After trying to fix the issue, to no avail, I recommended that she buy an iphone - it can serve her needs, I can get her all the music she likes, and they are (mostly) intuitive to use. For a number of reasons, she doesn't want one. She only wants something for music. No problem, I say, I will find a suitable device and she can reimburse me later. She's happy with that plan, confident that I'll set up her nicely for a reasonable cost. It goes without saying that my services are free... she just has to cover the cost of whatever I buy for her.
So I check out the second hand sites - Craigslist, Kijiji, etc., and I find what appears to be an ideal solution: an iPod Classic, 160 gb, 7th generation, $120 CDN (about 70 quid). The hard drive is overkill for her needs, but the price is reasonable.
I contact the seller requesting to see the item, and immediately there are a few red flags, but nothing that should deter a self-processed street-wise shopper (oh boy was I naive!).
Red Flag #1: The seller doesn't phone or txt me to contact me back, but emails me via the website messaging system (that hides personal details).
Red Flag #2: The seller offers to meet at a tube station rather than at his/her home. This *could* be understandable since not everyone wants to tell potential 'buyers' where the items they are selling can be robbed from.
I reply that I'd like to meet somewhere that I can test out the iPod to make sure it works. No problem he/she replies, there's a coffee shop around the corner from the tube station in which we can sit while I test out the device.
I agree to meet. I tell the seller what I look like (****ing stunningly handsome tall dude with a 'tache) and the reply is, "I'm a white woman and I'll be carrying a black and white purse. I may or may not bring my husband along with me."
I arrive at the meeting place and sure enough she shows up. She's a middle ages woman, but accompanied by a young girl rather than a husband.
She shows me the device, and I check it over carefully. It appears legit. I scroll through and see a serial number and that the ipod is indeed 160gb as advertised. There's a little scuffing on it - it's obviously not brand new, but it was not advertised as new. I click through various features and they all pop up as they should.
There's music already in the phone so I ask if we can go out to my car and play it through the stereo, make sure the jack, output, volume control, etc., work properly. No problem. I do so and everything works. I also plug it into my charger and the battery indicator shows that it's connected and charging. Everything seems fine.
We chit chat a little bit. I pay her, thank her, and leave.
I get home a few hours later (had some errands to run) and I plug the iPod into my computer. It synchs up fine. It starts importing music...
And then 10 minutes later it freezes up.
It managed to import only about 200 or so songs into the iPod.
After numerous tries and various trouble shooting methods I find out that the hard drive is almost completely failed. It works only well enough to show that it is a legitimate iPod that can hold about 200 songs.
I've 'emailed' her back through the website system, but of course am not expecting a reply.
I found out later you can perform a very fast hard drive diagnostic on iPods without plugging them into a computer, which I could have done on the spot before buying. It would have alerted me that the hard drive was mostly shot.
If anyone has any experience replacing an old iPod hard drive then please pass along some advice (other than 'don't be such an idiot in the future)'.