Smash my iPod

A smashed toy isn't entirely unprecedented, and some even pay for the honor, but we think this one ups all of that — smashmyipod.com raised $400 to purchase a brand new iPod with video (hey Apple, when do we get to call it the video iPod, already?) and smash it to smithereens while actually inside the Apple store. They've filmed the event, and we're totally looking forward to seeing the look on some of those Apple Store employees' faces as it went down. Anyone else got odds that the video will be scored to the soundtrack from the opening sequence of 2001?

[JN @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

Um, that's definitely NOT an iPod w/ video. They collected $400 (+$151 extra) and spent it on an iPod 20GB??? How stupid. They probably already owned the 20GB, smashed it, and bought a brand new 5th gen for themselves. Anyone that donated is officially a sucker.

[Kamil Mytnik @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

WELL DESERVED.

This should have happened a long time ago, this iPod/iWhore/iTrend fad is getting really pathetic.

There are MUCH better alternatives than the overrated ipod (gigabeat, iriver, iaudio, etc).

:)

[nate @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

#1, Why would loss prevention have anything to do with this? The guy bought the ipod, it's his to do whatever he wants with.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

JN is right - that's a 4G iPod. What a scam. Somebody now owns a brand new 60GB 5G iPod...

[nate @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

#1, Why would loss prevention have anything to do with this? The guy bought the ipod, it's his to do whatever he wants with.

[The Wildman @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

I think this is a mistake on Engadget's end. The SmashMyiPod.com website never stated they were buying or smashing an iPod with Video....only that they would buy an iPod and have video of it being smashed. It's still some crazzzy shiot though!

[SL @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

some people are just so stupid. If you hate iPod, just hate it. you don't have to smash it to show your hatred.

For example, I hate Yankees but I am not going to blow up Yankee stadium to show that. All I have to do is just laugh my a$$ off at their elimination.

[Tom @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

Whats with the gadget destruction today, first PSP bricking and now this nonsense!

[Scott @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

RTFA. They never claimed it was a 5G iPod. It's a stupid waste of money anyway. Figuratively setting fire to several hundred dollars is the wantonly destructive act of a petulant spoiled child. Calling it a "social experiment" is the act of an insufferable ass. Donate the money to the half million displaced earthquake victims. They had their houses smashe, and now they get to live the social experiment called "where will I sleep this winter, and what will I eat?"

Fucktards indeed.

[Phr34k @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

Only you americans would waste 400 dollars on stupid bullshit like this. Try donating a few bucks to starving children in Africa or something instead, thi is sickening.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

"RTFA. They never claimed it was a 5G iPod."

And yet conveniently they smashed it on October 18, just afer the 5G iPod started shipping. The photos they show do not show anything about them purchasing the iPod, and are not obviously in a store (they just show the iPod itself), despite claims to the contrary.

Is this not a completely obvious scam? Are you people all from bumblefuck idaho or something? This is an obvious fraud. The guy broke his old iPod and collected a bunch of money from people so he could buy himself a new one. Suckas.

[ipodman @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

in case you all did not know the IPOD WITH VIDEO COMES IN 30GB AND 60GB NOT 20GB THIS IS A HOAXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

[funkbass @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

If you guys payed attention to the article and clicked "read" you would see that the video for the iPod Video smashing hasn't been released yet and that picture is from a previously posted smashing. It's not supposed to represent the Video iPod smashing that just occurred.

Phr34k, I completely agree with you. I am an American but this makes me sick. People in this country should donate their surplus of incomes to much more important things like Hurricaine relief or other efforts combating world hunger. On our defense, it is not just us that is doing it.

[Kamil Mytnik @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

#10 Scott: And YOU could have bought a less expense and better performing mp3 player, and used the saved cash to also send to starving children in africa. Your fucking point being?

#11 Phr34k: They are from canada.

#12 Jeff: If its a scam, why dont you click on the friggin link (www.smashmyipod.com) and then check out the other pics, wait a day or two and download the video??

#13: A hoax because it isnt the crappy iPoo Video? Whats the difference, same SHIT, different pile, literally. And who said it was a video ipod anyway? Are you retarded? Where are you reading this nonsense?

[ipodman @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

# 12 engadget said this was for the g5 video ipod
"� smashmyipod.com raised $400 to purchase a brand new "iPod with video" (hey Apple, when do we get to call it the video iPod, already?) "

[Spyvie @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

Maybe this marks a sea change, sorta like burning all those disco records in 79, or whenever it was

One can only hope, perhaps our long national nightmare is over

[Chris @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

#14

"On our defense, it is not just us that is doing it."

Very true, I agree ... doesn't make it any better though ... it just shows there are dumbass people ALL over the world ... and even dumber people supporting them.

They could have easily donated $400 to charity and have someone dress up in an iPod costume and then film it getting kicked in the nuts at an Apple Store. That would have been funny. Stupid, but funny.

[Scott @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

#15 Camel-

Who said I bought a fucking thing? Learn to read. "Fucking point" being that these jackasses, and the braindead morons who sent them that money, look like spoiled little children who would rather spend their time pointlessly destroying things when they could turn that same energy to doing something good in the world. Even if doing something positive means buying a POS iRiver or whatever and listening to some goddamn music.

[Burton @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

Okay, bad reporting from Engadget. The smashmyipod.com guys never said anything about it being a video iPod or 5th generation iPod. Whoever wrote the article for Engadget forgot to check the facts (and needs to use the strikeout feature now) and caused all this confusion. They did what they said they would, the video will probably be juvenile and on DoubleViking tomorrow.

[Ronald A. Dowty @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

Now lets start a donation to kick Steve Jobs in the nuts.

[2cents @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

Kamil Mytnik: I totally agree with you, it pisses me off to no end to see how many losers out there shell out top dollar for apple products for no reason other than to follow the mindless masses. But what really irks me is all the bleeding hearts that say things like "only in America do you see such waste." Whatever dude, if you took a look at the site that collected the donations you would see that most donations were only like a few bucks via paypal. If the people that donated the money had not donated to this cause then the money would have stayed in their pockets. 5-10 bucks seems like a good deal to see a brand new ipod destroyed, and if I were not such a cheapskate I would shell out dough for the smash my xbox, ps3, etc... What people do with their money is their business, bottom line: a whole lot of us are way too self-involved to care even a tiny bit for people affected by natural disasters, etc... GET OVER IT & if you are so concerned for the teeming masses of the world that are now suffering then give away your hard earned dollars now, tell no one about it & know in your heart that you are my moral superior. I, however, will continue to spend my money (and sink deeper & deeper into debt) to support my self-indulgent habits. I shall die a selfish man.

[matt @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

Do all you little bitchy "teh iPod iz not kewl! I hizzate teh iPod" go around bitching about Windows this much? Apple has sold 20 million iPods...how many copies of Windows are out there? If you really want to bitch about a crappy product that has sold *way* more than it should have, at least get your priorities straight.

Also, if the success of the iPod is a "national nightmare," then your bad dream is just beginning, junior. The sales of the video iPod are going to make the numbers of the audio iPod look like chump change.

Watch the numbers and despair!

[Rusty Shackleford @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

What a terrible tragic waste of the products of human labor.

Someone carefully built that iPod and you trashed it. It was their job, they were proud of the work they put into it. Yes they were Chinese but they were still human, they still have feelings. Yes I know they had help from robots.

You iPod smashers make me puke. Go do something productive with your time instead of destroying things. Is it all you can do is to destroy? It takes a lot more intelligence to design and build something than it does to destroy it. Bitch all you want about how the iPod is inferior, but the fact is, you couldn't build it, you didn't build it. You are stupid, stupid morons. Any moron can smash something, hell even a chimp can smash stuff. You are dumber than an ape, because the ape smashes stuff only to use as a tool for breaking coconuts or to use as a weapon against other apes that are stealing banannas from him. You just smash stuff because you are a stupid stupid moron with nothing better to do with your life. How does it feel to be stupider than a monkey? Idiots.


"The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labor."
-George Orwell

[Mykel @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

1) They're in Canada. It's a bit more expensive up there (around $353 after tax). Dunno what they did with the extra cash after that, but...

2) If they have a video (which will apparently be released shortly) and it shows them going up, purchasing, opening, smashing - who cares what gen it is?

[Andrew Camacho @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

I think the smashmyXbox.com is much more funny...

The Plan
From the creators of SmashMyiPod.com, we bring you, SmashMyXbox.com!
After we collect $430 in donations, we will take that money to a local Best Buy, which opens at 12am on the launch date. We will purchase the Xbox 360, and destroy it in front of the other Xbox fanboys who are already waiting in line. We will try to be at the very front of the line. The whole thing will be shot on film, and displayed on this site. This is only a social experiment, for the entertainment of the donors, and visitors of this site. For more info, read the faq.

[Za @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

Kamil, the problem is that you are wrong. The players you mentioned all have glaring flaws in comparison with the iPod.

"(gigabeat, iriver, iaudio, etc)."

The Gigabeat has sound quality issues and cannot play video at a higher price point than the iPod. The iAudio player is actually not bad at all, although it is larger and heavier than the iPod although I prefer the UI on the Apple machine, and the iRiver players lack the screen size of both the iPod and the Gigabeat while not offering anything in terms of price value.

Face the facts. Overall, the iPod is the most successful DAP because it is the best all around package--although there is no perfect player, of the DAPs out, it is the closest to it, and therefore sells the best. Yes, Apple marketing runs circles around those of the other brand, but the iPod's nature as a solid player is not a small factor in the sales.

[J.M. Barron @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

Fun is fun... I don't do stupid though.

[Eli Stoughton @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

this is the supidist thing i have ever seen

[JohnnyCashAK @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

This whole scam pretty much proves that the real social experiment was exposing Ipod haters as being incredibly stupid and having far too much money for their own good.

@Phr34k: How much money did Americans donate to tsunami and pakistan earthquake victims, and how much money did other countries donate to hurricane katrina victims? That's what I thought. Go Ameri-hate somewhere else.

[http:financenstuff.blogspot.com @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

2 much money and 2 much free time = smash ipod

[Tom @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

Is this not a completely obvious scam? Are you people all from bumblefuck idaho or something? -#12 Jeff

Bumblefuck, Idaho...isn't that just a short drive from Cockgobbler, Montana?

[http:financenstuff.blogspot.com @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

2 much money and 2 much free time = smash ipod

[Kyle @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

Bah, screw smash my iPod. The site TUAW mentioned ( www.buymeanipod.com ) is better.

[Kaos @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

yesssss!

MADE MY DAY!

iPoo on your iFad and iGag at your vanity, you deluded iDrones

[Kareem H @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

Sounds to me like some people are jealous and want iPods.

Don't dump on something unless you can better it. And no, as far as i'm concerned setting your delusional granny to 'play' and slipping on that old ella fitzgerald record that really gets you in the groove still doesn't quite count as bettering the iPod.

[Tobias @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

heh, drones. and yet you all go around using windows.

[Andr? @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

What a stupid thing to do. Video iPod or something else... Useless people.

[johnnyprozac @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

I love this...hehehe..such passion about bits of plastic, silicon, and resin getting broken into discommbobulated parts.

Its funny. you guys are providing as much entertainment as the video itself will.

[catlover @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

I don't like iPods because I had one and its sound was just awful and distorted. I gave it to my younger cousin - it made him so happy because he knew he would become a popular kid at school (well, that's what he told me).

But smashing an iPod in front of the Apple Store employees is a terrible thing to do. So many people (probably including those employees) wish they could afford one.

This is really sad and heartbreaking. If it were me, the 400$ would be spent on two of the most expensive pre-med textbooks my faculty urges the students to read. I can't even pay my school furniture and those [censored] use this money in order to smash iPoos.

[boneyard @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

vPod for the win!

[Scotty G Force @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

Wow, what a reaction. The way I see it, if people are willing to give their money away to be wasted in such a stupid way, let them. It's no different to Hollywood!

[mike @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

Apple has sold 20 million iPods...how many copies of Windows are out there? If you really want to bitch about a crappy product that has sold *way* more than it should have, at least get your priorities straight.

---

Amen! For all of Capitalist America's love for markets, the most popular OS is a piece of 5 year old turd. That's a HELL OF A LOT more important than some vertically integrated music player.

So what is the resentment anyway? There's no logic to it.. except maybe some press.. hrmm... Anything and everything Apple does gets coverage..

[Chris @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

Whats worse, wasting $400 bucks on this, or 5 million on a movie like Doom? I'd rather waste $25 bucks on watching this than some craptacular Hollywood drivel. I'm sure to be more entertained than "Gili" or "Riding on the Bus with my Sister" could ever imagine.

Anyone arguing against these guys doing this should go the the movie theater and look around.

[jared @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

I don't understand the whole anti-iSlut sentiment. People want nice shit, iPod is nice shit, people buy it. Who made you chief of the price/performance ratio inquisition? Were you the kid in middle school who went around complaining about the absurdity of paying $120 for air Jordans? Cuz you may have been right, but that didn't make you less of a tool for trying to piss on someone else's parade.

[Walter @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

First off, I'm not such a pretentious anus as to get upset over what other people do with their money.

Second off, I pray that in the video after purchasing they smash the living hell out of and take it to customer service for a refund because it doesn't work. Comedy Gold, Jerry.

Thirdly, I own an iPod.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

"#12 Jeff: If its a scam, why dont you click on the friggin link (www.smashmyipod.com) and then check out the other pics, wait a day or two and download the video??"

What the hell do you think prompted me to make my comments? The other pics also show nothing but a box and a smashed iPod, sitting on some kind of wicker thing, and last I checked there was no wicker at my local Apple store. Where are the pics in the store? Where is this mythical video? It takes all of 1 hour to compress the 5 minutes of footage he'd be posting to the web. I'll bet you almost anything he runs into more "technical problems" (which was his excuse for not doing this earlier - no, it had nothing to do with Apple's ship date for his new 5G unit) with the video and never posts it. Either that, or he's busy right now faking shots in a store followed by quick pans and cuts to splice together with the smashing of his old iPod that he obviously did in his house.

You people are such complete suckers if you think this was real. The guy took his old iPod, took a picture of the box, then smashed it and took a picture of that. Then he took all your money and went and bought himself a brand new 5G model.

Who was it that said "there's a sucker born every minute"?

Next time you guys are in NYC we'll all have to play a game of three card monte. I'll deal.

[andrew @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

so, they collected $400 to buy a $300 discontinued ipod to smash? sounds fishy to me.

[fierywater @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

Some of you have no sense of humor.

They collected $400 to smash an iPod. It's funny. Why didn't it go to Africa? Because the money wasn't donated to send money to Africa! The money was donated to smash an iPod! Now someone else has the money, and maybe that person can donate the money to whatever charity they fucking like.

Engadget did screw up on the fact that it's not a video iPod, so be it. It's not a scam though, it's just a bunch of (likely) $5-$10 donations that went towards a bunch of people to smash an iPod in an Apple store.

So much offense at the death of an iPod. What a shame.

[Hamson @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

It just so happens that the video camera that was suppose to record the peoples reactions didn't work? Coincidence? I think not.

[Pal @ Dec 19th 2005 1:26AM]

Apple could care less, they still got their $400. Way to make a statement.

What a waste of money, bandwidth, time and an iPod. If they want to make a statement, release roach eggs in the Apple store. Maggots would do as well.