Apple admits to iPod nano smoking and sparks, will replace faulty devices
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted Aug 19th 2008 3:38PM
posted Aug 19th 2008 3:38PM
"Apple has determined that in very rare cases batteries in first generation iPod nanos sold between September 2005 and December 2006 can overheat causing failure and deformation of the iPod nano. Apple has received very few reports of such incidents (less than 0.001 percent of first generation iPod nano units), which have been traced back to a single battery supplier. There have been no reports of serious injuries or property damage, and no reports of incidents for any other iPod nano model.
Any first generation iPod nano customers who have experienced their battery overheating should contact AppleCare for a replacement. Any other customers who have concerns about their first generation iPod nano battery should also contact AppleCare."
Well, thanks guys... at least we didn't die.
Too bad my 1st Gen Nano died after a measly year of service.
yeah, sucks to be you
Not at all actually, I replaced it with a Cowon D2 that's still going strong.
First rule about exploding Nanos is, you do not talk about exploding Nanos.
Second rule about exploding Nanos is, you do NOT TALK about exploding NANOS!
I called Apple and I have the exact model that has the fire issue. Mine has been getting hot for years. Its not warm, it's blatantly hot. I asked her what they would do about it and she said nothing. I told her I can't leave it plugged in for more than an hour because I gets so hot. She told me not to charge it fully then. I asked her if ipods were made so that you could leave them attached to the cable USB permanently? She responded yes. I told her I would leave mine hooked up over night tonight to see what would happen, as a test of functionality. She told me that would be misusing the product and any damage would not be covered.
Very rare cases. Most likely abused by the user in the first place and faulty batteries from the supplier.
LOL!
Hold on everyone !!!
This is really unkind. give the Apple fanboys a chance. EVERYTHING is going against them at the moment. Apple continues to muck everything up. Apple just can't seem to get things right.
BUT, that is not the Fanboys' fault. They have nothing to cheer about, there is no need to abuse them.
The fanboys bought something that Apple promised them would work. They beleived it. Having a dud product is bad enough, but adding to it shame a derision is over the top.
The fanboys are shamefully embarrassed. Leave it at that. Please.
iFail
that ipod has an outtie
Quick! Buy one on eBay and get it replaced under Apple Care (H)
Sorted..!
First-gen Nano? Whaa? Did I fall into a time warp?
A time warp where people don't all run out and re-buy their mp3 player as soon a new revision comes out.
Yes. Yes you did.
So, are they sending replacement 2nd gens then?
I'm wondering the same thing...is apple sending a new nano or simply replacing the battery?
i had an ipod photo and it broke within warranty and they sent me a video as a replacement because they didnt make the photos anymore. so under that circumstance, i'd say they'd give them a new one.
I didn't know an iPod could look that ugly. :O
This post's title as seen/perceived by me in RSS:
"...Apple admits to smoking and sparks blunt..."
well that'd explain a few things...
I too, tend to light up without warning.
Is there a way to determine the date of purchase based on the serial number?
That's the Apple Kill Switch beta which has been used in the Nano's. The Kill Switch in the Iphones promises to be much more explosive, and rid the world of phanboys, thus increasing the global IQ by atleast 2 points. Once again, Jobbs FTMFW!!
Wait, so I can just call them and say that it's been overheating and they'll replace it?
How about the geniuses at the Apple store, will they also replace it?
Wondering the same thing myself. Better safe than sorry. (Incidentally, I would love an upgrade!)
phew, glad Apple found out it's not their fault at all, as always. pesky single unnamed battery manufacturers.
Well, if it toke the egocentric company this long to admit the tiny tiny nano problem, wait and see when they will responding to the bigger iphone 2nd gen battery and plastic problem.
Heh, toke. Goes nicely with the '…sparks blunt' post above. Who's got a light?
Message to (ALL):
Update our stance from "It isn't happening" to "It's fixed"
Are you seriously faulting them for owning up to a problem and seeing that something's done about it?
For not owning up to a problem until it is fixed :-/
Whenever someone mentioned this .. the fanboys would claim it was lies and false.
At least Apple is more mature.
He ain't pretty no more
Forwarded this to my ex-girlfriend. Not because of safety reasons, but so she will no longer be in possession of anything that has "Love forever, xxxx" engraved on it.
I didn't know Apple sold Hot Pants. I guess I'm not hip enough to know these things.
Is that a scene from Fight Club?
"You are not your iPod nano!" - Tyler Durden
why is engadgeting changing the pics/posts constantly?!?!? who is running the show?!?
Seeing as today apple are giving reasons to why things go up in smoke hopefully I'll be getting an answer as to why my MagSafe melted in a lovely cherry red fireball last night
...they are sending me a new one all free of charge but an explaination of been nice
What a joke. I keep my nano in my glove box connected to my radio so if it were to overheat it could lead to some very serious problems. Just to ease my mind, I called applecare and gave them my serial number. The lady on the phone (Val) would not confirm or deny whether my ipod nano was affected by this problem, and it sounded like she had no idea about the recent announcement.
At least I have a call on record with them in case my nano overheats and causes damage to my vehicle so I can pursue compensation...still, a simple "No, your nano is not affected" would have made me feel a lot better...
I just talked to a Valerie at AppleCare too...she said the same thing! :P
I just talked to Tiffany and she told me to shove it!
So will Steve Jobs tell us EXACTLY what percentage of 1st gen Nanos (nanoes?) were affected by this? 0.37% perhaps?
According to Mork, the appropriate plural is nanonano.
I just called Apple Care and they claimed to know absolutely nothing about this problem. The customer support tech said there was nothing he could do about it since Apple hasn't released an announcement to them about it. What a joke.
How do I know if my iPod nano has this issue?
Any serial numbers?
Just like user Carson, I have a Pioneer radio with iPod control connected 24/7 in my car.
The problem is I live in Costa Rica, so I believe I'll have to wait 'til my next visit to the US.
The OTHER problem, is which model will the user recieve?
In my case, I believe my Pioneer is not compatible with the new nano's (it's not with my iPod Touch), so if they're giving the new ones, I'm screwed.
Option A) wait until my car explodes
Option B) get new ipod which I won't be able to use what I bought it for
Option C) new ipod, new radio
Apple hasn't released any information on what model number or serial number are the ones to be concerned about.
Glad to hear that I'm not the only one who called and was told they knew nothing about it. Sounds like Apple made the stupid mistake of telling the public about the problem before their employees.
Maybe Apple will now fess up to subpar ribbon cables/connectors for the headphone port/dock connector on the 1st gen iPod video units as well. I know mine is just a paper weight right now.
Apple hasn't released any information on what model number or serial number are the ones to be concerned about.
Glad to hear that I'm not the only one who called and was told they knew nothing about it. Sounds like Apple made the stupid mistake of telling the public about the problem before their employees.
Who said it was a mistake? They've used this technique many times before - it lets them disclaim liability (you could have sent it back any time, etc.) without actually incurring the cost of replacing the defective units.
"batteries [...] can overheat causing failure and deformation of the iPod nano."
Oh, and fires.
I wonder if this is what caused the fire at Apple HQ???
Why the hell was that guy holding the nano up to his face? Sounds like that's his problem.
Umm, go to Google images and type in: brad pitt fight club
I passed my 2nd gen nano to my wife and wanted to see if it was part of the bad lot so I called Apple. On hold with Apple now...and have been 10 minutes. The call is now going on 25 minutes. 2.5 minutes with the first person, 10 waiting to talk to someone, 2.5 minutes of explaining and now holding for 10 minutes. I think they think I will just hang up and go away, but that's not going to happen. The person I last spoke to had no idea about the problem and said she would have to speak to her supervisor. So hear I sit on hold. Their hold music is like an elevator with a couple of "hip" songs sprinkled in for good(?) measure.
Its only first gen ipods, but yes Apple Care knows nothing about it.
get a life.
As you can see to the left, I am an Apple fan [read: not "fanboy"] but even I can see Apple has been effing up alot lately... Or should I say their failures are being more scrutinized than before. They need to get it together. I'm sure all of this is not good news to investors..
Just a followup, I was transferred to a cool guy named Ben who asked me some more detailed questions about the problem. I explained to him that it was getting a little warmer than I expected it to while charging. He wanted to know if it had deformed the case, had it smoked, sparked, etc. I asked if they had determined a serial range of affected units and he said they had not. He offered to replace it with another 1st gen nano, but I told him that unless the heat during charging got worse I would keep the one I had. That will keep me from having to explain to my wife why I sent off her nano and then her having to rebuild it when the replacement came back. Overall, it was a good experience with the tech once I got to someone that knew what they were talking about. He gave me his direct extensions in case I needed to call back and said he would leave the case open for a month.
Hmm perhaps I should have complained of overheating - I just said that I had "concerns". Either way, the handling of this seems a little shady.
silent,
do you have ben's extension number? i think i'd rather have it replaced than risking it overheating and catching fire later down the road...
thanks
I have a first gen iPod at home, so I called Apple Care to get it replaced (hey, why not... perhaps an upgrade?). After speaking with a supervisor, they told me that this information is "false" and that Apple has released no such statement...!!?
They said that they have been receiving a lot of calls today and that they're telling everyone the same thing: there's nothing wrong with first-gen nanos.
Anyone having any luck?!
Ok, so this ambiguity from AppleCare staff seems to be a problem for others too:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1671687&tstart=0
They seem to be pretending the problem doesn't exist, or else no-one was told. Is there a place on their website where we can find this statement? I want to call back and point them to their own statement to prove that there IS a problem!
Typed 2nd gen, meant 1st gen. Sorry for the typo. :)
silent,
do you have Ben's extension number? I think i'd rather get it replaced just in case cause i don't want to wait until it overheats and then replace it.
thanks
Haha, "AppleCare" WTF retard name are they going to think of next. It's like something a two year old just thought of.
Applecore
.001% is not a tiny problem, it is ASTRONOMICALLY SMALL. That is 1/10,000 units. A typical rate of failure for most consumer electronics is orders of magnitude higher. So, its significantly more likely that your iPod will break for any number of other reasons than running into this.
Sure, the 10 people who ran into this issue will all be on the internets ranting and raving about how critical this systemic flaw is, and how Apple should recall 9,999 perfectly fine units to catch the 1 that might have this failure, but as it always turns out, the issue is extremely rare and completely blown out of proportion.
This brings a whole new meaning to "fire in my pants"
i like the photo... brad can be the next joker... with a little makeup..
i called, and got a canned responce from sarah; "in reguards to media remarks we can not confirm or deny any such statements from apple inc."
Tyler Durden would never own an Ipod, Far too mainstream and he doesn't need the luxury.
I would be seriously pissed if my iPod Touch was to catch fire or something major go wrong. I use it everyday and its one of those gadgets that I have fallen in love with. Oh how Apple would hear a angry customer if something happen to mine!
I am Steve Job's arrogantly understated turtleneck.
Interesting to see how much irrational paranoia there is regarding what Apple has now said was a defect failure rate of 0.001%
A failure rate of 0.001% is not shabby.
0.001% = .00001, which is 1 in 100,000 units.
Now let's talk about irrational risk perception, to put this into perspective:
On average in the USA, there's ~92,000 kitchen fires per year. From a population of ~330 million, that means that its a 1 in ~3600 risk.
If an iPod nano only were to last for 1 year, that means that a kitchen fire is ~2.8x more likely than a nano fire.
However, since the nanos in question are all 2-3 years old, this means that over the ~2.5 year period in question, the risk of a household kitchen fire is ~7x more likely.
But then again, this is based on 'per capita', and most people don't live by themselves, but share their kitchen with another. If there's 2 people in the household, the odds of having a kitchen fire are ~14x more likely, and so on.
And of course, the kitchen isn't the only source of household fires. There's also another ~59,000/year caused by heating systems, and another ~38,000/year caused by electrical systems, etc: the kitchen is only ~30% of the household fires ,and in North America, it all adds up to over 1000 deaths/year ... around 3 deaths per day from fires in the home.
Factor in the rest of these and that 14x jumps to 47x higher risk.
So who's so risk-adverse that now that they understand that they're taking risks far higher than a cooking nano that they're now going to turn off their heat, turn off their computer and skip hot meals (including a bacon & eggs breakfast today) ...forever?
No, I didn't think you were going to either.
-hh
Umm...I don't carry around my kitchen/heating system/electrical system in my pocket next to the family jewels!
Ipod Celebrates 50 Year Anniversary - Proof!
If you havent sen this - you're missing a treat...Ok we know that back in 1958 the ipod wasn't top on you're grannies shopping list, but you have to admit this is a superb photoshop image.
http://www.skool-days.co.uk/2008/08/ipod-celebrates-50-year-anniversary.html
I called Apple Care this morning. They told me that they are aware of the issue and said my ipod is within the defect time range from Sept 2005 and end of 2006. They had my serial number and told me that mine was bought in Dec 2005. Then she asked me a bunch of question. Basically see if my is melting. My just run really hot. She said since it is not melting or have any visual damage, they will NOT replace them. This is crazy!! They knew something is wrong but if it is not broken, then they won't do anything about it?? So they will ONLY replace it IF your ipod burned down your house? Aren't they worry about lawsuit?? Sony and other laptop manufacture did the right thing to replace all the battery. Apple should do the same thing.