flawedmusicplayer.com, Matthew Peterson’s website that alleges that Apple’s iPod nano units have “broken LCD’s that have no signs of abuse by the user,” is ironically currently being hosted via Apple’s .Mac. .Mac offers the HomePage feature which can be used by .Mac members to create and publish a single webpage, a complete website, or several different sites.
According to text on the site, “I am having some problems with my .MAC [sic] account. Sorry if the links don’t work and I am working on moving the site to a different server.”
Here, try it yourself: http://www.flawedmusicplayer.com/
[UPDATE: 10:54pm ET: We received an email from ipodnanoflaw@yahoo.com, which we assume is from Matthew Peterson, which reads in part, “I have to ask. Why do you feel it noteworthy that the site is hosted on .MAC? It goes to show my devotion to Apple. Yes I have a .MAC account and I think it is great. I thought it was great before last weeks upgrade. People seem to keep debating about whether or not I am just some idiotic apple basher. It should be obvious to anyone that I am not. I love Apple and I love the iPod…” Mr. Peterson could, of course, love Apple very much and be legitimately highlighting a flaw in Apple’s iPod nano design. We merely though it ironic and interesting that his site was hosted on Apple’s .Mac service.]
Related articles:
SiliconValley.com editor: ‘The iPod nano is fast becoming Apple’s next Cube’ – September 26, 2005
iPod nano ‘screen issues’ really just FUD? – September 26, 2005
Alleged problems surfacing with Apple iPod Nano screen – September 26, 2005
Site reports iPod nano screen failures – September 23, 2005
Thurrott: Apple iPod nano is almost perfect – September 23, 2005
Inside Apple’s iPod nano; how healthy are Apple’s margins? – September 22, 2005
CNET iPod nano review: ‘Sets new standards, stretches boundaries of tech, Apple’s done it again’ – September 16, 2005
The New York Times’ Pogue states iPod’s Law: the impossible is possible – September 14, 2005
Associated Press praises Apple iPod nano, takes swipe at Microsoft WMA-based also-ran music services – September 14, 2005
Apple’s music competition having tough time and the iPod nano won’t help them – September 14, 2005
One of big stars at Microsoft’s PDC show: Apple’s iPod nano; Microsoft reps ‘in awe’ – September 14, 2005
Piper Jaffray: Apple seeing high demand for iPod nano – September 14, 2005
Australian IT: Apple iPod nano ‘a little bar of techno-joy’ – September 14, 2005
Apple iPod nano takes a beating and keeps on beating – September 12, 2005
Apple’s iPod nano: The ‘thin lady’ sings unwelcome iTune to competitors – September 09, 2005
Hands on with Apple iPod nano – September 09, 2005
Mossberg: Apple iPod nano ‘beautiful, incredibly thin, and exceeds Apple’s performance specs’ – September 08, 2005
Apple’s iPod nano will make competitors whimper, Motorola’s ROKR inexplicably bland – September 07, 2005
Tech pundit Enderle: ‘iPod Nano is a hit,’ Motorola ROKR ‘simply doesn’t have enough Apple in it’ – September 07, 2005
Jupiter analyst Gartenberg: ‘the market is going to go for Apple iPod nano in a big way’ – September 07, 2005
Analyst: iPod nano ‘could be Apple’s next home run’ – September 07, 2005
Video of Steve Jobs introducing iPod nano, ROKR iTunes phone now available online – September 07, 2005
Apple’s Steve Jobs predicts ultra-thin iPod nano ‘will become the highest volume iPod in the world’ – September 07, 2005
Apple’s iPod nano will make competitors whimper, Motorola’s ROKR inexplicably bland – September 07, 2005
Apple introduces iPod nano – September 07, 2005
I’d rather not. My nano is not at all “flawed” and has been just fine thank you. I think I’d rather just enjoy listening to it instead of reading about something (perhaps real and more likely imagined) that definitely doesn’t affect mine.
At least this guy has a real problem with his nano, unlike those crybabies who are whining over some scratches.
Shouldn’t be long before we hear something scientifically definative on this, I suspect.
Why is it such a big deal that I host the site on .MAC? I think it only shows my devotion to Apple and their products. That is why the Nano disappointed me greatly. I expected a quality product and that is not what I got. I don’t think hundreds of people with the exact same problem is made up. I’m sure all of the iBook logic board mess was made up. Oh and the iPod battery issue as well. Apple can do no wrong, it is all the user. Think again, Hell, Think Different!
mine is great.
why doesn’t the loser just take it back? maybe because he/she thought that they could put it in their pocket without buying a cheap protective case to prevent scratching or did they not realize that putting super-thin electronics in your pocket is a dumbass move?
My nano should be here sometime next week and I’m not worried.
If the display stops working/gets scratched, I’m sure Apple will give me a new one.
They really should do something about all the rumours though, not really what new buyers want to see :/
well if you keep JUST the nano in a pocket you shouldn’t need a protective case.
I’ve had a complaint page about an Apple product on my .Mac account for over a year now. Apple knows about it, but I must say that they have not once asked/told/suggested that I remove it. Here it is: http://homepage.mac.com/wysz/Studio_Display/
Case? Where can I find one? Are you from the future (4 to 6 weeks from now?) If you bothered reading my site rather than relying on someone elses opinion to form your own you would know I did take it back, and I was told this isn’t covered and we don’t fix screens. If we did it would cost more than just buying a new Nano so just buy a new Nano. I instead bought a new 20gb Color. I know that won’t break. The only losers here are people who don’t think for themselves.
This is FUD FUD FUD.
You abuse an iPod you break an iPod. nuf said. I have a 1st gen, a 2nd gen a 3rd gen a mini and a shuffle (no nano yet… but christmas is coming) All will scratch. The shuffle and mini are very tough compared to the regular iPods but they are NOT bricks. Treat them with care and they last for years!
I suspect that Microsoft/Not-so-Creative and the other also-rans are behind this.
Wow, something is weird here. Check out this email and response from the site:
“Your comment that Steve took a the iPod Nano from his pocket is
wrong. He did not pull it out from his pocket, I know because I was
there.
RESPONSE: Well I was not there, my comment comes from other respected news source articles. Anyway I just got done watching the hour long presentation (So nice of Yo Yo Ma and Madonna to appear) and I never saw him holding the Nano. Funny though because the picture advertising the Quicktime moving of him introducing it shows him holding it, and it appears to be a shot from the presentation. Anyway, him pulling it out of his pocket would have been nice to see in the video, but he constantly referred to “in your pocket” and then when he said “it weighs less than 8 quarters in your pocket” I think it is safe to make the assumption he is talking pants and not shirt. Who puts change in their shirt pocket? Whether or not he pulled it out of his pocket at the presentation, he still talked about it enough. Thanks for the clarification as I with most of the world was not able to attend.”
What is this? An alternate universe????? This guy claims to have watched the hour long presentation and “never saw him holding the Nano.”????? Steve DID pull the nano out of his pocket AND he was holding it and waving it around a lot:
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/specialevent05/
Whether the iPod nano screen is prone to scratching or not issue aside, this guys credibility just took a nose dive in my book.
Absolutely none of the photos on that website show displays damaged by scratches. All of those nanos were clearly damaged from excessive pressure of some sort being placed on the LCD screen. My nano is just fine and so is my girlfriend’s. We’ve both had ours for over two weeks now and have placed them in our pockets occasionally as well, but they aren’t damaged nor visibly scratched in any way. I’m really beginning to think that this entire thing is a hoax. Some people really need to find something better to do with their lives, that’s for sure.
I watched the keynote and Steve pulled it out from his jeans pocket and held it up (with the display on) for everyone to see. Go back and watch the damn video and see for yourself!
Obviously many of these negative posts are from people that don’t really own a nano and obviously have no clue what in the hell they’re even talking about. I’m calling bullshit on this entire thing.
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/nano.ars/3
This was an interesting site. Talk about Stress test. They drove over the Nano with a Car! But sitting on it, dropping it…didn’t really damage it. it’s like that timex thing…takes a licking, keeps on ticking… They took the Nano apart afterwards and the structure of the 2GB and 4GB models are different. Maybe that would make a difference…maybe it’s just a QC problem….or maybe all the screen problems aren’t true at all. But whatever…this site sure was interesting.
Hahahahaha!
Were sorry the .Mac website your trying to reach
flawed_ipod_music_player.com
is unavailable at this time.
Yours truly,
The Sinister Apple Team
BTW, the relevant section of the quicktime stream mentioned above starts at 00:38:00 or so.
And Matthew Peterson, I don’t know if it will help with putting the nano in a pocket where it will get bend stressing but this plastic shield seems like it is a great fix for scratching:
http://www.theinvisibleshield.com/ipod_screen_protectors.html
I hope to get an iPod nano soon (maybe Christmas if I can wait that long) and will at least get a case and maybe the shield above too if I plan on carrying it around not in the case – it is so beautiful it seems a shame to put it in a case. But I will NOT be putting it in a pocket where it can get bent and broken. Get real, no way the damaged ones you show on your site got that way without stress being put on them. The real question I guess is how much stress. I hope someone does some testing on this soon ala Ars Technica and puts these rumors to rest.
That all said, because of the bad publicity campaign that seems to be going on, I would not be at all surprised if Apple somehow toughens the nano in future versions by using different materials. They might do this quietly rather than overtly though – in America, where suing is the national sport, it doesn’t pay to open yourself up to lawsuits.
I bought an iPod mini as soon as they came out, do not have a protective cover and my display has NO SCRATCHES on it. It’s been taken all over the place– from camping to the car to work, etc. I think a lot of people are a bunch of careless crybabies.
If this kind of thing happened with Dell/Samsung/Creative/whatever’s player, you’d all be flaming them to no end. You all need to just chill.
So the heck what if this guy’s stuff was made on a PC? That’s inconsequential. Maybe he made it on his spare time at work PC.
Man such pettiness. It’s really pathetic. And this post will predictably get flamed as well. Pathetic.
Having just read the MDN Update, I have to say this guy is smelling fishier and fishier. .MAC instead of .Mac?
The obvious mistake/lie that I pointed out above really doesn’t make sense at all tho because not only does it lower his credibility, the actuality, that Steve DID take it out of his pocket, strengthens his cause. The only explanation I can thinks of for doing this is that this guy is waging a FUD campaign and doesn’t care about the reality and got sloppy.
We need for iLounge.com or someone with a good reputation to publish a test complete with photos to put these rumors to bed. As Jack and others have stated, clearly the damaged nanos pictured on that site were NOT damaged simply by scratching them. There was obviously a lot of pressure placed directly on the screen on each of those shown, otherwise the LCDs wouldn’t be damaged like that. I’d love to see a real world independent test done to either prove or refute these rumors to settle this. I imagine that’ll be done within the next day or two.
I wonder if Matthew Peterson will be starting his own .Mac Group? Might as well be using the account to it’s max, eh? We could all join up and have a helluva party. ahaha.
I work at an Apple reseller and so far I have personally dealt with 5 people who have had their iPod nano for less than one week and all have the same weird cracked, but not really cracked display issue. All 5 people said that they keep their iPod nano in their front jean pocket (as do I). Neither myself or my girlfriend who both have iPod nanos have experience a cracked screen but although I am very careful with my black iPod nano I already have problems reading the display because of smudges and scratches. The only place my iPod goes is inside my front jean pocket. I think Apple might have a problem on their hand if they don’t respond quickly to this problem.
p.s I love Apple and have a powerbook G4, two iBooks (one G4 one G3), 4 iPods (1 gen, 4 gen, iPod shuffle, black iPod nano), and I work at a reseller. So I really like Apple but in this case I think they have a real problem on their hand. Yes the nano looks great but when spending 250 dollars it should look great for more than one day
The site works for me, no problem! Kudos to Apple for not touching it. And to Matthew Peterson for pointing out what he legitimately believes is a flaw. Us Apple fans complain from time to time because we EXPECT THE BEST! And we usually get it.
homepage.mac.com/daddysteve
I don’t understand why all you people are flaming this guy. He’s obviously a real Mac user (who else would fork over $100 for a .Mac account). He has a concern that hasn’t been addressed and is doing something about it.
No telling about all the other folks posting on his site, but for crying out loud, the argument “my Nano is fine, so he must be making it up” is pretty pathetic–“My PowerBook battery is fine so the fact that yours is overheating must be FUD”. It’s no wonder we get referred to as “religious zealots” (yes, I’m a Mac/Linux user and would shoot myself if I had to go back to a PC).
I have a black iPod nano with no problems … however, I would never put it in a pants pocket … the problem with all of this is we have no idea how widespread this ‘issue’ is … remember, you only hear from people who are unhappy about a given issue on discussion boards … not from those who have no issue.