“The iPod nano is the subject of a class-action lawsuit in Baton Rouge federal court. Plaintiffs say the gadget – which is less than 2 inches wide and 4 inches long and can hold up to 1,000 songs – scratches too easily, rendering it unusable. Emily Mayo of Baton Rouge is taking one of the world’s biggest computer makers to court — over some scratches. Mayo claims the abrasions have snuffed the life from her iPod nano, and is suing Apple Computer in Baton Rouge federal court, alleging its popular petite digital music player’s design is knowingly flawed,” Penny Brown Roberts reports for WBRZ. “The class-action lawsuit claims the nanos, which sell for $199 or more, scratch excessively with normal usage, rendering their full-color display screens unreadable. Without the navigational menus on the screen, users can’t make the device work.”
“‘Apple marketed the nano — because it’s small and streamlined — to be used in outdoor activities and athletic activities,’ said her lawyer, Philip Bohrer. ‘But these devices are not designed to withstand even routine use. There’s a flaw in the design that needs to be changed.’ Disgruntled customers have filed a total of five similar class-action lawsuits in California, New York and New Jersey,” Roberts reports. “In a memorandum seeking to consolidate all six federal class-actions and transfer them to the Northern District of California, where Apple is based, lawyer Penelope Preovolos said the company ‘denies that the iPod nano scratches excessively absent user abuse. The iPod nano is an extraordinarily popular and successful product and is free of defects.'”
Full article here.
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Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple disclaimer advises using protective case to protect iPod nano from scratches – November 11, 2005
Worthless iPod nano case that nobody’s going to use, but which indemnifies Apple from lawsuits ships – November 11, 2005
Report: Apple relaxes 5G iPod return policy; to include protective cases with future iPod nano units – October 26, 2005
Apple iPods have always been far too scratchable, protective cases required to keep iPods pristine – September 30, 2005
what a bunch of dweebs. get a life people… sheeeeesh
“rendering their full-color display screens unreadable”
“Without the navigational menus on the screen, users can’t make the device work.”
I wonder what this lawyer bought his kids for christmas. Better yet, what does he teach them about wrong and right.
So if I buy a Nano.. and scratch the screen on purpose.. i can sue apple too? Great!
In other news, another driver is suing car manufacturers in Federal Court because their products crash too easily when speed is excessed in heavy traffic rendering them useless.
In another related case, the bugs of the world are being sued because they hit car windshields at 55 mph, spattering and smearing their guts blinding drivers and making their lives generally miserable.
In yet another related case dust is being sued because it infiltrates computers and TV’s, rendering them useless and requiring the user to perform cleaning routines and proper maintenance.
When did she buy her iPod nano? Was it after the initial spate of negative publicity about the device? Did she do even minimal research into the devices before she bought one? Could it reasonably be argued she bought one even though she was “warned” by the media that they scratch and she _chose_ to ignore that information? Did she contact Apple and try to get it replaced as one of those few with defective screens that actually did become unusable?
I know people who are waiting until the second generation iPod nano simply because they don’t want one that will scratch as easily as this generation. Maybe she should have too — or bought something else (then she’d REALLY have a reason to complain about!).
I guess “normal use” includes strapping it to the bottom of your tennis shoe and jogging over broken glass. Plastic scratches. Don’t like it? Then use plastic scratch remover or buy a freaking case. Enough of these low-life whiners already!!!!
In unrelated news, Microsoft isn’t being sued for being directly responsible for billions of dollars in data loss, privacy data lost and coloborating with the Chinese government in censoring the net and suppressing free speech.
Apple is percieved as a “nice guy” and wishing to enhance it’s corporate image but makes itself vunerable to the scum of the world seeking a handout.
rendering it UNUSABLE? This is ridiculous. I just wanna bitch slap these people.
I think Ill take my car back to the dealership because it got a scratch on it and it has to be their fault.
I’d like to ‘get’ these lawyers, wasting valuable time and money.
They’d do better to help ladies across the street.
Or even advise their clients to get a life.
Or indeed, get one themseleves…
furthermore show me ANY ad where apple is marketing it for outdoor use. I suppose outdoor use means using the nano as a spike to secure safety lines to rocks while mountain climbing.
I really really would like to see photos of these nanos. Im sure it’s just another example of hillbilly nation america non taking care of something and wanting to blame someone else for their stupidity.
My car scratches when it rubs against thing, I paid over $24,000 for it, you think it would be better quality for that kind of money. Where can I find a hungry lawyer?
Go figure….
There is a company that creates an OS that turns millions of computers into spam zombies, costing companies and individuals billions of dollars in damages every year…. Think someone would do a class action lawsuit????
Nooooooo, my Namo got scratches!!!!!! lets sue..
What a world of Lemmings and idiots!
my car scratches too, lets consolidate this.
I received a 5G iPod for Christmas, and after reading MDW on the subject for months and seeing all those reports of the scratch lawsuits on the web, and now finally using one myself (for only two days), I’d like to make two comments.
1. I was shocked at how easily it scratches, simply from slipping in and out of a felt case.
2. The scratches are very minor and seem to result from the case being a little tight (I’ll be getting a different case ASAP).
The marks I’m seeing are probably more accurately described as permanent rub marks. When I think of a scratch I usually infer the removal of a small amount of the surface material, but in this case it seems more like a compression mark.
The best analogy I can think of is what happens when you make a mark on a piece of paper by rubbing the tip of your fingernail on it sideways. It’s not a scratch, exactly, but it’s noticeable and permanent. On the iPod it’s even less pronounced than in the paper example, but it’s still noticeable and permanent. Actually I hadn’t even noticed it myself until a friend pointed it out.
If I were an obsessive compulsive ultra-perfectionist I would probably be freaking out about my new iPod right now, but since I’m not so uptight It doesn’t really bother me. It’s just a minor inconvenience find a looser case.
I don’t know the brand of my case right now (I don’t have it with me) or I would have mentioned it.
Davidlow:
Not permanent. Try Brasso™, Novus™ Plastic Polish or even toothpaste.
Thanks, will do.
How can you possibly use this outdoors and not get scratches? You HAVE to drag the Nano around in the dirt by a leash. There is no other way to use it.
So Apple should use glass, and they know it! But it must be unbreakable, magic glass. The criminals at Apple are hiding this magic glass from us!
NO other plastic products scratch, so why does the iPod?
i always like to read MDN’s take on stuff like this… always brings laughter to my day… but i think this time “no comment” says it better… way to go MDN for not even bothering with these ass clowns… you shall always remain my favorite
B
MDN Magic Word: “Make” as in “M$ should MAKE like a tree and get the fook outta here”
Meguiars makes a clear plastic polish that takes out small scratches. It can be purchased at most auto parts stores. Costs around $5 a bottle.
I love how our society works:
Here are the options available to said idiot consumer:
1. Return product back to store within appropriate time for full refund or store credit.
2. Hire a bunch of lawyers to sue a company whose product did not cause any detrimental inconvenience (i.e. to buyer’s health or finances), and whose only defect could have been resolved using option 1 above.
3. Let Darwin take its course and jump off cliff.
How is option 2 a more viable solution than option 1? Option 1 would provide relief to the consumer, and the defective product would fail on its own merits in a free marketplace. Option 2 should only happen if a product causes harm not in accordance with its normal usage (i.e. if the Nano exploded and took off a pinky finger).
If only these idiot consumers would opt for option 3 instead of option 2. Because of said idiots, everything from health care to Nanos to coffee is more expensive than it should be.
I’d like to see Apple take one of these nuisance suits right to the bitter end and win.
I’d like to see the bullshit artists and their lawyers that bring these suits be forced to pay millions in Apple’s legal fees.
Just for once I’d like to see justice prevail.
Rubbing the screen violently with a paper towel should not be rewarded.
Of course, taking it to the courts is overdoing it a bit ….
BUT COME ON ….
They do scratch far too easily.
It’s a disappointment for many when the cool Apple iPod you’ve just bought looks like a piece of junk after a few weeks.
It’s a matter of aesthetics.
Apple seems intent on making each generation of iPods more ‘scratchable’ than the previous one.
This is a mistake which Apple (and its investors) may well regret in the future.
it scratches WAY too easy! My old first gen iPod doesn’t have as many scratches as my 2 month old nano. and how the hell can they sell the ipod without any cases for it when it launches? had to wait 6 weeks for one from the apple store, great work!
though without the scratches, it’s a pretty nice machine.
the batterylife sucks though, i get about 5 hours worth of music from it.
you people have got to be kidding me… who ever doesn’t belie the new ipods scratch easily doesnt have one. i went from a 4gb mini to the new 30gb 5th gen ipod… take very good care of it, and ALWAYS keep it in the case except when i need to get to the menus, and it has scratched MUCH more in less time than my mini did… i love apple’s products as much as the next guy, but c’mon.. time you realize they can screw up just like any other company can from time to time.
I dunno, I must have different eyes, different iPods, from different sources, made of different materials.
In our house we have four iPods: two 3G models [one 40GB and one 20GB] and two much newer 4GB Nanos, shared between myself and my wife. The combined purchase total for both was in the region of $1200. Now I don’t know about anyone else out there – in Baton Rouge or elsewhere – but when I pay that kind of money I take care of my purchase. I look after it… lovingly. Very lovingly.
I’d be hugely pissed if I [or my wife] scratched any of them. Truth is NONE of the 3Gs or Nanos has one noticeable mark on them.
iPods do NOT scratch “way too easy”… in my experience. And my experience is through working in advertising and design – where everyone, and I mean everyone…. has an iPod, and none so far have complained about scratches. Not a scientific survey I admit, but I work in an industry that routinely uses all things Mac. Everyone in my agency shares music -through the iTunes sharing protocol – across our network.
I occasionally go down to the SoHo Apple store and will notice how many iPods [not to mention laptops/PPCs, etc] are flying off the shelves there. I’ve asked the sales staff there about scratches and their comment is ‘a bad early batch – and if anyone has one of the early ones [identifiable by serial number], just bring it in and it’ll be replaced’.
No fuss, no hassle.
In this specific instance, it seems to me the people filing class-action lawsuits are kind of ‘ambulance-chasers’ or ‘bandwagon-jumpers’. They want a piece of the action.