ipod # 1: RIP

the nice folks at the apple store's genius bar confirmed that my ipod is dead. the hard drive is fubar. nothing can be done. thankfully, i've vigilently backed up my music to an external hard drive.

18 months seems like an awfully short life for a $300 piece of technology. when i remarked something to that effect in the store, the apple guy said that it's not unusual. i don't take it to the gym or do much besides plug it into my car stereo or listen to it on the airplane, so it hasn't been knocked around that much.

but here's what really sucks: After reloading my songs on to my new laptop, itunes tell me that i've 3 of my 5 fairplay allotments (old laptop + ipod + new laptop). i'm going to put the songs on mrs. wintermute's ipod. that means when i get a new ipod, i'll have used up my five uses. when mrs. w's mini inevitably dies, we'll have to repurchase those songs (having anticipated this limit, we've been downloading all of our new songs directly to her ipod). i think this is kind of ridiculous. i understand limits on sharing songs, but five machines? come on.