rm780 "only"

I know, I know, people have been telling me it's a bitch to fix the iPod. And even if you have extended warranty, the HDD is not covered. And since it's not covered, and I figured the HDD is the first thing to create problem in a HDD-based playback system, I didn't take up the iPod AppleCare offer.

So, the story continues as I took out my now defunct iPod and removed the clear plastic screen protector I bought in Akiba, and put the iPod into a nice velvet sleeve and headed towards the friendly fruit stall.

Sun the guy at the stall lifted up the iPod as I took it out of the sleeve and admired at the "newness" of the iPod.

"Whoa! still so shinny!" he said, and seemingly looking for something... "where's the dent?" he looked puzzled.

Dent? my iPod? dented? I realised he was looking for a smoking gun.

"No dent! of course, i think it cannot take 1 Hertz shocks," I said.

"1 Hertz?" he asked.

"Ya, it fell face down, in a very expansive leather pouch and dropped on the floor, 1 pop, didn't bounced, 1 Hertz, technically," I explained to him, in a clam, polite tone.

"Okay..." he said, still looking confused, "I will write you a repair note and send it in."

"Okay," I said, "just let me know if it'll cost me an arm and a leg."

"Sure!" he heartily agreed.

Days later, a call from him told me Apple doesn't repair faulty HDD, but they can sell me a new unit while taking back the old as a "trade-in".

"780 bucks," he said, after an exhaustive explanation of my plight.

"I'll think about it," I said.

Then my brain went overdrive doing maths: the Nano: 1,280, 4GB, my 3G: 780 to replace, 40GB. My iTunes library size to date: 45GB.

The decision was easy to make, I called him again that I'll take the deal.

"It'll take 7 days for this to be processed," he said.

"Can I upgrade?" I tried.

"Nope, that's the deal," he said sternly.

A Deal is A Deal, I guess... and Sun is a nice guy...

"Oh well... I am the one who dropped the iPod!" I lamented.

Sigh... let's hope the "new" unit is as shinny as my old unit.

Mine Looked Like NEW, remember?