Guest Post: I'm a Klutz

Dag nab it, I hate innovation.  I finally got an iPod nano and that little wheel on the front-- the one that is supposed to be so cool-- is a trial for me.

I can type very well and push buttons with the best of them, but the click wheel on the front of the iPod nano is nothing but trouble for me.  All I’ve been able to figure out definitely is that:  1)  if I hold on too tightly to the wheel it won’t go round, but if I don’t hold on tightly enough to the iPod nano it’ll pop right out of my hands; and 2) the little wheel will move to somewhere I don’t want it to be when I put the iPod nano in my jeans pocket.

I bought a book about iPods thinking that it would help me understand how this little techno thingie works, but the book is so poorly written that if I was Cleopatra I’d have the author chained for life to an oar on my barge.   Every time I look at the book I get
so irritated that I grip the iPod nano even more firmly, and quick as a snap I’ve popped the little thingie right out of my hand.

I figured I was alone with my difficulties until I happened to mention my problems to a friend who is a massage therapist.  She laughed and said that she had an iPod that she hadn’t used since last fall because, like me, she found it difficult to use.  She’d thrown
hers into a drawer and forgotten about it.

While I haven’t gotten quite to that point, my iPod nano is currently spending some quiet time by itself in a room far away from me.   Until it decides to behave itself and meet me over half way, we’re not talking.   Little thingies with bad attitudes need time outs.

By Ally Bean 

Comments

[Monty]

Alright, let me try this one more time. After incredibly serious technical deiberations of the most technical and non-automotive nature, I have have carefully drawn a few conclusions.

1. Return the book. Who needs to spend money and be aggravated about it? Not me.

2. Return the IPOD. Same reasoning. A better product will be out later this year. You wanted to be hip and listen to all that cool music like everyone else? Wait for the better product, or buy the one that costs three times more. Better to preserve the capital. There's all this food to be sampled.

3. Send the IPOD back to Steve Jobs and ask him to send you the new improved IPOD NANO with the wheel that works for you. he's a serious guy. Explain that you are so disgusted with the NANO that you are sending him yours to be a beta test site for all future releases.

Calm voice as my lawyer Dagget always says to me, and just explain that you represent his target market. You'll solve your problem and be the envy of the blog world as you tell us that you can't tell us of all the neat and nifty keen things coming down the pike.

You're no klutz, it was a lousy design. Now pass the Starbucks awaken the reptilian brain coffee before I have an aneurism.

[newwavegurly]

I've been an iPod owner for a number of years now, but I have the regular-sized one, not the Nano. I actually am not all that sure why someone would purchase the Nano when for about $50 more, you can have more than 3x the amount of memory... who cares if it's not the size of a credit card?

That aside, other than the actual handling/gripping of your iPod (I can't really help you there), here's my suggestion in order to figure out the best means of utilizing the click wheel: Lay the iPod down on a flat surface, and slide your fingertip around it to get a feel for how much pressure you need to apply. It really doesn't take all that much. Once you figure out what feels comfortable for you in this manner, it should probably be a bit easier to do it while holding it in your hand as well. I don't know which finger you've been using, but I just use my thumb, that way the iPod is cradled in the rest of my hand while I make any adjustments.

Oh, and as for it changing or doing things while it's in your pocket, there's a little "lock" switch up at the top that allows you to deactivate the controls with the flick of a switch, and reactivate them just as easily.

I agree with Monty, return the book. The instructions that came with the thing, and any research you can do online, as well as trial-and-error, are what are going to help you use it properly.

And... if either you or your therapist decide you don't like them and are really going to just let them sit in a drawer somewhere, go ahead and send them to me instead. I can get some good use out of them. ;-)

[Margaret]

I have been wanting an I-pod, but maybe I don't. I hate trying to learn new technology, and just know I would be frustrated.

[Susan]

Whew! I almost went to buy one today!
Thanks for being the guinea pig on this item!

Maybe you should take it back. My brother has the Creative Nano. Maybe you will like that one better.

I don't think Mr. Jobs had us older people in mind when his company designed it.

[ally bean]

Hi to all and thanks for the suggestions. I'm sure that nano and I will get along better now that we've had a little time apart and my expectations are much lower.

I like the "Lay the iPod down on a flat surface" idea. And although my first thought was "and then hit it with a hammer"-- I could try to get a feel for the wheel.

And the book is already in the Half Price Book pile. Live and learn, as they say.

[J]

I LOVE my Nano...don't need 3X the memory, but I do need it to be small to fit in my purse (small purse). The wheel was a trial to get used to, and sometimes still does bug me, but I'm mostly used to it. Do I wish I had a product with a better designed wheel or whatever? Yes. Will I get rid of my Nano to get the better product? No. Love it too much. :) It was a gift, and I don't look gift horses in the mouth.

If you go to Best Buy, you can buy very cute accessories for your nano, like a red alligator looking case for it...much cuter, and half the price, of the covers at the Mac Store. :)

[Patrick]

I find all this hard to believe since everyone knows that everything Apple produces could be intuited by even a moderately intelligent rhesus monkey tripping on acid.

I'm not an Apple hater, just a hater of Apple lovers who proselytize as if Steve Jobs died for our sins and rose again on the third day. There is a guy at work who swears that there are only 13 known viruses for Mac OS. Must be better programming, right?

Good to see you here Ally Bean. Perhaps you should smash this contraption with a coconut.

[ally bean]

I really like the coconut idea. And then I could make a pie with the delicious insides of the coconut. Joy on two levels. Yum-o.

[Daisy]

This makes me feel so much better about not having the spondoolies to buy an iPod anything. Not even a bog standard mp3 player. Just my trusty wireless and an internet connection. Bliss.

[ally bean]

Daisy, you always make me laugh. A wireless, darling? So retro.

[panthergirl]

It definitely takes some getting used to. I don't have a Nano but I have a 30GB iPod and I do struggle with the wheel sometimes. Still, it would never be enough to make me abandon my beloved iPod... ;)