Home » News » Tech » iPod audiobook problems

« Real life acessabilty issue 2 - Bluewater loo's | Main | What county do you really live in? »

iPod audiobook problems

I cannot play long Audiobooks on my iPod. I love my 5gb original iPod which Paula gave me for Christmas in 2001 and it was one of the very first iPods in the UK. This is the first problem I have ever really had with it. I purchased The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe as an audiobook from the iTunes store last night - I wanted to see the film except Jonathan Ross just slammed it on Film 2005... It downloaded perfectly and played perfectly in iTunes. No problem. I downloaded the audiobook onto my iPod and had to turn on the Audiobook feature (Settings > Main Menu where you can turn things on and off on the main screen - that's fairly new I think!) selected the Narnia audiobook and pressed play upon which the iPod decided to send me back top the main screen. I tried several more times without success and the audiobook will not play.

I reinstalled the Audiobook and reset the iPod, and it still will not play. So I checked out the Apple discussion forum and it seems I am not the only on having this issue.

I have filled in Apples help desk form but don't expect to get a reply - same as if I asked something about the old SE20 I have in Storage. At 4 years I expect my iPod is obsolete and no longer supported. What a waste. I don't want a new iPod just to play audio books - I like my original iPod and it means a lot to me and it is becoming a rare item - but the unabridged Lord of the Rings is now available as an Audiobook on the iTunes store in 6 audiobook downloads at approx 10 hours each episode and I would like to listen to that at some time.

Anyone else have this problem?

Update!

But I did get a reply! And they are only a billing department and cannot help with technical support etc. So, I thought, they cannot do tech but they can do billing - I changed tack and wrote back:


Dear iTunes Music Store Support,

I understand your position regarding support.

Therefore would you please refund to me the cost of Order Number: ABC123456
as the product you sold me was not fit for use under UK law, or provide me
with a suitable alternative that is.

Regards
Simon Cox

Woa! Just had another reply from Apple:

Dear Simon,

Thank you for purchasing music from the iTunes Music Store.

We're sorry the song or audiobook you purchased didn't meet the standard of quality you have come to expect from the iTunes Music Store. We take the quality of our products very seriously and we will be investigating the issue you reported in depth.

We have taken the liberty of issuing a refund for your purchase. The credit should be posted within 3-5 business days.

Please do not repurchase this title in the next two weeks. This will give us time to resolve the issue with the title or remove it if we need to.

We hope that you continue to enjoy purchasing music from the iTunes Music Store.

Sincerely,
The iTunes Music Store team

Not the answer that I wanted but I am feeling much better about things now.

Posted by Simon at December 6, 2005 11:33 AM

Social Bookmarks:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • co.mments
  • del.icio.us
  • digg
  • Furl
  • Ma.gnolia
  • RawSugar
  • Reddit
  • Spurl
  • TailRank
  • YahooMyWeb


Trackback Pings

Comments

1 May 6, 2006 12:00 PM xavier

Lucky you,

When I contacted the iTunes people, they told me that since it would play on itunes but not on my ipod it was therefore an ipod issue. No refund to be had. I just wish that they added a little note on their audiobooks page that said 'this may or may not work with 1st or 2nd gen ipods.' If you find a solution that allows me to play these on an ipod please let me know.