To cut or not to cut?

April 18, 2007 6:29 PM

How tricky/expensive is it to replace the headphone jack on a 2nd generation iPod?

My 4+ year old iPod fell today, and now the headphone jack is busted. I use my iPod many times a day for a variety of reasons (some of them for work), so I have no problem justifying the expense and buying a new one. Still, if I don't HAVE to, I don't want to. Before today's little episode, it worked fine. I replaced the battery about a year ago, so I'm not averse to iPod meddling - but I also believe that, at some point, I should just buck up and buy a new one. I have no interest in watching video on my iPod, and storage capacity isn't a huge deal - I generally only keep about 3 gigs on my 10 gig drive to begin with. I guess I like the idea of having such an "old" iPod... tell me - is it time to cut the cord? Or is the headphone jack a quick, easy, and cheap replacement?

posted by fingers_of_fire to computers & internet (9 answers total)

IIRC, it's an expensive bugger to fix. If you can find a dead iPod 2G and use that headphone jack, it may be worth that. Failing that, it may be time to move on.
posted by mhz at 6:42 PM on April 18, 2007

Apple Headphone Jack Module for Gen 1 & 2 iPods. $29.95. "Simple 8 pin install (soldering required)."
posted by chrismear at 6:45 PM on April 18, 2007

I had a soldering gun savvy computer nerd fix my first iPod, it worked for a while longer, but then all sorts of things started to break one after another. I would consider this a sign of things to come and if you aren't dead set on keeping the thing I would start looking at new ones.
posted by shanevsevil at 6:48 PM on April 18, 2007

Slightly off-topic, but since you're about to replace a 10GB iPod that you're happy with: If you only use 3 gigs, then buy a nano! It's smaller, and more durable -- a metal body and no hard drive. They have an 8GB one.

I used to fill up my 20GB iPod, so I do miss the space, and could probably fill up the 80GB one too, but I opted for an 8GB nano because the 20GB one succumbed to a hard drive failure.

On the other hand, I miss the monochrome display, since it could be read without the backlight. The 4th gen iPod also had higher build quality and fewer software bugs than my nano.
posted by qvtqht at 7:14 PM on April 18, 2007

I damaged the headphone jack on my 20g ipod. I replaced it with a Nano... the nano takes abuse so much better than the ipod did, as its smaller. you can wing the thing around via the headphone cable. I would definately recommend a look at a nano.
posted by SirStan at 8:51 PM on April 18, 2007

qvtqht - thanks for the tip. I wasn't ruling out a nano in that I have to be as economical about this as possible. But I see that the 8 gig nano costs the same as the 30 gig iPod. And after so long with a big, bulky 2nd gen iPod, I worry that the small Nano will feel - I don't know, wimpy and fragile in my hand. And be more likely to be dropped, mishandled, etc. I know, I know, these are all very subjective considerations. Suffice it to say, if any one else cares to chime in on the 8 gig nano versus 30 gig iPod, I'd be most appreciative.
posted by fingers_of_fire at 9:40 PM on April 18, 2007

I haven't seen the inside of a 2nd-gen, but on my 3rd gen, the headphone jack was totally dead after a few months of use. I opened it up (really easy, just pry carefully around the edges), and the headphone jack's cable was unplugged from the main board. I just plugged it back in, and everything was cool. A couple of minutes of work, and no soldering or anything any more difficult than plugging headphones into the jack.

If yours is still plugged in and is actually in need of replacement, the moral here is that you just plug the new one in.
posted by hutta at 10:26 PM on April 18, 2007

Oh, soldering required. I just read shanevsevil's comment all the way to the end. Now I feel like an ass.
posted by hutta at 11:13 PM on April 18, 2007

if any one else cares to chime in on the 8 gig nano versus 30 gig iPod, I'd be most appreciative.

As you may know, the most important difference is that the Nano uses Flash memory rather than a hard drive. The advantages of this are much longer battery life, much lower weight/bulk, no possiblity of skipping, no susceptibility to magnetic fields, and much less fragility in general. (The current [2nd-generation] Nanos are EXTREMELY sturdy.)

All hard drives fail sooner or later; after four years of daily start-and-stop use, and now a fall, the possibility of drive failure alone is enough of a concern that it's enough of a reason to think about a Nano (and it's certainly a reason to not keep any only-copies of anything on your iPod).

This Mac price checker currently shows the 2GB, 4GB and 8GB models for $130, $175 and $210 respectively. You can get much lower prices on Craigslist, eBay, etc. (buy from someone who will give you the serial, so you can check with Apple when it was purchased and that it's still under warranty).
posted by allterrainbrain at 11:30 PM on April 18, 2007