I hear what you're saying about general surveys suggesting that Sony's customer care program is poor.
That is not my experience - my Sony Vaio broke at the hinge, and rather than give it to a dealer, I took it to a Sony Centre. They were aware I had to leave the country at the end of the week too. Within 4 days, I had a courtesy call and text message from Sony to say my computer was fixed and ready for collection. When I picked it up, they'd cleaned the titanium case; sleeved the computer away from dust and went through a thorough check-list of my computer with me. They also replaced the hinge which I didn't spot had worn and failed to clasp. They also managed to remove some horrible spyware stuff that they'd installed and also reconfigured my internet wireless for me within 5 minutes, despite me plaguing everyone to try and reconfigure it properly for me.
I was shocked at the quality of their customer services - I have never been treated so well. If it wasn't for my Sony Vaio, I wouldn't be bothering with Windows XP at all.
Anyway, not meaning to drivel on too much - I'm glad to hear that Apple are partnering with Sony for a new venture. Sony might not be doing very well on the sales front, but they do get some things so right for their customers.
Now the iPod......I tried it again, and I'm just not enthusiastic about it. Maybe next year when version 2 comes out...
MikeYork - I share your frustration with most things electronic. Trying to build my Pentium IV SATA Windows XP computer was enough to make me do the same. Guess I deal with it by blasting a rocket ball against a brick wall in a squash court. Delicate electronics need to be treated with care - like er....em....well go figure.
Here you go - I pulled this from the internet website. I can't find a source to reference it, but it should link up to the bmg.co.uk website news at the start of the month.
Sony to offer patch to reveal hidden copy-protection software
ASSOCIATED PRESS in San Jose
After a chorus of criticism, Sony's music division said it was distributing a free software patch to reveal hidden files that automatically installed to hard drives when some of its music CDs were played on personal computers.
The offending technology was designed to thwart music piracy.
Sony BMG Music Entertainment and its partner, British-based First 4 Internet, on Wednesday said they decided to offer the patch as a precaution, not because of any security vulnerability, which some critics had alleged.
"What we decided to do is take extra precautionary steps to allay any fears," said Mathew Gilliat-Smith, First 4 Internet's chief executive. "There should be no concern here."
The controversy started on Monday after Windows expert Mark Russinovich posted a blog report on how he found hidden files on his PC after playing a Van Zant CD. He also said it disabled his CD drive after he tried to manually remove it.
Mr Russinovich made the discovery while running a program he had written for uncovering file-cloaking "RootKits". In this case, the Sony program hid the anti-piracy software from view. Similar technology also has been used by virus and worm writers to conceal their code.
A firestorm quickly erupted over what appeared to be an attempt by the music company to retain control over its intellectual property by secretly installing hidden software on the PCs of unsuspecting customers.
Making matters worse, Sony did not disclose exactly what it was doing in its license agreement, Mr Russinovich said. It only mentions that proprietary software to enable copy protection would be installed. The software affects only PCs running the Windows operating system.
"The [license] makes no mention that it's going to install something that's going to be hidden from view, that will constantly consume CPU resources even if I'm not listening to music and it will have no uninstall capability," he said.
Because the technology looks for a specific prefix in the filename, it also could be used by malware authors to mask their programs, Mr Russinovich said. There was also the question of how a PC user was supposed to maintain a system that ran hidden programs.
"If you've got software on your computer that you can't see, there's no way for you to manage it from a security point of view," he said. "You don't know if you need updates for it. You don't know if you should uninstall it because you don't know it's even there."
The copy protection technology, which limits how many times a CD can be copied, was included on about 20 titles, including discs from The Bad Plus and Vivian Green, among others.
Mr Gilliat-Smith and Sony BMG spokesman John McKay said the technology had been on the market for about eight months and there had been no major complaints prior to Mr Russinovich's blog post. Still, a newer, similar technology was in the process of rolling out before the latest controversy erupted.
The patches that reveal the hidden files are being made available to antivirus companies as well as customers who visit the Sony BMG site. They do not remove the copy protection software, however.
Mr McKay said customers could download a program to safely uninstall all the software by visiting the Sony BMG website at http://cp.sonybmg.com.
The controversy highlighted the need for rules as to what content providers can and cannot install on PCs to protect their property, said Mr Russinovich, who is co-founder and chief software architect at Winternals Software, which specialises in advanced systems software for Microsoft Windows.
"We need to get some formality about what's legal, what's ethical and what's fair - and what level of disclosure there needs to be," he said. "It's fine for Sony to say we're not going to do that now. What kind of guarantee do we have they're not going to do it at a future date or that other companies are not going to do this?"
Old news at any rate. It's been plastard all over the web for the past few weeks. But... That was a pretty shitty thing to do on sonys part, a sure way to fuck up their digital media strategy. They lost a lot of credibility.
I have had the opportunity to deal with the Apple Stores directly and have little contact with the online or telephone support for the purchase of several new Apple products. In all cses I have found them to be excellant.
One two of these purchases some mistaken information about pricing, memory or some other issue was given by the sales staff at this newly opened -TORONTO- store.
The store manager unhesitatingly honoured the quoted information or price unhesitatingly. I was truly impressed as were my clients. In each case it involved discounts of of several hundred dollars (actually one was less than $200 and the other was just over. It was at the least very fair to the customer if not generous.
One several occasions I watched people attend at the Apple store with defective iPods of some sort or another. They were often offered the option to buy the extended warranty and given an exchange on the spot.
I don't know if this is the policy company wide or this is the way the new store in Toronto is handling things for the first little while after just opening but in all cases the policies seemed to be fair and equitable. The way I like to imagine all of Apple operates.
no:
none of the Ipods that were ultimately exchanged were in bits and pieces[B]
hmm, well, my cousin replaced his sister's ipod hard drive and then just updated it and it works fine now. but rather than do that, i suppose it's better to just throw it against a wall and then splatter some paint on it. up to you really.
her's got hosed by being constantly connected to weird dirty electricity as she travels around the world a lot.
I've had great experiences with Apple support for my iPod mini and I absolutely love my nano.
I've gone through several minis at this point. The first time was around its 1 year birthday. The battery would only hold a charge for about 3-3.5 hours. Apple replaced the unit. I also purchased AppleCare as I expected I'd wear a new battery the same amount the next year, and AppleCare would pay for the battery replacements plus any other problems hands down. About 2 months later the Menu key stopped working one morning when I was getting off BART. I dropped in to the SF Store that day and it was replaced again. Since I've had no problems and the geniuses have been nothing but helpful.
If you iPod is out of warranty you'll have to pay to fix it, just like practically everything else out there. Unless you're doing an art project though, you probably could have recouped some of the loss by selling the dead one on ebay. Since you found AI I'd expect you'd be able to track down more troubleshooting info too.
I don't get how you could get an extended warranty now on a 3G iPod anyway, the 4G iPod has been around for about 18 months, so you were at least 6 months out of warranty?
Does anybody know anything about getting an extra year of warranty on an iPod by using an American Express card? I recently signed up for one, and I noticed in the Agreement that simply sliding it will extend any manufacturer's warranty by one year. Of course some things are not covered by this, these Agreements are always so vague that it's hard to tell what exactly what they cover and what they don't.
Comments
Originally posted by a_greer
UPDATE...Just checked, ipod update reset would have fixed any software issue with a factory reset with a single click...dumbass
That's assuming it was indeed a software issue. It could very well have been an actual hardware hard drive problem.
I hear what you're saying about general surveys suggesting that Sony's customer care program is poor.
That is not my experience - my Sony Vaio broke at the hinge, and rather than give it to a dealer, I took it to a Sony Centre. They were aware I had to leave the country at the end of the week too. Within 4 days, I had a courtesy call and text message from Sony to say my computer was fixed and ready for collection. When I picked it up, they'd cleaned the titanium case; sleeved the computer away from dust and went through a thorough check-list of my computer with me. They also replaced the hinge which I didn't spot had worn and failed to clasp. They also managed to remove some horrible spyware stuff that they'd installed and also reconfigured my internet wireless for me within 5 minutes, despite me plaguing everyone to try and reconfigure it properly for me.
I was shocked at the quality of their customer services - I have never been treated so well. If it wasn't for my Sony Vaio, I wouldn't be bothering with Windows XP at all.
Anyway, not meaning to drivel on too much - I'm glad to hear that Apple are partnering with Sony for a new venture. Sony might not be doing very well on the sales front, but they do get some things so right for their customers.
Now the iPod......I tried it again, and I'm just not enthusiastic about it. Maybe next year when version 2 comes out...
MikeYork - I share your frustration with most things electronic. Trying to build my Pentium IV SATA Windows XP computer was enough to make me do the same. Guess I deal with it by blasting a rocket ball against a brick wall in a squash court. Delicate electronics need to be treated with care - like er....em....well go figure.
Good luck.
Originally posted by Justin
They also managed to remove some horrible spyware stuff that they'd installed ...
How did they end up installing some horrible spyware on your computer?
Here you go - I pulled this from the internet website. I can't find a source to reference it, but it should link up to the bmg.co.uk website news at the start of the month.
Justin
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>
Thursday, November 3, 2005
Sony to offer patch to reveal hidden copy-protection software
ASSOCIATED PRESS in San Jose
After a chorus of criticism, Sony's music division said it was distributing a free software patch to reveal hidden files that automatically installed to hard drives when some of its music CDs were played on personal computers.
The offending technology was designed to thwart music piracy.
Sony BMG Music Entertainment and its partner, British-based First 4 Internet, on Wednesday said they decided to offer the patch as a precaution, not because of any security vulnerability, which some critics had alleged.
"What we decided to do is take extra precautionary steps to allay any fears," said Mathew Gilliat-Smith, First 4 Internet's chief executive. "There should be no concern here."
The controversy started on Monday after Windows expert Mark Russinovich posted a blog report on how he found hidden files on his PC after playing a Van Zant CD. He also said it disabled his CD drive after he tried to manually remove it.
Mr Russinovich made the discovery while running a program he had written for uncovering file-cloaking "RootKits". In this case, the Sony program hid the anti-piracy software from view. Similar technology also has been used by virus and worm writers to conceal their code.
A firestorm quickly erupted over what appeared to be an attempt by the music company to retain control over its intellectual property by secretly installing hidden software on the PCs of unsuspecting customers.
Making matters worse, Sony did not disclose exactly what it was doing in its license agreement, Mr Russinovich said. It only mentions that proprietary software to enable copy protection would be installed. The software affects only PCs running the Windows operating system.
"The [license] makes no mention that it's going to install something that's going to be hidden from view, that will constantly consume CPU resources even if I'm not listening to music and it will have no uninstall capability," he said.
Because the technology looks for a specific prefix in the filename, it also could be used by malware authors to mask their programs, Mr Russinovich said. There was also the question of how a PC user was supposed to maintain a system that ran hidden programs.
"If you've got software on your computer that you can't see, there's no way for you to manage it from a security point of view," he said. "You don't know if you need updates for it. You don't know if you should uninstall it because you don't know it's even there."
The copy protection technology, which limits how many times a CD can be copied, was included on about 20 titles, including discs from The Bad Plus and Vivian Green, among others.
Mr Gilliat-Smith and Sony BMG spokesman John McKay said the technology had been on the market for about eight months and there had been no major complaints prior to Mr Russinovich's blog post. Still, a newer, similar technology was in the process of rolling out before the latest controversy erupted.
The patches that reveal the hidden files are being made available to antivirus companies as well as customers who visit the Sony BMG site. They do not remove the copy protection software, however.
Mr McKay said customers could download a program to safely uninstall all the software by visiting the Sony BMG website at http://cp.sonybmg.com.
The controversy highlighted the need for rules as to what content providers can and cannot install on PCs to protect their property, said Mr Russinovich, who is co-founder and chief software architect at Winternals Software, which specialises in advanced systems software for Microsoft Windows.
"We need to get some formality about what's legal, what's ethical and what's fair - and what level of disclosure there needs to be," he said. "It's fine for Sony to say we're not going to do that now. What kind of guarantee do we have they're not going to do it at a future date or that other companies are not going to do this?"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>
One two of these purchases some mistaken information about pricing, memory or some other issue was given by the sales staff at this newly opened -TORONTO- store.
The store manager unhesitatingly honoured the quoted information or price unhesitatingly. I was truly impressed as were my clients. In each case it involved discounts of of several hundred dollars (actually one was less than $200 and the other was just over. It was at the least very fair to the customer if not generous.
One several occasions I watched people attend at the Apple store with defective iPods of some sort or another. They were often offered the option to buy the extended warranty and given an exchange on the spot.
I don't know if this is the policy company wide or this is the way the new store in Toronto is handling things for the first little while after just opening but in all cases the policies seemed to be fair and equitable. The way I like to imagine all of Apple operates.
no:
none of the Ipods that were ultimately exchanged were in bits and pieces[B]
i have had zero issues with it.
the battery is still kicking strong (watch me jinx myself) and there are no signes of it slowing down.
i might be the only human left with an ipod that has play/pause,menu, forward, backward buttons
her's got hosed by being constantly connected to weird dirty electricity as she travels around the world a lot.
I've gone through several minis at this point. The first time was around its 1 year birthday. The battery would only hold a charge for about 3-3.5 hours. Apple replaced the unit. I also purchased AppleCare as I expected I'd wear a new battery the same amount the next year, and AppleCare would pay for the battery replacements plus any other problems hands down. About 2 months later the Menu key stopped working one morning when I was getting off BART. I dropped in to the SF Store that day and it was replaced again. Since I've had no problems and the geniuses have been nothing but helpful.
If you iPod is out of warranty you'll have to pay to fix it, just like practically everything else out there. Unless you're doing an art project though, you probably could have recouped some of the loss by selling the dead one on ebay. Since you found AI I'd expect you'd be able to track down more troubleshooting info too.
Originally posted by MikeYork
I had to let my anger out someway without harming anyone or myself in the process.
You seem to have major anger issues. Please get some help in dealing with them.
Seriously.