I actually got my Shuffle back in the dock, after tooling around a bit. It still looked messy but the clip was nearly flat again. Of course I wasn't satisfied, so I called Apple. Since this happened only days after the Shuffle arrived I could return it as DOA, no further questions asked. I got my money back (I was supposed to get a replacement, but their administration messed up) and bought a Nano instead.
Of course you'll want to know what I did to get it fit in the dock. It's actually quite easy: first of all, get a flat surface (not too soft, so that the metal can't damage it). Put the Shuffle on the table, open the clip, and apply pressure on the outer sides of the clip. By opening the clip you prevent the metal around the hinge from bending (which did happen to mine when I impulsively tried to bend it back, because all the pressure you apply will go directly to the metal around the hinge).
And by the way, your pictures look really similar to mine (bent exactly the same way).
i just wanted to chime in because when i saw those pictures i could see that they were bent in exactly the same way as mine. Sadly i bent mine today and although it wasn't exactly my fault (i was moving out of the way to let someone past in the gym and it caught on the door) i'm not blaming Apple for this - and i certainly didn't drop it. However this doesn't help me as i can't dock my iPod (i just bought on of those iPod Bud things).
It would be nice if there was some way of repairing it - but i can't even see how you would open this thing? And if Apple did start taking repairs what are the odds you'd just get a replacement as i'm sure these things cannot be opened. Problem is at £55 would there be any repair service cheap enough to undertake this anyway?
Yes those bends pictured are obviously the result of the same stresses mine went under - and in the same direction (bend goes up straight and then veers off to the right).
Orson, don't try to open it up. I have some pictures of what I used to fix it. (see also tychounder.com/blog)
It involved a block of wood and a butter knife.
Set the Shuffle face up on the wood, with the bent clip sitting on the wood. Put the butter knife behind between the clip and the body of the Shuffle right over the bend. Apply pressure to the knife until the clip straightens out.
This way you are applying evenly distributed pressure just to the metal clip.
As you can see from the pictures, the clip is bent back to fit within the dock.
P.S. I bought the shuffleBud, but my laptop complains about a USB device overload if I'm not on AC power.
Comments
Of course you'll want to know what I did to get it fit in the dock. It's actually quite easy: first of all, get a flat surface (not too soft, so that the metal can't damage it). Put the Shuffle on the table, open the clip, and apply pressure on the outer sides of the clip. By opening the clip you prevent the metal around the hinge from bending (which did happen to mine when I impulsively tried to bend it back, because all the pressure you apply will go directly to the metal around the hinge).
And by the way, your pictures look really similar to mine (bent exactly the same way).
It would be nice if there was some way of repairing it - but i can't even see how you would open this thing? And if Apple did start taking repairs what are the odds you'd just get a replacement as i'm sure these things cannot be opened. Problem is at £55 would there be any repair service cheap enough to undertake this anyway?
Yes those bends pictured are obviously the result of the same stresses mine went under - and in the same direction (bend goes up straight and then veers off to the right).
It involved a block of wood and a butter knife.
Set the Shuffle face up on the wood, with the bent clip sitting on the wood. Put the butter knife behind between the clip and the body of the Shuffle right over the bend. Apply pressure to the knife until the clip straightens out.
This way you are applying evenly distributed pressure just to the metal clip.
As you can see from the pictures, the clip is bent back to fit within the dock.
P.S. I bought the shuffleBud, but my laptop complains about a USB device overload if I'm not on AC power.
that said, clip it to your hat. Just quit headbutting everything.