You'll have to get past the first wave of apologists who'll blame you or call you fat on the matter. But in the end then you are 100% right. The choice of metal to use on a clip needs to be pretty sturdy in order to retain its shape. And obviously the metal they used is a bit too flexible for something that has grasps on it and is meant to be clipped/unclipped often. And to those who think bending it back is easy then its not. i guarantee you that it will never be the same.
Keep us up to date on what you do. Im sure there will be others who have this problem and get accused of being negligent and fat before people actually realize the manufacturer may be at fault.
I just bought one today and wasn't feeling the shuffle, contemplating just returning it while paying the restocking fee. This bit of news makes me all the more likely to return it because I tried putting it in my minipocket and sitting down does exert a bit of force on the player.
try using two long nose pliers, preferably with felt wrapped around them to prevent scratching. if the metal's soft enough to bend like that, it'll be easy enough to bend it back.
i can't say i've had any problems with my previous iPods' sturdiness. my 1st gen Shuffle survived a 46 min wash cycle with only a flattened battary (kinda disappointing, actually, i wanted an excuse to get a 2nd gen one!), and my 3rd gen iPod, despite being thrown about in my bag for the past 3 and howevermany years, works fine despite a few scratches. does need a new battery though.
I don't see how a three foot (about 1 meter) fall can bend an aluminum clip like that. If the material is so easily bent, I can't see why it is not a simple matter to straighten it out.
Are you sure that clipping it to your change pocket and sitting down didn't cause the bend? I agree that you are not fat because wearing a shuffle like that in a seated position would dig into your gut and be uncomfortable. Don't ask me how I know, but I'll bet you can guess
We need to know ALL the facts before we can consider your recommendation to avoid the product.
But seriously, how the hell does sitting down bend it where you've bent it? Something would need to get in between the Shuffle and it's clip... What was that? Maybe you can reenact it and find out how it happened, and post some pics? We may be able to help a little better then...
Who cares how it bends when you sit down? If you carried a knife, pen, pencil, whatever in your pocket, something might go wrong if you sit down!!!! Everyone's put a pen in their pocket and forgotten to take it out, but we aren't suing the biro companies for bad design... It was designed to clip on to your belt, not advertised to survive stupidity. Get a grip and find something better to talk about.
If it really bends that easily then the new shuffle is f**ed up, it should be designed to handle every day usage which includes human movement. No one should defend apple on this. Cell phones and all kinds of other small gadgets are meant to take regular abuse so why shouldn't an ipod?
There's no way that clip was bent in the fall and impact, not enough mass, not enough acceleration, and no impact would have caused that bent profile. It failed either in bending (e. g. a beam), buckling (e. g. a column a al Euler buckling), or a combination of the two. IMHO, that failure could only have occured in sitting (i. e. creasing between the hip and upper leg) causing an axial force leading to buckling.
So now that it's bent, what to do? I'd suggest treating it as a beam, supported face up with reaction supports at either end (full width of clip), place a piece of metal bar stock (say 1/4 inch square), place bar between iPod and clip at apex of bend, apply uniform force (bar spans bend, apply equal force on either side bar stock) downward until straight (or you might overbend slightly, which will then let you place in a vise for final streightening).
EDIT, upon looking at you're photo again, and seeing the location of the bend (very close to the hinge point), it would appear that the clip was overbent (i. e. it exceeded it's maximum possible opening angle of the clip design). How far does the clip open to, does the top end hit the iPod itself? Or is there some other limit stop built in? Also, my suggested solution won't work, since the bend is too close to the hinge point, sorry.
I don't understand how it bent in that direction. Did you have the clip facing the same direction as in the ad? If that's the case, it should've bent the other way.
But seriously, how the hell does sitting down bend it where you've bent it? Something would need to get in between the Shuffle and it's clip... What was that? Maybe you can reenact it and find out how it happened, and post some pics? We may be able to help a little better then...
He bent the clip when he sat down. Clip an old spring clothes peg in you pocket. Sit down and I'll bet that it will fly off. The Shuffle because of its small size and obviously relatively robust clip, remained in part hanging in his pants pocket. However, when he got up it couldn't hold any longer with the clip now bent open.
Clipping the thing to a tight surface and exerting force on both sides of that surface in opposite directions to the tensile force is going to cause something to bend. Standing up, you exert no force. Sitting down (unless wearing very baggy clothes), you exert a force.
Would you rather have a piece of aluminum bend, or a piece of plastic break?
It is a shame that the dock requires the clip to be in its original position to work, but this griping is excessive. I hope Apple updates the dock, or offers discounts on the "keys" to people that experience problems.
Comparatively, my $500 blackberry comes with a holster that loses grip on the blackberry after ~6 months, allowing it to fall out. Does RIM offer a free holster replacement? No. If the failure of the holster causes my blackberry to become damaged, do they replace the blackberry? No. If I lose out on a $1MM deal because the blackberry was broken, do they compensate me? No. What they did was re-design the holster so it doesn't have the same flaw.
Apple (and everybody else) does the same. Usually without much fanfare.
Why are so many of you douche bags? To anyone who isn't a complete moron it's obviously a flaw in the design. If they used something like titanium for the clip parts we wouldn't be having this one-sided ignoramus discussion.
Comments
The hinge seems to be very fragile as well and applying any pressure to the whole shuffle,
but the hinge was strong enough to pass on the stress onto the clip and bend it,
i've been looking at my shuffle and i'm surprised that your hinge did not break with all that force needed to bend the clip.
and sure the adds point to clipping it in tiny pockets...but you wouldn't leave it in your pocket when u wash and iron your jeans...
not that you did.... but just because you can clip it to tiny pockets does not mean u can forget about it.
i'm skinny and i know that when i sit with my keys in my front jeans pocket...they bend too
You'll have to get past the first wave of apologists who'll blame you or call you fat on the matter. But in the end then you are 100% right. The choice of metal to use on a clip needs to be pretty sturdy in order to retain its shape. And obviously the metal they used is a bit too flexible for something that has grasps on it and is meant to be clipped/unclipped often. And to those who think bending it back is easy then its not. i guarantee you that it will never be the same.
Keep us up to date on what you do. Im sure there will be others who have this problem and get accused of being negligent and fat before people actually realize the manufacturer may be at fault.
it's not obvious with a sample size of one! But I can see the website already - http://clippedbyshufflebentclip.com
Besides that, any suggestions in repairing it nicely?
Put something underneath it (someone else suggested a drill bit) and support it at the hinge end while applying force at the other end.
-Rolf
i can't say i've had any problems with my previous iPods' sturdiness. my 1st gen Shuffle survived a 46 min wash cycle with only a flattened battary (kinda disappointing, actually, i wanted an excuse to get a 2nd gen one!), and my 3rd gen iPod, despite being thrown about in my bag for the past 3 and howevermany years, works fine despite a few scratches. does need a new battery though.
I don't see how a three foot (about 1 meter) fall can bend an aluminum clip like that. If the material is so easily bent, I can't see why it is not a simple matter to straighten it out.
Are you sure that clipping it to your change pocket and sitting down didn't cause the bend? I agree that you are not fat because wearing a shuffle like that in a seated position would dig into your gut and be uncomfortable. Don't ask me how I know, but I'll bet you can guess
We need to know ALL the facts before we can consider your recommendation to avoid the product.
There's no way that clip was bent in the fall and impact, not enough mass, not enough acceleration, and no impact would have caused that bent profile. It failed either in bending (e. g. a beam), buckling (e. g. a column a al Euler buckling), or a combination of the two. IMHO, that failure could only have occured in sitting (i. e. creasing between the hip and upper leg) causing an axial force leading to buckling.
So now that it's bent, what to do? I'd suggest treating it as a beam, supported face up with reaction supports at either end (full width of clip), place a piece of metal bar stock (say 1/4 inch square), place bar between iPod and clip at apex of bend, apply uniform force (bar spans bend, apply equal force on either side bar stock) downward until straight (or you might overbend slightly, which will then let you place in a vise for final streightening).
EDIT, upon looking at you're photo again, and seeing the location of the bend (very close to the hinge point), it would appear that the clip was overbent (i. e. it exceeded it's maximum possible opening angle of the clip design). How far does the clip open to, does the top end hit the iPod itself? Or is there some other limit stop built in? Also, my suggested solution won't work, since the bend is too close to the hinge point, sorry.
But seriously, how the hell does sitting down bend it where you've bent it? Something would need to get in between the Shuffle and it's clip... What was that? Maybe you can reenact it and find out how it happened, and post some pics? We may be able to help a little better then...
He bent the clip when he sat down. Clip an old spring clothes peg in you pocket. Sit down and I'll bet that it will fly off. The Shuffle because of its small size and obviously relatively robust clip, remained in part hanging in his pants pocket. However, when he got up it couldn't hold any longer with the clip now bent open.
Would you rather have a piece of aluminum bend, or a piece of plastic break?
It is a shame that the dock requires the clip to be in its original position to work, but this griping is excessive. I hope Apple updates the dock, or offers discounts on the "keys" to people that experience problems.
Comparatively, my $500 blackberry comes with a holster that loses grip on the blackberry after ~6 months, allowing it to fall out. Does RIM offer a free holster replacement? No. If the failure of the holster causes my blackberry to become damaged, do they replace the blackberry? No. If I lose out on a $1MM deal because the blackberry was broken, do they compensate me? No. What they did was re-design the holster so it doesn't have the same flaw.
Apple (and everybody else) does the same. Usually without much fanfare.