
It’s embarrassing, yes, but I’m not the first, nor last, to have done it; Monday night – I dropped my iPodTouch into the sink.
The sink was full of water, I was washing my face, the iPod slipped out of my pocket, and plop; it sunk. Horrified and shocked I stared in disbelief, as it seemed to look fine, grabbed it out and dried it off as quick and as best I could, but alas, the poor thing gave signals I did not understand: a black screen, then a faint apple logo, then a black screen with faint apple logo and many thin lines flickering, then a clear black, then, like an S.O.S.; two last bursts of a very bright white light – and it was gone.
The shame of it all. Just before bed, too.
I twisted and turned all night, thinking what I could do to help it back to life – before bed I heated it on the radiator, plugged it into my MacBookPro to charge and try to mount it, but nothing helped. Finally I set it aside, and went to sleep.
Tuesday
In the morning I had to confess my mishap to my fellow UOVOite, Kevin. After a kneeslapping laughter fit, he got around to helping me track down some solutions on the internets.
First thing I found out was that if, at the bottom of your earphone jack, it appears pink – you are screwed. That means water damage, and your warranty won’t cover it. You can plop a piece of tissue down there, if you feel brave/dumb enough to fool your local apple shop into giving you a new one. Otherwise, there isn’t much to do except try to dry it out.
Putting it in an oven seemed to be the most widely proposed idea – 100 degrees for a few minutes. I tried the radiator, as I said… but it didn’t seem to help. It was pretty hot though.
Then Kevin came across a bit of advice that sounded familiar – from watching BBC FOOD – not some computer support thing; pack it in RICE, in a sealed container, let it sit like that for at least 24 hours. The rice absorbs the moisture in the container (thus also from within the interior of the iPod).
I did just that, and still I felt little hope. I snuck a peek at it last night, tried to turn it on – no luck. Back in the container.
Wednesday 11:10
Then this morning I checked again – nothing. Then I decided one last time- I’d plug it in to the computer. Boom.

it’s back. Well… at least it seems to be charging. As I write this, iTunes just started up and asked if I wanted to download and install the newest software for the iPod, and I can see it there in the sidebar, all mounted – but with a very empty battery icon.
11.37
Actually I may have spoken too soon. I just clicked the iPod icon, and it disappeared. Hopefully that was just a coincidence and it had something to do with the update. Please.
(As a sidenote; that is the look of a man on the edge: father of a 17 month old with chaotic sleeping patterns, business owner with constant workload, and habitually forgettful self-haircutterer – and… oh yeah, I’ve been up since 4 am)
9 months later…
Nope. It’s dead. The iPod won’t get past the charging past 1% stage, gets hot, won’t show up in iTunes, and is by all accounts dead. Even the repair shop I took it to said “Forget it. Buy a new one”. They wouldn’t even buy it off me – for parts!
Damn.