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They Just Don’t Make ‘em Like They Used To

We’ve all heard that old refrain, whether the source be a grandpa or a movie character.  And, truth be told, the idea is an alluring fantasy - I can picture an age when hard working American assembly-line men put together the big pieces of Machinery that are now made in China.

No wait.

They don’t make cars in China.  The parts maybe, but the cars still get put together in North America (though often Canada, perhaps as a result of the National Health Insurance plan). And modern electronics haven’t ever been (for the most part) assembled anywhere other than east Asia (Once, Japan, then Taiwan and Korea, and now China).

First Gen iPods, on the other hand, are a truly amazing work of manufacturing prowess that is unlikely to ever again be equaled.

Huh?  Well, let me explain.  I recently quit smoking, and in an effort to make up for many long years of trashing my lungs I’ve begun running on my building’s treadmills.  On one fateful evening I spun myself a nice mix of recently downloaded music, loaded the mix onto my first gen iPod Nano, and went running to my smooth progressive beats. While running I sweat like a pig. When I came back downstairs to my apartment, I peeled off my sweaty workout clothes and dropped them near the laundry basket.

The next day I went running again.  It took me a while to find my misplaced iPod (why had I left it on my wife’s desk?), and when I grabbed it I was surprised and saddened to see that a certain amount of moisture had condensed underneath the screen.  “Wow” I thought, “I sweat so much that it seeped into my iPod. Gross.” Everything still worked fine however, and I had my jog and listened to my tunes.

What I found out later that night when my wife got home was that iPod and headphones had both been left in my gym shorts the night before and taken a spin (i.e., full cycle) through the washing machine earlier that day. I couldn’t believe it.  My iPod had gone through the washing machine, and a mere five hours later I was running along getting my jog on while it pumped music to my ears.  Better yet, the next two days I simply set it out on the window sill where it would get direct sunlight, and all of the condensation simply disappeared.  My pod is now absolutely none the worse for going through the washing machine!

My iPod after going through the washing machine

I might also point out that, according to the back of the iPod, it was “Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China.”  So perhaps quality comes from the design rather than the locale of manufacture?  What a thought.

July 18th, 2009
Posted by Paul in Design, General | 3 Comments »