My broken iPod

So yesterday, I went to hook up my iPod to my computer and, to my horror, it seems something is messed up inside my iPod and it no longer can find the music files, which means, of course, I can't play anything on it.

I bought it used on ebay a little less than two years ago, and it was probably a year and a half old or so at the time. So it lasted about 3-4 years total, which, given as much as I used it, is may about what I should have expected.

I recently bought both a new car and a new laptop, so I really don't see myself going out and spending money on a new one.

So I have a few options.....

1) Use my PSP as my portable music device. I have a 1 GB memory card which is enough to hold a decent amount, but obviously not the 16 GB or so of stuff that I had on my iPod. I still have that stuff backed up on my computer, fortunately.

Thing is, lately I haven't used my iPod to listen to music so much. I'm now subscribed to several podcasts through iTunes, and that is usually enough to keep me occupied through my commute and time at the gym. So the mass storage doesn't matter to me as much as it used to. A PSP is a little bulky for the gym, but it's doable, at least for the time I'm on the eliptical.

2) Let my iPod sit around for a week or so and see if it decides to start working again. Stranger things have happened. About a month ago, my PSP wouldn't play UMD's for about a week, I even went so far as to get the label from Best Buy to return it under warranty. When I was about to send it off, the PSP all of a sudden worked again and has worked great ever since.

3) Look into getting my iPod fixed, but usually when small electronics break, it doesn't seem worth it to pay money to fix it, unless it's really cheap.

4) Get a new iPod. But as I said, I don't think it's worth the money for me right now. And the video function on new iPods is meaningless to me since the PSP has much better video capability.

5) Get an old iPod. I saw a 20 GB 2nd generation iPod on eBay for less than $100 bucks. Much more affordable, but I could be running into the same problem in a year or so.

6) Get a smaller iPod or other MP3 device. The more I think about it, this might be a decent option. I'd have something I could use more comfortably at the gym, and would probably save alot of money. I imagine if I'm willing to give up the automatic syncing of iTunes and iPod, I could solve my problem pretty inexpensively.

Hmmmm.... options.....