I use my 40G iPod quite a bit. It came in handy when I was commuting back and forth from Pittsburgh to Morgantown last year and it is nice on those days when I make the 30 minute walk into campus.

So I was sad when my iPod stopped working a couple of months ago. I took it to the "Genius Bar" at the Apple store and they told me it was likely a hard drive problem which would cost about $250 to fix - if they could fix mine, which they couldn't because I bought it through "a partner." Ok...

Naturally, I turned to the web and found several iPod repair services but unfortunately few good reviews. So I thought I'd share my experience for anyone else looking for a solution to a damaged iPod.

After checking out the various online companies, I decided to give iPodMods.com a try. First thing you do is place a service order on their website. They charge your credit card a penny to verify that it is valid and they send you an email with information on where to mail the iPod. I packed mine off and mailed it on a Monday. By Thursday I had received an email saying they had recieved it and a technician was looking at it. Late on Thursday I received another email saying that the diagnostics was done and I could call for a quote.

It seems that the problem was not the hard drive but the "memory board." I agreed to the repairs and also bought an after-market battery with a longer life than the usual iPod battery. They made the changes and shipped it out the following Monday. I received the package on Wednesday and the iPod has been working great. In my opinion, iPodMods.com did a great job and is a reasonable alternative to buying a new one, since the diagnostic only costs you shipping.