Advice: Don't wash your mp3 player

"I don't know how to tell you this," is never a good way to start a conversation, particularly when it comes from my wife. She's not the type to grimly say, "I don't know how to tell you this," and then scream, "WE JUST WON A MILLION DOLLARS!"

That's my shtick, not hers.

So, when she called me at work Tuesday and said, "I don't know how to tell you this," I knew something had died, been broken, Milli Vanilli reunited, or something like that.

"Do you want me to tell you what I found in the pocket of your pants that were in the washing machine?" she asked.

What?! My mind raced. I hadn't done anything recently that would leave incriminating evidence. Did one of the kids give me something I was supposed to take care of, that now had the consistency of tissue paper? Did I leave a pen in my pocket, thereby creating a tie-dye effect on some clothes but, you know, not in a way that looked groovy?

I couldn't think of anything, so I asked, "What?"

"You know your mp3 player . . . " Kate asked.

"Oh nooooo," I thought.

It was Tuesday. Snow day. I was trying to do some work at home and get some laundry done,  including my thick black corduroy trousers that I had put my player in the night before. But, as I put them in the wash, I probably hadn't felt the mp3 in the pocket because, you know, they're big . . . thick . . . corduroy . . . "Oh nooooo!"

"I've tried everything," she said, "It's not doing anything."

I said, "Thanks for telling me," and hung up.

Last year, I finally joined the mp3 generation. When you're married with two late elementary school kids, your money takes other priorities. I don't go out and buy the latest gadget the way I did when I was the first of my friends to own a CD player and a VCR.

But, when I finally got an mp3, I was serious about it, and not just for fun. Recent playlists include "UKSO Harrell Concert" (Music that's being played on the University of Kentucky Symphony concert, Friday, with cellist Lynn Harrell). Pretty much any story on this blog or in the paper about music in the past several months I've reported using my mp3. I was seriously considering writing it off on my taxes.

So, how was I going to live without it.

"Maybe I won't have to," the glass-is-half-full side of me said. "After all, it's just water and detergent." I've been told that if you just pour water on electronics, they should work OK once they've dried out, though I'll add, I never tested the theory.

So, I got home, slid the "on" button, pushed "play," "skip" and other buttons. Nothing. So I docked it with my computer and it flickered to life. "Could it be . . . ?" I thought. After a few minutes, I unplugged it, attempted to play it, and the screen went blank. Could be the battery. I re-docked it, let it sit for the night, even put some new music on it.

Wednesday, I packed it off to work, and things looked somewhat hopeful. It would actually play the last album I was listening to, and later in the day, it even let me move around the menus to other music. I even played that UKSO play list.

Then, things took a bad turn. I docked it late in the day, and it flickered on, then showed a dead battery signal and blanked out. It did the same thing at home.

Maybe those last few hours of music were what we call a death rattle. Maybe, a day after running it through a cold, extra-large load, it was time for the little guy to walk into the light. Quick, call Jennifer Love Hewitt!

Who knows? Maybe it just needs another day to dry out. But the prognosis doesn't look good.

So, my advice would be, don't wash your mp3 player, cell phone or any other mini-electronic gadget for that matter. If you do, you may get a call: "I don't know how to tell you this . . . "

~ Of course, it could be much, much worse. Click here to read about David Garrett's Stradivarius.

Comments

[Rodney]

Sad to hear. I washed my own MP3 player, but it's still working fine. Because it went through the wash and dryer, the headphones took a beating.. but the player works like new!

[Robert Parks Johnson]

See, this is why I try never to do laundry.

My bride remains unconvinced by this reasoning, however.

[iwashedmyipodtoo]

Rich,
Like you I washed my iPod Nano after leaving it in the pocket of my golf shorts last summer. Lucky for me that when my wife purchased it for me she took out insurance and I was able to replace it at half the cost of buying a new one. I now keep my iPod in a hard-shell case and also check the pockets of all my pants and shorts before putting them in the washer.
Believe me, many of us know your pain!

[Alison]

Oh, what a drag. At least you have a backup of all your music!

[Joe Tackett]

Think of this not as a death, but a rebirth. Now you can take stock of what music is really important to you and you can load up your new MP3 with all those great bass concertoes.

[Heather]

Oh NO! Do you have all of the music copied onto your computer just in case?

Yes. Just can't haul it around right now.

[robynsekula]

You can write it off on your taxes. I did. It's completely legit. Promise. That's what our accountant told us. If you use it in work, you can write it off.
Man, though, that's a bummer.

[stacy]

I washed my husband's iPod Nano in much the same fashion last year. Luckily, for me, it bounced back. The only trace is a scratch across the front.

Tell your wife she's not alone. I just got luckier than she.

Rich replies: I went back and rewrote just to make it absolutely clear that I am the dork who washed my mp3. My lovely bride just discovered it.
Thanks for the encouragement.