I'm going to smash this iTrip into a gazillion pieces.

Aaaarrrrgghhhh!

Now that I have your attention (maybe), what on earth is wrong with my iTrip?? I love music (please see my ridiculously organized music lists over there) and I was euphoric when I got my iPod back in September. I have a 40-mile commute each way to work/school, and I also keep the radio on while I'm at the lab, so I also bought an iTrip FM transmitter from Griffin to save me from hearing Ashlee Simpson and Hillary Duff 700 times a day. (For some reason, we can only get about 3 stations in the lab.)

So everything was going along swimmingly with the iPod for about three months, and then all of a sudden, in the middle of a song, there's a "Skkkkrrrrcckkkk!" noise and now, the iTrip won't tune a station despite my begging, pleading and threats of blackmail.

I emailed the iTrip people, and they suggested updating my iTrip software, so I tried that. Nope. (Had it been that easy, I think I would have stuck something sharp in my eyeball, considering all the time I'd spent trying to figure it out myself.) Then I read an article about Apple quietly including a firmware update in the newest version of the iPod software, which would lock out tracks purchased using Real's Harmony service. Well, pffft on Apple.

Anyway, I had updated my iPod software right before "Skkkkkrrccckkk!" so I'm wondering if the firmware somehow screwed up the iTrip's ability to tune. I tried restoring my iPod to factory settings and ignoring the prompts to update to the new software, and then I reinstalled the iTrip. Then I uninstalled the iTrip. Then I restored to factory settings again. Then I installed the old iTrip software. Then I uninstalled the old iTrip software. Then I threw stuff. Then I banged my head against a wall.

If anybody has any ideas how I can restore the iPod/iTrip to working order, I'll send you a million dollars. And when I say "dollars", I mean "nothing".

The iPod still works fine with my headphones, but I think it's illegal to drive while using headphones. Or, that could be one of those laws that I just made up. Not that I do that often, except when I see something that should be illegal. Like armpit hair, for example.