IPods 'emergency'

Snapping at the buttons for a while, he smiled baldly as he regained the picture on the distorted iPod nano that had been pressed over. He had witnessed many other "accidents" such as a leaked machine because of being placed close to the light bulb, turning in a washing machine or being chewed by a dog.

Aaron Vronko, co-founder of iPodmods.com, has been doing this for over 2 years. The tool in his hand was just tiny screwdriver, some plastic polishing solution boxes used to handle scratches. But the important thing is that the craftsman's ingenuity when meeting the iPod scene is "distorted" in shape, absorbing water, losing data, corrupting sound .

His company not only fixes "diseases" for Apple music players, but also changes some features of the device (players called "mod") to satisfy their preferences such as changing screen colors. Black-white original to blue-black, red-black, orange-black . This site has attracted visitors from over 65 countries around the world. " With more than 90 million iPods in use, we believe the repair work is very potential ," he said.

Demetrios Leontaris considers herself a "lifesaver" for this popular music player and works full-time. He built the website nycipoddoctor.com to attract customers of New York City (USA).

Leontaris is fixing the iPod on its SUV.Photo: AP .

Leontaris's SUV is also the workplace. He drove to the customer, let them wait in the seat while he fixed the engine. Husse, 38-year-old Tausif, had to resort to this skilled craftsman because the scratched iPod was empty. Leontaris opened the toolbox, took out a tiny screwdriver to remove the cover, and put the spare parts near the fan on the car. The heat from the fan will loosen some parts of the iPod's adhesive. After that, he replaced a new shell with higher durability, not scratched when the key was rubbed. "My customers are very happy," the 32-year-old said. " I give them a year warranty ".

Apple, the manufacturer of digital music equipment, said above, does not accept warranty if customers let it fall and break the machine. Consumers also have to pay a fee if they want to extend the warranty to the second year. Therefore, people tend to look for small repair shops to save the situation instead of buying a new one.

" We grew up in poverty and I learned that many people don't throw away broken machines to buy another one, " Leontaris said. He repaired the device for 3 years and bought an iPod on the internet just to see why it didn't work anymore. "For only $ 45 to replace the battery or $ 59 for the screen, the customer will consider not having to spend 80 to 350 dollars to buy a new device ."

However, as devices become smaller and smaller, Leontaris's job seems more difficult. " The details get complicated and maybe one day I will find myself clumsy ," he said.