Serious iPod problem, I'd be grateful for advice

Question

a couple of months ago, my iPod video 30G suddenly started acting strange. I am quite sure that the issue is a hardware problem. here it goes:
when I play a given song, it will either work fine or stop after a random amount of time, which causes the iPod not to freeze, but go into slow-motion, which drains the battery of power.
when it does this, the iPod sounds like it's trying to retrieve information from the disc, I can both hear and feel it working. (like a scratched cd stopping in a cd-player)
what I do is that I press 'menu' to get another song, after 5-10 secs I reach the album menu and after selecting another song I have to wait for 20-30 secs before it starts. if that song works the battery will go back to green again; if not, iPod will keep in slow motion with the battery on the very lowest.
hence, some of the files on my iPod seems to be corrupt. they seem to become corrupt when I transfer them through iTunes, since I can replace them with the same file (by deleting the corrupt files from iPod and then loading it with the same files) which sometimes works, sometimes not.
subsequently, what I am doing now is that I, when I've charged my iPod with songs from iTunes, have to listen them through, sort out the corrupt ones, and then replacing them, often several times. the files tend to become corrupt in the transferring process and does not depend on the original file quality.
now, I'd like to have your advice about this. I doubt it's possible to fix it myself, in which case I will have to return it to Apple. however, my warranty ran out this year (by the time it started failing on me I was out travelling and unable to return it).
is there any other possibility than buying a new one?
any idea how the problem might have occured?
(I have not smashed it, dropped it, maltreated it in some way; and yes, I have restored it, updated it and anything imaginable)
thanks for any answers
/henrik
acer aspire 3680   Windows XP  

Answer 1

a couple of months ago, my iPod video 30G suddenly started acting strange. I am quite sure that the issue is a hardware problem. here it goes:
when I play a given song, it will either work fine or stop after a random amount of time, which causes the iPod not to freeze, but go into slow-motion, which drains the battery of power.
when it does this, the iPod sounds like it's trying to retrieve information from the disc, I can both hear and feel it working. (like a scratched cd stopping in a cd-player)
what I do is that I press 'menu' to get another song, after 5-10 secs I reach the album menu and after selecting another song I have to wait for 20-30 secs before it starts. if that song works the battery will go back to green again; if not, iPod will keep in slow motion with the battery on the very lowest.
hence, some of the files on my iPod seems to be corrupt. they seem to become corrupt when I transfer them through iTunes, since I can replace them with the same file (by deleting the corrupt files from iPod and then loading it with the same files) which sometimes works, sometimes not.
subsequently, what I am doing now is that I, when I've charged my iPod with songs from iTunes, have to listen them through, sort out the corrupt ones, and then replacing them, often several times. the files tend to become corrupt in the transferring process and does not depend on the original file quality.
now, I'd like to have your advice about this. I doubt it's possible to fix it myself, in which case I will have to return it to Apple. however, my warranty ran out this year (by the time it started failing on me I was out travelling and unable to return it).
is there any other possibility than buying a new one?
any idea how the problem might have occured?
(I have not smashed it, dropped it, maltreated it in some way; and yes, I have restored it, updated it and anything imaginable)
thanks for any answers
/henrik
acer aspire 3680   Windows XP