In that case, buy a new one...take the old one back with the new one's warranty. And then stick the replacement in a drawer until the other one bites the dust.

They're absolutely AWFUL. It's as if they think everyone is going to overlook this fact. This is how they make their money, I suppose : by making devices which need charging and therefore chargers, and by making chargers which are (deliberately) shit quailty and will need replacing. Their customers will never know any rest, either financially or in any other sense of the word "rest". If I didn't like my iPad2 so much I would have washed my hands of any kind of contact with this company already. Why can't they be FAIRER to their customers ? I will not bother with another Apple product after this - I know how to live without a computer.

How is it patronizing? I have no problems with mine, from my experience they've been rather good and I'm not one to go around throwing conspiracy theories at everything of mine that happens to break down over time.

IPad doesn't come with one?!? Or they get broken... how fast?

I have some old chargers I bought for my ancient Nokia phones like 10 years ago. And the chargers still work fine. As do the phones. With original batteries (albeit, yes, with less capacity as in the beginning, but still fully usable). Go figure.

I love my iPad2 (I'm posting to you from it now). I'm not criticising the device but I am criticising Apple for the way they treat their customers. It is utterly obvious that Apple is making breakable chargers ON PURPOSE, to make sure that people have to keep buying them - people INCLUDING ME AND MY 82 YEAR OLD DAD !! Why can't they just make their chargers a bit more durable ? And available in different lengths ? What is so difficult about this ? Huh ? I just don't get it !

Uhm, why the assumption that Computer = Apple? Nothing could be further from the truth.

Electronic devices need electricity. I think you need to accept that fact... or what, did you expect it to run on AA batteries? Or 120V AC? I'm not sure I get why you're complaining, or think this is Apple's fault.

And you're not talking about chargers, you're talking about cables. VERY big difference.

What exactly is the problem with the CABLE? Are you chewing on it? I have one from when I bought a 2nd-gen nano oh, 6 (?) years ago, and it's fine. You can get them in bulk from Monoprice if you're that hard on them. Just do NOT get a cheap third-party charger. Get a real Apple one.

oh boo fucking hoo, mate.

Me and my 64 year old mum don't have problems with ours (ipad4 and ipad3), neither does my 16 year old niece (ipad2) or 41 year old brother (ipad4). For that matter what does age have to do with it?

I came in here trying to troubleshoot a solution for you, your response of calling me "patronizing" shows me you're not looking for one, you're looking to reinforce the whinging pom stereotype.

Enjoy your whining, good day.

That was once part of their marketing. I think at the time their range had 2 references ; Apple II and Lisa .

Why would you need to use an official Apple charger? The thing has a USB connector dammit, use the cable with any USB charger you can find (sure, the one I bought for cheap in Thailand broke after a while, but the ones bundled with my Logitech mouse and SonyEricsson phone work just as well with the iPod).

Test

One of the main reasons why I bothered to start this conversation is that I ordered what was at first a fantastic 2m long charger, compatible with both my iPad2 and my iPod Touch (4G). It worked for about 7 weeks and then - right in the middle of a very stressful conversation - it decided not to work any more. It hasn't worked since and it isn't going to apparently. I don't know why this is so. It means that I am FORCED to purchase Apple's own SHIT chargers which are TOO SHORT, TOO EXPENSIVE AND DESIGNED TO BREAK (so that you very soon have to buy another). It's not very hard to understand is it ?

Jail for them. BRING IN LEGISLATION TO MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO TRADE IN THIS WAY. WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A RECESSION. But it wouldn't matter even if we were not in the middle of a recession - you just should not behave like that and deserve to be jailed if you do.

Allright, so perhaps using a USB extension cable with the original Apple charger and cable might be a solution?

I assume the one included with the device hasn't broken - at the time I bought my iPod they only included a cable, not a charger (it's designed to be used with a computer every once in a while after all, not as a stand-alone device, unlike the later touchscreen devices), and of the dozens of iPads we've bought at work, only a couple chargers have been bad, so I'm quite sure it's those few that are faulty, not that they're designed to break quickly.

I appreciate your response. I think I am VERY dense when it comes to computers and I think I always will be - it is just an absolutely alien way of thinking to me and makes me feel VERY sarcastic because otherwise I am NOT a stupid person and it looks like it is a bad time for me to have been born, but que sera. But I am talking about the iPad2 and the 30-pin thingy which slots into my iPad (the other end being the USB thingy). Every single one of these cables I have owned (you get one "free" (wahey !) with your device) has been utterly RUBBISH. I like to use my iPad in bed and to keep it charging while I am doing so (connected to the mains) This obviously means that the cable is going to have to put up with a bit of twisting and turning. What angers me is that these cables could easily have been made more durable. They also could do with being about twelve inches longer, if not more. It seems obvious to me that these cables have been designed so that they will NEED replacing every so often - a bit like ink and toner cartridges for printers. I really am SICK TO DEATH of this way of "doing business".

You shouldn't need to have the device plugged in while using it in bed, that seems like a sure-fire way of making sure a connector breaks sooner rather than later. Is the battery that bad?

But yes, I too was talking about the Apple 30-pin cable. As it's designed to be difficult to reliably copy (and even more so with the more recent "lightning"-connector cables), it's probably best to use originals. My suggestion was to use an extension cable between the 30-pin cable and the charger (USB extensions have no chip that can interfere anywhere, they're just simple cables). But that would only help with the length problem, not the stress on overly twisted cables.