Computer is on its last legs. Mainly used for listening to dodgy country music, downloading Springsteen bootlegs, word processing, photos, internet nonsense... the usual stuff.

Should I replace with a (more expensive) Apple Mac, or stick with a (cheaper) PC?

If anyone will have a balanced and insightful answer, it's the Word Massive.

Thank you in advance!

Since - reluctantly - buying an ipod 18 months ago, I have become an addict. Work, long car journeys, emptying the dishwasher - all have been transformed by listening to the Archers, or Merle Haggard, or Tom Russell, or even the Word podcast.

But recently my ipod has decided it doesn't like certain tracks, and certain albums. It will play Stacey Earle, but not brother Steve (well, not Transcendental Blues anyway). Townes van Zandt is okay, Guy Clark is not. This morning it would give me Pop Will Eat Itself, but not the Clash. All of these things play without problem through my computer. But on the ipod, they just get stuck, and will not budge.

Asking the technically literate has elicited only the suggestion that I should throw the thing away and get a new one - something I am loathe to do, partly because of the cost, but also because it seems wrong not to be able to repair something that has started to malfunction.

Can I fix it, or will I be destined to listen to nothing but the 12" remix of Def Con One until I invest ina new model?