So I bit the bullet and bought another iPod on Saturday, and already it's dead to me.

By unplugging it from my PC while I was playing a track from the iPod itself, I sent it into meltdown. There's a dreaded "unknown error" message - 1418 - which is all I've got left to show for my £160. Not only that, it blew my fucking amp up while it was at it - so now I have no way at all to listen to music at all.

What do you reckon my chances are of getting a replacement or refund from the Apple shop? Somewhere between 0 and 0, I'd guess. Fucking hell.

It's within warranty. You shouldn't have any problem.

Here's Apple's support page for the problem, if you want to try to fix it before taking it to the shop, but you might as well just take it and get a new one.

Based on my own sordid experience (posted at length on the old board), my only advice is to purchase an iPod with whichever credit card gives you extended warranty protection. When mine cacked after 15 months, my MasterCard Purchase Protection extended the warranty to 2 years, which got me a new (albeit rebuilt) iPod (which also died, but in 3 months). The replacement replacement one, knock on wood, is still working almost 2 years later.

Oh, and save every bit of paperwork, including all receipts and your credit card bill. Mine was purchased online, so I could reprint all the documents I needed. Otherwise, I'd have been effed.