I’ve gone on and on recently about bad experiences with Apple, but I want to let you know about a good experience I had this week. As I’ve mentioned, I’m still a big fan of their mobile devices (iOS devices). iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch.

I purchased an iPhone 5c in October 2013. For an extra $99, I purchased the 2 year Apple Care warranty. I need not state the obvious but — people can text and call from any phone. Texting and calling are not a special feature on the iPhone. Therefore, in my case the most important thing to me was playing podcasts through my iPhone. (Definition: podcasts are downloaded radio broadcasts and could be internet only broadcasts or “taped” AM / FM shows as well).

Since early March, I had a SERIOUS problem with playback of podcasts on my iPhone. Sometimes I connect my iPhone to my car stereo. In other instances, I exercise with my headphones plugged in. Late at night, I often go to sleep with my iPhone plugged in and something playing from it (live radio or a podcast).

Sometimes, I used Apple’s own Podcasts app, but I regularly use a 3rd party podcast app called Downcast. I had no issues from October to early March. I kept getting episode or media errors . Messages would pop up on the screen. Apple had me erase my iPhone in early March and load in all my applications again. This did not solve the problem. Finally, on Monday night, I called back. I was transferred to a Senior Apple Care representative. He said the best thing I could do was go to the local Apple Store.

I had two possible theories at this point. IOS 7.1, also released in early March, was bad or the flash storage (aka hard drive) on my iPhone was bad. After a very brief recap of this two month drama with the Genius (their official title) at the Apple Store on Tuesday, he agreed to replace my iPhone with a new one at no charge.

I’ve played a lot of podcasts since Tuesday and had no problem. It was bad flash storage!

Note: Apple is going to be offering a significant trade up / trade in event soon so that you could get an iPhone 5s or 5c if you want. My advice: only do this if you are happy with a 4 inch iPhone. All of the 5’s are 4 inches. If you want a bigger iPhone, like the 4.5 to 4.7 inch screens all of your friends and family have on their Android phones — wait until September.