iPod owners . . .

[OneBlueSky]

do you know iPod's dirty little secret? . . .

http://www.ipodsdirtysecret.com/

[alexwcovington]

1. Damn!

Hell, for $255 you can hack it and put a new one in yourself.

[Wonk]

2. secret?

Power and battery

Built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery (630 mAh)
Playtime: 8 hours when fully charged
Standby time: 2 weeks when fully charged
Charging via FireWire connector to computer system or power adapter
Fast-charge time: 1 hour (charges up to 80% of battery capacity)
Full-charge time: 3 hours

http://www.apple.com/ipod/specs.html

My electric razor has a built in rechargeable battery, too. Rechargeable batteries have a "memory", kind of, where if when you use it all the way until it's empty, then charge it back to completely full (repeat) they work much better than if you drain it halfway, charge it up just a bit, drain it a bit, etc. Doing the latter "teaches" the battery that it's only supposed to hold a smaller charge.

Maybe someone else can explain that better than I just did...

[alexwcovington]

3. nah that's good

I understood it.

[politicat]

4. Depends on several factors

The above mentioned charging issue - discharge completely then charge is always better than partial charge.

Amount of use - use it daily, it will last longer than used infrequently (strange but true and when coupled with above advice....)

Abuse: Look, it happens. But dropping it, wearing it in your warm, steamy pants pocket, etc, isn't good for it. Treat it like a hard drive, folks. That's waht it is.

My mother in law has had hers for 2 years, no problems but she uses it all the time. I've had mine for 3 months and had battery issues with #1 (I'm on #2 after #1's hard drive failed and was replaced under warranty.) because I didn't use it enough. #2 is doing better because I'm using it daily.

A year warranty is good for electronics, frankly. My cd-mp3 player from Sony had a 90 day warranty and no easy tech support like Apple has. The Rio I looked at (also without a replaceable battery) had a 180 day warranty. My electric tooth brush has the same sort of problem.

Discharge completely and use on current when possible should be written in every battery driven appliance manual, but it doesn't happen.

Politicat (whose life if dicated by battery driven devices.... phone, computer, ipod, PDA.... remove mind from gutter, s'il vous plait.)

[MilesColtrane]

5. I Googled ipod Battery

Here's web site offering batteries for about 60 bucks. I haven't used this, nor am I not endorsing it. And,I imagine poking around in the innards of an ipod voids any warranty it may have pretty quickly. But, it's cheaper than $255.

http://www.mkgsoft.com/ipodbattery.htm?source=google

[dani]

6. it's possible to find

an iPod battery with a 1 year warrantee for as little as $50. I think this was mentioned on a macslash.com discussion today or yesterday.

[newyawker99]

8. Hi MilesColtrane!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[REP]

7. Yes, and That's Not It

and I ain't telling.