OK, iPod Engineers...Eyes Front, fuckers.

The BBQ Pit
1

Now that I’ve got your attention, let me relate todays’ incident for you. There I was, (after having fully charged my little musical buddy the whole night long) at the gym, doing my normal Thursday thing, and just as James Hetfield is about to break into one of his blistering guitar riffs, what happens? Nothing. That’s right, nothing. Silence.

I think, “crap, forgot to click the hold button, accidentally pushed a button” I set my weights down, oust the pod, and see “NO BATTERY LIFE REMAINS, PLEASE CONNECT iPOD TO A POWER SOURCE”

Thinks I, “What the hell?”

Now, I do a pretty intense workout, trying to lose a bunch of weight, and all, and I bench about 320, and it’s pretty bloody hard to do that while listening to PHIL COLLINS. The blameless, tame tripe my gym plays on the overhead speakers is meant for the little old ladies and the religious goofs that come in, and are offended by the top 40 or rock and roll. I need my Metallica, my Horton Heat, my Forty-Fives, that’s how I stay motivated. Now, I knew this was a possibility when I bought the iPod, but still, it’s no less aggravating.

Look, Next Generation of this product, could ya please…

PUT IN A FUCKING BATTERY THAT I CAN CHANGE, AND GO BACK TO MY FUCKING WORKOUT!!! Even if it’s a rechargable, make it easily changeable.

Would that be too damn much to ask?

2

A-fucking-men.

3

You know, I don’t understand the appeal of the IPod, the thing is a brick.

Overrated if you ask me.

4

How old is your iPod? The lithium-ion batteries they use are really only good for a year to a year and a half, less if you charge them frequently. They can be replaced, for free if it’s under warranty. See: http://www.apple.com/batteries/

5

I loves me my iPod. Smaller than the smallest walkman or discman I’ve ever had, doesn’t skip, the battery last ten times longer than normal ones, and mine holds 15GB of music. (Up to 40GB if you want to buy that one).

Are you using older MP3s? Newer more compressed ones don’t juice the battery down as fast. Do you skip and fast forward / rewind alot? That juices the battery down more quickly too. How old is your battery? They don’t last forever, ya know. When’s the last time you downloaded the latest iPod software? Newer versions are better at managing battery life.

I’ve never had a problem with mine, but I have replaced the battery after about 6 months of continuous use. In case you haven’t already, check out the FAQ for more info about the battery, including tips and tricks for optimizing the charge.

I agree about the less-than-speedy way you have to change out the battery, but I’d rather it be that way than have to duct tape the battery cover after it breaks, which happened to all the other walkman / discmans I’ve ever had.

6

Yeah, It’s a little heavy, but it does more than any other media player I’ve owned. There are more feature rich players, but little that hold more data.

It’s only about 9 months old, but I do recharge it often. I bought the extra plan from Best Buy, so I know I can just take it in and get a new one, but it kinda irks me that I have to.
Yeah, Dooku, you’re right about the breaking battery door on the other units, that does suck, but them packaging geniuses at apple have to be able to do better than that. I mean I loves my iPod too, but the battery thing just shivers me friggin timbers.

7

You could always pick up one of these. Haven’t used it myself (I mostly use my I-Pod in my car or at work, where I can plug it into a power source), so I don’t know if it’s worth the money.

8

More accurately, “less if you drain them frequently.” You could leave your iPod charging for years and the battery wouldn’t be any worse for the wear when you finally unplugged it to use it; similarly, if you only use the iPod on battery power for five minutes each day and then plug it back in, you’re not going to see the battery stop working for a very long time. The iPod battery is lithium-ion and so does not suffer from the “memory effect” that some older battery technologies have: whenever you aren’t using your iPod, feel free to plug it in, and your battery will last longer.

To clarify this: the age of the MP3 file has jack all to do with how fast the battery will wear down. The thing that matters is the bitrate of the MP3. The higher bitrate the MP3, the less playback time the RAM buffer holds, so the hard drive has to spin up more frequently to read data to the RAM buffer, so the battery doesn’t last as long. Now, the latest MP3 encoders are better at squeezing good-sounding music into lower-bitrate files, but that’s different from what was said.

9

The backlight also sucks up power like mad. I found out the other day that if you turn off the automatic backlight, you can hold down the Menu button for a couple seconds to toggle the light on and off. That way it’s only on when you need it, and not every time you touch a button.

10

If you’re out of warranty, check out these folks for replacement iPod batteries. Another company also has batteries and includes a non-scratching tool to open up the iPod. Prices seem a bit cheaper as well.

(Oh yeah, this is the Pit…)
The NERVE of them! They charge reasonable prices for a battery! And they have the GALL to provide instructions on how to safely take the little darling apart without damaging it! The horror! Those bastards!

:wink:

11

FYI LiIon batteries die very quickly if left in a completely discharged state for more than a few days. This is true for iPods, cell phones, laptops, anything that uses LiIon.

12

They revealed the next generation of iPod this past Monday. They’re boasting 12 hours of battery life now instead of the last gen’s 8 (many people get more like 5-7 because the 8 seems to assume the absolute minimum amount of hard drive spin-ups), but it’s still not user replaceable in the same way that most electronics have “no user-servicable parts inside.”