h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

http://www.ipodsdirtysecret.com/

That's a few months old, and it was debunked.

The iPod uses a lithium battery that can be cycled through 300-500 discharge/recharges. http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm Since on average you get 10 hours of music play on a single charge, that's roughly 3,000 to 5,000 hours of *playing* time. Most people will not listen to it 24-hours a day, so that's a considerable length of time. If we use me as an example, I tend to listen to it about an hour a day and recharge one every 10-14 days, so my 300 recharges should last me 3,000 *days*, or about 8 years. Obviously someone who drains the battery once a day by listening to it 8-10 hours a day will only get 1 year of battery life. So it's hard to predict how long the battery will last, simply because it's hard to predict how any individual will use the iPod.

The second problem with that site is that Apple *does* have a $99 battery replacement program, and had one for about 2 months before that web site appeared. You can also buy the batteries direct for about US$45 and do it yourself. http://www.ipodbattery.com/ipodinstall.htm Since this is a relatively new product and a real demand for replacement batteries has not really hit yet, the price is still steep. It should fall when production ramps up and more of a direct-to-consumer market develops, but right now the iPod replacement battery is a specialty item.

I figure if you average out the way I use my iPod (with an 8-year life expectancy) with the way the guy who made that web site used his (with a 1-year life expectancy) most people will end up with a 4-year life expectancy, and that's about the time we will see replacement iPod batteries being sold at Radio Shack, and competing service centers who will do the replacement without needing to go through Apple. Give it time.

The truth is the guys who put that web site up got really shoddy telephone support, and then made a big stink about it. The price they were quoted is the price for out-of-warranty repair service for anything *but* battery replacement.

Whoops, I just reread that Battery University information. It seems the lithium battery will oxidize over 2-3 years, so I will not get my full 8 years. Oh well, I'll just have to turn in my 5Gb iPod to buy a new 40Gb model. Or bigger by the time that comes around.

From what I remember, battery life can also depend to a degree on how much of the charge you use up on average before you recharge them. This "memory" effect was most noticeable in the old Nickel Cadmium formula, and is far less prominent in modern battery formulations, but it still makes a difference. In general, you get more hours of battery life in total if you use them up completely before recharging than if you continually top up the charge after every half hour's use.

For the lithium battery, the article I linked to gives the exact opposite advice. Avoid deep discharge/recharge cycles, and do lots of small charges. It does mention a memory effect but it has more to do with a growing miscalibration of the device's digital power meter. The lithium battery seems to do best if it is stored at 40% capacity. NiCads had to be drained, or that 40% would become the battery's new maximum charge.

Anecdotally I have noticed that my iPod keeps its charge longer if I immediately use it after charging, so that the charge is no longer 100%. Then the charge will last over a week, but if I just put it away after charging it I sometimes find it needs to be recharged after a couple of days.

People, quite a few people _do_ listen 8-10 hours a day - through the commute to work, throughout the working day at the office and the commute home...not to mention iPod parties

That wouldn't work for me. My office is a 10 minute walk from my home. Earphones would interfere with my ability to use the telephone at the office, plus I can listen to music through my speakers without disturbing cow-orkers making that option the one I usually use. I tend to use mine when I walk my dogs.

I suppose how you use your iPod depends on your lifestyle and age. iPod parties? I'm too old.

I'm sure there are a few people who plug their iPod into powered speakers at the office and use it for all-day background music... I occasionally do that with my Arcos HDD Jukebox...

I use a 128MB solid state MP3 player that uses a single AAA battery at the moment - memory stick style, I just download whatever I need for the journey ahead and at 2.5 album's worth, it does for most journeys I'll make whilst I'm stuck in the UK