[Monolith]

Where to begin?

Well I have a 20gb g4 ipod. When I got it, about 1 and a half years ago, I loved it and all was going great. I've read all the stuff on the net about the charge cycles of the ipod, and how many times it can be charged before the battery's memory starts to tail off.

I haven't heard anyone else express this particular gripe, and when I've spoken to Apple, they haven't been any help at all.
Bearing in mind that the battery has a memory, and hence limited charge cycle, why have Apple not given the user the option of whether or not they want to charge their device when plugged in to update the music library. (Please tell me if this is possible and I'll stop). Inasmuch as I can figure out, this isn't possible. So surely Apple are at fault here?

Everytime you plug the ipod into the computer, it automatically starts to re-charge the ipod, even if it's not completely flat. Surely Apple's product designers are aware that if you continue to charge a battery from a state whereby it is not completely flat, it will have extremely detrimental effects upon its lifetime.

I think this goes some way in explaining why my ipod now has such a limited battery life. I understand it could be due to a combination of factors like frequency of usage, file formats etc, but I don't believe these are the main contributory factors to the problem.

The first guy I spoke to at Apple was vaguely sympathetic, but alas could not offer me any assistance as I have had my ipod for over 1 year.

Has anybody else experienced a similar problem? I'm a big Mac user, but I feel betrayed more than anything by a brand I have come to trust and love.

[fatdoc]

I too found the path to enlightenment and all things mac about a year ago - i've got 3 now!


i got into this ipod stuff very recently - and i too am fucked off........


i got a nano, 4 gb and an little portable external speaker set..... all good so far...


now, i know once you purchase a bit of gadgetry it's immediately redundant etc... but if apple had bothered to make it known that the nano range was going to be overhauled (as it just has) and the battery life of the nano totally sorted - from 3 to 24 hrs - then i'd have waited for one of the new ones..

arse!!

[soapy]

it's a common problem and apple calculatingly designed in this obsolescence feature to ensure sales of new products


fortunately, ipoddoctor is your friend

[Monolith]

Bonus, thanks soapy. A very reasonable pricing structure too. 

[dobbin]

its pretty standard practice to sell devices with Lithium Ion cells that you know people will charge when not flat. Mobile phones have been using the same for years. The key is in providing a cell that lasts long enough to keep customer happy for about a year. Then its time their device broke and they bought a new one, oh, and look, heres a shiny new one I just bought out!

I have replaced the hard disk in my 4G ipod and it was a doddle to be honest. Would recommend that or a battery swap to anyone. Do your research first and get the gen from the forums, you can even upgrade - doc - perhaps you will be able to buy a longer life cell for your nano?

Best practice with a new Lithium Ion cell is to condition it for 16hrs prior to use. Pop it on charge and dont go near it until the time is up. The battery indicator will likely say its full after at most 3-4hrs, but they love to be trickle charged, so leave it on the whole time.

If you have a battery thats goosed, try running it down completely - even keep turning the device on when its flat until it wont even try to come on, then go through the whole conditioning shebang above. It sometimes helps a bit to make things work a bit better. For a while. You will probably replace the battery eventually anyway mind.

[Monolith]

Just noticed your reply Dobbin from ages ago. Replacing the hard disk huh? I'll look into that as I was just about to list my ipod on ebay. May be worth keeping if I can do some DIY on it. Nice one, cheers.

[underground]

Dobbin, is that right about lithium ion cells (all of them)? I was of the impression that they were 'sorted' for memory probs etc?

[LL55]

Li-Ion doesn't suffer with memory problems, but they still do discharge after a time period - dependant on the quality of the cells.

Follow Dobbin's advice - especially about ignoring when after 30 minutes your brand new discharged battery says it's fully charged. Li-Ion's do lie.

They should be fully discharged and charged if you ever dont use them for a long period of time - more than 3 months or so.

No battery will last forever, but you can extend the life by not charging them until you need to.