Details, Details, Details

Details, Details

When Your iPod Goes To Pot

I bet more than a few of you own an Apple iPod, or are thinking of getting one.

I bet you figure that it has rechargable batteries, and when they eventually wear out (they do wear out, you know), you’ll just go to the store and buy another standard rechargable battery for a few bucks.

Wrong.

As this article points out, replacing the battery in the iPod is a far more expensive proposition.

Apple’s initial “solution” to the problem was rather interesting, essentially, it was buy a new unit for them at a “discount” price. That’s like the auto manufacturers offering a discount on a new car everytime you run out of gas.

This hasn’t gone over too well, so now Apple has recently changed its policy and now will replace the battery for you for “only” $100.

I bet that makes you feel a lot better.

Can you do it yourself? Why, yes, you can. Here are instructions on how to do it yourself (it’s not for the ham-handed as this forum thread suggests) from a place that sells the battery for a bargain-basement $49 (I looked around, they don’t come cheaper than that, yet).

Now maybe you find a $50 battery replacement perfectly reasonable, but consider the possibility that others might not, or at least would want to look at similiar products where you don’t have to pay %50 and have to be a surgeon just to replace a battery.

Let’s face it, if you’re out to buy an electronic gadget like this, battery replacement isn’t exactly foremost in your mind. That would be a level of anally-retentive attention to detail even I’d be awed by (and remember, I walk into stores and computer shows looking for CPU codes).

But look at what happens if you’re not.

Some Sample Equivalents