The Achilles heel of the iPod is decidedly its battery.  This “public service announcement” about the iPod battery failure has been circulating since the first generation iPod’s hit the market.  It’s a grim warning for consumers about the warranty and Apple’s attitude about battery replacement.

First and second gen iPod owners might have had this frustrating experience, discovering their new mp3 player is a disposable unit that lasts only two years.  Maybe backlash such as the dirtysecret site itself helped reshape Apple’s commitment to customer service.  Today the built in lithium ion batter is most definitely replaceable by an Apple program for any generation iPod.  For $99 you send it in to Apple and they send back your iPod with a brand new battery.  $99 may seem a little steep, but this is the cost if it’s out of warranty and is certainly better than the price of a new unit.

If you’re interested in saving some money, particularly if you own a first or second generation iPod that is no longer under warranty you might be brave enough to try and replace the batter yourself using some of these tips.

The task of cracking open the case gets trickier with each new generation of iPod.  At the risk of fouling up your iPod $99 bucks might not seem so bad.

Try to keep your iPod’s batter alive by following simple tips to extend the life of the lithium ion battery. 

• Turn off the iPod’s clicker
• Turn off that backlight if you don’t need it.
• Use peripherals that make use of the iPod’s line out rather than headphone jack
•  Keep the iPod charged at least 20%
• Don’t let your iPod fully discharge
• Store at room temperature, never leave it in the car on a hot summer day.

Here is some more detail on lithium ion from the battery university.  It’s said the iPod’s batteries have between 300-500 charges in their life but they also have a two to three year shelf life.  The clock is ticking on the lith-io battery even if you’re not using it.  In fact, to get the most of your batteries you need to use them.  The batteries suffer capacitance loss due to internal resistance caused by oxidation, not necessarily the loss of stored energy inside the battery.  This oxidation builds up over time and prevents the battery from delivering its charge, oxidation is the effect you must slow down by keeping the iPod stored in a warm, dry environment.  So, keep it out of your car on hot summer days.

Avoid letting your battery fully discharge, try to keep a 20% life as a routine.  Keeping lith-io batteries from 60%-80% charged all the time is a sure way to keep them alive longer.  Other ways to slow down the rate of charge cycles is to let the batteries do “less” work by doing without the clicker and backlighting whenever possible.  You can also stress your batteries less by not using the iPod’s internal amp.  If you use your own headphones, especially high-end headphones with a much higher or lower than normal impedance you might want to invest in an external headphone amplifier.  An external amp will feed your new headphones plenty of extra current and only requires the line out on your iPod.  This frees the iPod from stress to its own amp trying to power the headphones.