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iPod Users Get Official Battery Replacement
turkmenistani writes "It's about time. After much complaining from iPod owners, Apple has finally started an official Official iPod Battery replacement
(requires a free Apple ID). Although battery replacements have been available for older iPods for some time now, Apple has finally taken heed to their user requests and are now offering the service. From the Support page: 'If your iPod fails to hold a charge and it's more than a year old, you may need a new battery. Click Continue to order iPod battery service for $99 USD. This program is not available in Europe at this time.' Although the service is $99, they state in the article 'iPod equipment that is sent in for battery service or service requiring other repairs will be replaced with functionally equivalent new, used, or refurbished iPod equipment. You will not receive the same iPod that was sent in for service.'
So make sure you back up that music before shipping it off!"
2) Apple sends him a refurbished iPod of the same type.
3) Apple then refurbishes the user's original iPod, getting it ready to redistribute elsewhere.
Not only is this quick, but it makes a lot of sense! Of course, the refurbished iPods have to be in mint condition, but otherwise what's not to like (except the fact that it needs to be sent away and shipped back, instead of just purchasing a replacement battery at Apple)?
Condemnant quod non intellegunt.
So I want to replace the battery of the $500 iPod I bought a few years ago and had engraved and have taken excellent care of. I get back someone elses also ran for the low low price of only $99.
This sucks. Apple makes me happy one day then pisses me off the next. Reminds me of a lot of bad relationships.
So what happens if you have one the engraved iPods? I can just hear my wife when I get the "new" one back -- "Who's Vanessa???"
Didn't RTFA, 'cause I don't have an Apple ID - maybe someone who did RTFA can say if Apple answers this question:
Does Apple just refurb the "guts" of the iPod, or the whole thing? I've noticed that Apple offers engraving / personalization in their store - I would hope that they would only change the internal hardware, and leave the shell alone in the case of a personalized iPod.
iPod is on my list, but I don't think Santa's gonna be that generous this year... :-(
Corporate Jenga: You take a blockhead from the bottom and you put him on top...
back when I had a G3 lombard, they replaced my power brick free of charge. Now, the iPod batteries. I love you apple.
Pretty Pictures!
Are there any third-party developers making cheaper versions? Sounds like there is a market there.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
Well. That's nice if your battery is dead, but just how many iPods are there with dead batteries anyway? I have had my own iPod for over a year now, and the battery is just fine even though I listen to the iPod daily. One charge lasts to me about 10 hours.
iPodlounge has btw some tips how to recharge and use the iPod to maximaze battery lifetime.
I demand the Cone of Silence!
Mine has a very, very nice scratch all along the right side. Does this mean if I replace the battery I'll get one without the scratch?
1. User buys new iPod.
2. Several years later, iPod dies.
3. User blames the problem on a dead battery (even though that might not be the case) and sends iPod back to Apple.
4. User gets new/refurbished iPod.
This is hilarious. So you suckers bought a $500 piece of equipment, and you can't even change your own batteries!?!
Hell, a $10 walkman has that capability!
I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
AppleCare for iPod.
Apple just began selling extended coverage for iPod. @ $59 USD. As for the battery, it can be obtained cheaper from ipodbattery.com; unlike in the past, now they sell all generation replacement batteries.
Hope this helps.
What's more, they'll replace your iPod's battery if it is at least 50% depleted under AppleCare. But then again, the iPod Battery Replacement Program linked above costs $99.
Apple seems to always put itself in the position of making it's customers very unhappy. If they send you back another ipod and say something fails on it (hdrive or anything else) they have opened themselves up to big problems. Who is to say that the ipod you sent in would have failed in the same manor. These ipods aren't coming back with a warranty on anything. I think that this is a bad way for apple to handle this. I can't understand why they don't have this kind of thing happen out of the genius bar. Opening the ipod is trivial, and replacing the battery is equally trivial.
The RIAA rapid-action commandos are scrambling as of now.
Destination: Apple headquarters.
Primary Objective: ensure that any Apple employee does not listen either intentionally or unintentionally to any iPod sent in for battery replacement. That would be a clear infrigement of intellectual property. Royaltes must be paid for any complete songs or fragments overheard.
Secondary Objective: nail some of those PowerBooks...
I repeat, I repeat: all units head to Apple HQ immediately.
dani++
It's not like they just grab one out of a box that a customer returns, and run a polishing mitt over it, and ship it out to you.
Any Apple reconditioned product gets thoroughly tested before it gets sent out. That's why they offer a warranty on reconditioned items. If they're not worried about it breaking prematurely, why should you be?
-Mark
AppleCare for iPod is only $59, and extends the phone/mail-in-repair warranty from 90 days/1 year to 2 years/2 years. It covers the battery, as well as the rest of the iPod and all the stuff that comes with it in the box. So if you've got an iPod less than a year old, you can pick that up now. Nicely cheaper than the battery replacement service. I'll probably be getting it for my wife's 10GB iPod - didn't even know the headphones that died were still under warranty.
How about spending 1/4 of the price of the device to obtain a battery. My Vaio laptop battery replacement was $96.00 through Amazon and I did not have to pay to ship it back and forth. Also, I kept the old battery so even though the charge was only 1/2 as good as it use to be it is still usable.
How much does the battery degrade after a year of heavy usage? I was thinking of getting an iPod but I do not want to have to spend $100+ every 16 mos to keep it usable.
Imagine getting an iPod from a typical Slashdotter. It would be covered in Pizza, the keys would be sticky from sugary beverages and it would smell like an old refrigerator.
Let's not even mention what could be all over it if the average Slashdotter has a strong interest in Porn.
And when you get it back, you'd find the freaking thing is running Linux of some sort.
There are different forms of mechanical failure. Some instant and catastrophic, with no symptoms to forsee it coming. Hard drive crash after much use or abuse, for example. Please tell me the tests that can predict if my hard disk is near its failure point. Maybe it passes today, but will it fail in 1 month or 13 months?
If they're not worried about it breaking prematurely, why should you be?
Very simple... For Apple, it is a numbers game. If only 200 out of the 90,000 iPod users are unhappy, Apple has achieved excellent satisfaction numbers. Top-notch, by any standards. They set their goals, and understand that it's impossible to please everyone. Unfortuntely, if you're one of those 200, your experience sucks rocks. You don't benefit from the great experience that most people get. All that matters is that your tenderly cared-for and cherished iPod got replaced with a piece of shit that passed the test today but failed a month later. You're on the losing side of the numbers.
That's why you should be worried if you're in the small percentage of people who are meticulous about their gear. Most people aren't, and they benefit, on average, from your care and their own lack of it.
The one you get back will have the rear/chrome engraved cover swapped onto it...takes only a few minutes, but requires manual processing and thus take a few more days overall. This does take you out of the running for a chance at getting a newer/better model, however.
Let's say you're super-careful and never allow even a smudge on your iPod. It stops charging. You send it in for battery replacement.
What comes back, while looking similar, has actually been dropped, thrown around, left outside, farted upon through the back trouser pocket of an SCO executive, tightened between Steve Ballmer's thighs while he practices Desk-Jockey Calisthenics, and vanished internally during the making of a Pam and Tommy video only to reemerge, curiously, many months later in a Paris Hilton video through some kind of hitherto unsubstantiated celebrity porn wormhole.
That's not your iPod! Except that - now it is.
indeed, a NIMH battery will die quickly with the charge/use cycle of an MP3 player. how's this better?
mod parent up!
What about those of us who develop a strong emotional attachment to our iPods. I cant bear the thought of my iPod... in another's greasy hands. The thought gives me shivers.
Click Continue to order iPod battery service for $99 USD. This program is not available in Europe at this time.
So, either:
1) iPods shipped in Europe have batteries that never wear down or need replacing; or
2) European customers just got shafted again.
Hint: the answer's an even number. Why is it that iPod owners who don't live in North America should have to wait to buy something that's probably smaller than a box of matches? And how long will they have to wait? Three months? Six months? A year?
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Is this a response to complaints, or is it just possible that we are just now reaching the time when some of the third-generation iPods are getting old enough for Apple to actually need this program?
But that would mean tha all previous whining was just a speculative over-reaction to "you can't replace the battery" FUD, and we can't go thinking that now, can we?
Information wants to be anthropomorphized.
I had a early sony CD player in 1989 with a nicad rechargable battery. the player was used walking to class by my roommate and me, twice a day for a total of 5-6 hours a day... the battery lasted over 6 years before it had to be replaced... for $29.
18 months for a battery is unacceptable.
i do this with my digital camera. i use the camera till the batteries die, then i pop in the second set. while using the second set i put the first on the charger. nimh would work fine. sure you're not using them in the same way, but it's not that big of a deal.
-- john