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"iPod's Dirty Secret"
akpoff writes "Have you ever made a promise while in tech-support hell to let everyone know how bad the product is? The Neistat brothers followed through after the batteries in an iPod died and Apple told them it would cost US$250 to replace them. The tech rep told the guys they might as well buy a new iPod. The brothers thought differently and made a movie showing how they got the word out in a large metro area. Of course it was made on a Mac with iMovie." Their statement is a bit misleading: many people have iPods that have lasted a lot longer than 18 months (the iPod was released over two years ago). But the batteries don't last forever. What is their life expectancy? Does Apple notify consumers of a life expectancy?
While I have heard of these issues, the battery does not die on all cases. I have a first gen ipod that I got almost two years ago and have noticed perhaps a 10% drop in charge duration. Part of this problem was addressed by a software update a few months back. My ipod had slipped to about 5 hours of battery life and jumped back up to 8-9 hours after the firmware update.
Yawn.
The site was created in the last week.
Days after Apple announced the $99 battery replacement policy.
Months after www.ipodbattery.com offered $50 battery replacements.
Like anyone thought that Apple could summons the power of the Almighty and create a Lithium-ion battery that lasts forever...
Neither do iPod batteries.
Opening the case of a consumer electornic device more often than not voids the warranty.
Irrelevant in this case since if the iPod is under warranty Apple will fix it for you for the mailing costs.
Would you pop open the case of your VCR and replace the damaged or worn out heads?
Probably not because I don't have the equipment to do the alignment etc.
You can't compare this to ram, hard drives or any replaceable computer part.
I have seen plenty of PC's where installation of RAM requires pulling the power supply, something I consider beyond most end users.
The fact of the matter is that this article is total nonsense. Apple offers a $99 replacement service, and there are companies like PDA smart that will replace the battery for you for $69.
Since when do LI-Ion batteries DIE? Since when?
Since always. Li-ion batteries often show failure at 2 years.
Li-ion
"Aging is a concern with most Li-ion batteries. For unknown reasons, battery manufacturers are silent about this issue. Some capacity deterioration is noticeable after one year, whether the battery is in use or not. Over two or perhaps three years, the battery frequently fails."
Apple's engineers sat down one day, desinged the cheapest battery in the world that barely met all the requirements, and laughed as they increased Job's profit margin and screwed the end user with an inferior product.
I don't think Apple is designing batteries. Like every other box vendor they are buying technologies available from others.
If this doesn't wake Apple up, nothing will
Ah-hem.
This was announced before this website was up.
Maybe we deserve this world ?
I'm curious, what of Apple's "other technology" is proprietary?
Oh, you meant that in order to make it portable and usable they chose a battery that fit the form factor? Oh. How sad. Do you know how many camera vendors do that? Sure, they're removable, but have you ever noticed how much larger they are to accommodate that bay for it?
You want replaceable batteries for an iPod? Belkin offers that (a backpack for it that runs it on AA batteries). It's possible.
Tool.
I got a 5 GB the day they were announced (well, I ordered it that day). Never had a battery problem with it, and it continues to play just fine as my backup iPod. However, the FireWire chip in it fried when I connected it to my Mac back in March. I pulled it apart and checked everything and verified that the chip was the culprit. It still works, it just will never sync again.
I bought a 15 GB to replace it, but paid more than I needed to just to get it at Best Buy and get the $40 extended warranty. I NEVER buy extended warranties, but in this case, Best Buy is crazy - for $40, I guarantee the life of my iPod to 3 years. iPods are great, but I would never put their average lifespan as that long.
This is as bad as the old V-8 Mustang-IIs that required the engine be dropped to replace the back two spark plugs.
So, removing the back of the iPod is as complicated as removing an engine from a Mustang? I think you're being overly-dramatic here. Batteries have a finite life; always have, always will. Battery hatches can be held on with a screw, or a clip, or any other manner of things. The fact that the hatch isn't separate with the cover, hardly makes this a non-servicable part. If someone wants to be lazy and/or scared to do the work themselves, they can drop 99 bucks to have someone else do it, or they can do it themselves for 50 bucks.
This is no different from any other value-added service of a product - if you want someone else to do something for you, they get to set the price and you get to decide if it's worth the money.
Looking at these guys' site, I can't help but wonder if the situation is truly as they describe - the price is wrong, what else did they get wrong and/or distort?
Yes. I've taken the case off my 5gig removed the battery and plugged in the firewire connector to my powermac and it spun up and functioned. I didn't try to play music through it but I assume since it synced and mounted it would play if plugged into the wall adapter.
Apple has recently started selling iPods through Target, CompUSA, Best Buy and Circuit City and all 3 offer insurance that basically replaces your iPod with a new one if issues happen to it. Most are offering 3yrs for $30.00 approx. and 4yrs for $40.00 approx. Also Apple now offers AppleCare for all new iPods and for iPods under a yr old like mine. This is 2yr deal from the the date you bought your iPod. This includes tech support which now has tips to help improve your battery charges. The price is $59.00 or $46.00 with edu. discount. Apple has also a battery replacement program for $99.00 for users with original iPods or iPods out of warranty. There is also many 3rd party battery service now available to iPod users that either gives them DIY kit or they actually do all the work for you type service. Most places are charging between $25-50 dollars range depending on what you get. So stop complaining and use one of the above services. Also if you don't want to mess with any of it get creative and make nice firewire external HD out of it. I currently have 40GB iPod and had no problems with it at all. I plan on buying the new vPod as soon as it comes out next yr.
A little while ago (11/11) I was reading a blog of some girl who lives in NYC and she had these pictures of where someone had spray painted over tons and tons of iPod ads in NYC.
I thought nothing of it, seeing as how I could understand how some stupid people could take something the wrong way and do something stupid about it. Now... there's a slashdot article and a little movie about it...
The first thing I did when I got my first iPod, was go to CompUSA and get the extended warrenty. You don't even need to buy it there to get it. Cost me $39.99 and I was able to get it replaced for free the next year when the wheel broke...Then again 6mos later when the battery life started sucking...then again when the next one started crashing. I use the CRAP out of mine, and am on my 4th iPod. (new, 30gb one) and have only ever spent $39.00 each time I get it replaced. Yeah, I've spent $160.00, but I've also been able to upgrade to the latest and greatest every year for less than $50. I'll take that deal ANY day...
My
The PowerMac 8500 (and all the 8*** series macs except the 8600) used variations on the Quadra 800 case.
No.
Generally, batteries are *not* covered under a warranty. They are considered "consumables" and are handled under a separate agreement, if at all.
So, any regular or additional warranties would apply to the iPod device itself.
As pointed out be many others, having a consumable that you have to void the warranty to replace is a stupid design. Forcing consumers to void their warranty to maintain a perfectly useful device is a stupid design.
We need to stop designing things that are fucking useless, or a PITA to maintain, only after a few years.
-- clvrmnky
I wonder what the bandwidth charges are going to be for their little site after their quicktime movie is slashdotted...
194,000 loads so far and counting...that's got to be more than a battery....
Only with ni-cad, and to a lesser extent ni-mh.
Behaviour like this kills li-ion, lots.