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Judge Approves Settlement in iPod Suit

Posted by Zonk on from the shiny-white-money dept.

BabbaBooie writes "According to AppleInsider, on Thursday a San Mateo County judge granted final approval of a settlement in the iPod class action suit that affects as many as 1.3 million iPod owners who may have been victim to poor or defective batteries. Under the settlement, owners of either a first- or second-generation model are entitled to $25 cash or $50 credit at the Apple store. Owners of third-generation iPod models are entitled to a free replacement battery if the battery fails. The deadline for submitting a claim is September 30, 2005. Lawyers say the settlement could cost Apple as much as $15m."

9 of 293 comments (clear)

  1. That's cool! by Badflash · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Big corporations need to pay for THEIR mistakes. Not THEIR customers.

    1. Re:That's cool! by FreeBSDbigot · · Score: 5, Informative

      Some Palm PDAs, like my IIIc, don't have user-replaceable batteries, though I've seen third-party batteries (complete with screwdriver!) on Ebay. So far, it still holds a charge. I've got my fingers crossed.

      --
      Orange whip? Orange whip? Three orange whips.
    2. Re:That's cool! by holden+caufield · · Score: 5, Funny

      Pacemakers.

      Try to replace the batteries on one of those yourself. And yet, still no lawsuit.

      --
      I'll create an amusing sig when I have something meaningful to post.
  2. Below the belt by rob_squared · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I can understand replacements on 3rd or 4th generation units. But by now, who would be able to tell if a 1st or 2nd generation iPod really had a defective battery, or if its just old?

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    I don't get it.
  3. Swappable & Death by Kynmore · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is why built in batteries are bad! Not only does it screw the customer, it screws the manuf. in the end. Not that $15m is alot Apple, but still, it's a big damn drop of water in that bucket. They should use cellphone-style batteries. Keep an extra charged, jus tincase you stuck in the desert and need a soundtrack to your death-martch to the next gas station. Oh no, your batteries died, but wait, you have an extra one. pop. more music to die by.

  4. Re:4G iPods out of luck? by MoneyT · · Score: 5, Informative

    Your 4G is still under waranty. Get it serviced.

    --
    T Money
    World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
  5. Costs Apple Money? by AvitarX · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I would think giving iPod hungry people $25-$50 credit will actually make Apple money.

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    Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
  6. Re:Fair Test? by sprouty76 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Shuffle won't make any difference to the HD usage - the order of the tracks is decided when the user hits play. Either way, the iPod knows well in advance which tracks it's going to play and can cache them accordingly.

    Skipping is the real killer for battery life in my experience. People who just play everything and skip through stuff they don't want probably get much worse battery life than people who create sensible playlists.

    --

    No, I don't want a free iPod

  7. Once again, the lawyers win by cpu_fusion · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Big surprise, the lawyers make a cool $2 million off this. That's right, they made $2m out of the $15m that "might" be collected by the deadline ONE MONTH FROM NOW.
    Quit tech, folks, and go into Law.