« The Hand That Bites | Main | Hi Ho Hi Ho, Back to Europe I go »
June 02, 2005
iPod Battery Class Action Suit Settled
If you have a first, second or third gen iPod you've likely experienced diminished battery capacity, right about the time the extended Apple Care warranty runs out. The iPods have been notorious for the shortcoming of the battery for a few years now. Sometime ago there was a class action suit filed against Apple representing iPod owners with the less than stellar batteries.
At first Apple was charging about US$200 to replace the batteries. After an uproar from die hard iPod fans (count me in in that bunch) they reduced the charge to US$100 for out of warranty iPods. This and other issues with Powerbook batteries forced Apple to craft a page with battery info. Today Apple announced a settlement where they did not admit to a problem, but agreed to replace the batteries free of charge or issue a small store credit or cash, depending on which generation iPod was purchased. The 3rd Gen iPods can get free batteries, 1st and 2nd Gen get cash or a small credit. Users that paid and got batteries under the previous program they'll give you back half of the dough.
There is a site dedicated to this at http://www.appleipodsettlement.com/ with the details of the offer/settlement.
That still doesn't fix what I now consider a design flaw in that the battery isn't user replacable in a US$300 plus portable music player. Mine has had issues for several months, recently down to playing less than an hour on a charge. Fortunatly I have a Belkin battery pack because even at five or six hours of charge, it's not enough for a full day of travel. Even worse for international when I'll spend nearly 20 hours traveling. I've been looking at alternatives, nothing really has the hardware/software integration of the iPod, even given the few flaws of the iPod. I haven't yet decided to what to do, get the battery fixed, or get the credit and replace the unit.
Now where the hell did I put that receipt?
Posted by Dave at June 2, 2005 04:40 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://rex.roaddog.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/74
Comments
Not user replaceable? I guess not in the strictest and lowest common denominator sense of the term 'user.' However I purchased a new, higher capacity battery for my 2nd gen iPod about a year ago and it came with all the instructions and tools to dissassmble and install the new battery. I thought it was pretty much cake to do. I guess if someone would have told me it was impossible I would be crying too.
Posted by: Mikey P at June 2, 2005 06:26 PM
I don't think complaining about a US$400 dollar music player with an 18 month battery is "crying". You can do the third party kit, but a) it voids the warranty b) not every installation works out to be a success (troll Usenet and various forums for examples). The iPod is not made for the user to replace the battery, it was never Apple's intention.
For those at home, here's how you crack a 3G... http://www.ipodbattery.com/slimipodinstall.htm .
But you miss the point Mike. If Apple were to continue to make iPods with limited battery life, they run the risk of alienating much of the user base. Most of iPod users, or users of consumer electronics aren't 31337 h4x0R dudes like you. They aren't going to be able to crack the iPod to fix the battery. I could order the kit and crack the player, no problem. But the point is I SHOULDN"T HAVE TO...
Posted by: Dave at June 2, 2005 08:04 PM
So is it that the battery needs to last longer, or it needs to be user replaceable? If its the former, I wonder what form of battery or new storage technology would make that possible. I've yet to see an example of consumer electronics that has similar power requirements that doesn't wear out a battery. I've never gotten more than 2 years out of a cell phone battery, which I would consider a similar device in terms of use needs and charge cycles.
-Mikey P
Posted by: Mikey P at June 4, 2005 09:26 PM
The iPod mini is said to last 18 hours so that's certainly a step in the right direction. There's a big difference between an iPod with a hard drive and a cell phone. A cell phone isn't being used three or four hours contiuously. The last several cell phones I've owned (with the exception of that shitty Virgin phone) are made so the user doesn't have to resort to case cracking or warranty void to change the battery. In fact the manufacturers willing sell replacement or spare batteries which is something you can't get from Apple directly unless you are a service center. Apple should be designing iPods so that the users are more able to change batteries without voiding the warranty.
Posted by: Dave at June 4, 2005 11:03 PM