[bbales]

My daughter's mini is acting up, including (among other problems) not holding a charge.

Has anyone replaced the battery on the mini on their own, without either sending it to Apple or some other professional? I found directions for it; some indicate sending it out, ithers seem to indicate you can do it on your own. Just wondering if anyone has personal experience.

[mishakim]

I have a friend who tried. She somehow broke the clickwheel in the process. She's an electrical engineer, so it's not like she didn't know what she was doing.

[baakre]

Yea, I've done it. Quite a few times actually. I think the trickiest part is popping off the plastic end covers without marking them up too much. I found a guitar pick to work pretty good to slide between the plastic and the aluminum body. There is a metal clip that can be a bit tricky to remove on the bottom, but it's not too bad. The internal guts of the iPod mini slide out the top, while the trackpad is attached to the body. There is a flex cable running from the trackpad to the main circuit board that you will need to disconnect first. A tiny screwdriver works pretty good to pop it off.

It's really a piece of cake.