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dlefebvre · May 17, 2003, 11:17 AM

Anyone as an idea of an ipod's life expectancy? I guess that in the long run, the battery life should decrease gradually until it's eventually dead. But for how long? Doe's the fact that it's automatically recharging everytime it's hooked to the Mac accelerates it's demise? It would be sad to spend 400$ on something that dies prematurely because it's recharged to often.

Do you think that eventualy someone will offer battery replacements? I'ts just a tought because I had to throw out rechargable batteries bought 3 years ago. (They ended up supplying no more than an hour of power to my digital camera.)

MilkmanDan · May 17, 2003, 11:24 AM

I'd be concerned with the life of an older iPod. I've noticed several people's original iPods to be on a downward spiral of death. The wheel just can't take it after a couple years of constant useage. ONe guy all ready had his wheel replaced. I have the first model 10 gig, touchpad, but with real buttons. I worry about it and whether the buttons will hold out.

The battery shouldn't be a problem. No one I know has had a battery issue that wasn't fixed by a firmware update. Also if you're having battry issues with old iPod you can always have someone reset the battery (I don't know where, but there has been discussion on MacNN about it).

Anyhow the iPod's batteries are much better than the crap ones you get out of the store.

dlefebvre · May 17, 2003, 11:33 AM

I guess, otherwise Apple (even if they would like you to get a new iPod every year) would have put a preference setting to turn the recharging feature on and off.

icruise · May 17, 2003, 11:38 AM

'd be concerned with the life of an older iPod. I've noticed several people's original iPods to be on a downward spiral of death. The wheel just can't take it after a couple years of constant useage. ONe guy all ready had his wheel replaced. I have the first model 10 gig, touchpad, but with real buttons. I worry about it and whether the buttons will hold out.

The battery shouldn't be a problem. No one I know has had a battery issue that wasn't fixed by a firmware update. Also if you're having battry issues with old iPod you can always have someone reset the battery (I don't know where, but there has been discussion on MacNN about it).

Anyhow the iPod's batteries are much better than the crap ones you get out of the store.

Hmm. From what I have read the situation would be the opposite. I haven't heard much about physical parts failing, but quite a number of people have complained of battery life depleting over time.

There is now a company that offers replacement batteries, though, and I would imagine that there will be similar things available for the new models at some point as well.

For what it's worth, though, my original 5GB iPod has held up very well. It probably has shorter battery life than when I bought it 1.5 years ago, but it still works great and I use it a lot.

The Placid Casual · May 17, 2003, 06:26 PM

I would be tempted to say "Be wary of the G1 and G2 models...", But for fear of being stoned as a troll, I won't

I only say this as I had one of the first 5 gig ones... which had to replaced due to a hardware/firewire bridge fault after about a week...

4 other replacements later, and I still didn't have one that lasted longer than about a month...

I know I was really, really unlucky, but I have waited until the first major redesign to buy another! (Which I will do in a heart beat.)

If you can afford one, I would go for a G3... Apple are bound to have designed out some of the 'faults' of the first designs.

Peace,

Marc

icruise · May 17, 2003, 07:45 PM

When you have that many replacements you have to wonder if maybe you aren't doing something wrong yourself. What exactly was the problem?

The Placid Casual · 08:06 PM

Originally posted by Icruise:
When you have that many replacements you have to wonder if maybe you aren't doing something wrong yourself. What exactly was the problem?

Tell me about it!

The first 2 had the classic G1 problem of the of the firewire connector/bridge breaking inside the unit, meaning it would charge, but not show up on the desktop... (fixed I believe on the G2 models)

The third had a faulty control wheel... It was very badly put together straight out of the box, and the wheel was completely warped. After even a few minutes of usage, it just stopped funtioning and began to come away from the correct position. It got to a stage after a week or so when it loooked to be in real danger of just coming off the machine. It then stopped working completely so I had to send it back.

The fourth would not hold any charge at all straight from the box. I tried all the tips and tricks, all the firmware updates, all the advice from apple who conceeded it was a 'serious' battery defect!

When I got the 5th I didn't even breathe on it, and sold it on ebay. I have kept in touch with the buyer who has informed me it has worked perfectly...

On each occaion there was no user error, and they never actually left my house!

Apple did inform me though that all the replacement units exept the last functioning one were ''Reconditoned"... It was apparantly their policy at the time to replace a faulty unit with a 'repaired' one. I think this explains a lot.

Peace,

Marc

Mac Zealot · May 17, 2003, 10:13 PM

iPods are made to last around 3-4 years at the most.

The HD will only last 5000 hours and the battery's SPECCED to be recharged 500 times.

There ya have it. Of course, apple knew most people would throw out their year old ipods and get the next biggest thing

icruise · May 17, 2003, 10:27 PM

I don't think the hard disk wearing out will be that much of a problem, since it only spins up for a few seconds every few minutes. 5000 hours will last a long long time. The battery, as I said earlier, is a bigger problem (especially since it isn't easy to replace) but at least there are replacements available.

DigitalEl · May 18, 2003, 01:00 AM

When you have that many replacements you have to wonder if maybe you aren't doing something wrong yourself.

Nope. Probably not user error. Some are just born bad. I've had awful luck with some Apple products, too.

My first iMac DV was D.O.A. out of the box. Ended up returning it to the store. Brought a second one home. Also D.O.A. Apple rep on the phone said it could be an entire "bad lot" and suggested I get a third one from a different store. I ended up spending more and getting the DV-SE, which is still in faithful service.

My original 5 GB iPod wasn't recognized by my Mac. The Apple Store swapped it out no questions asked. The replacement one had the hypersensitive scroll wheel issue and was replaced after about 4 months.

On the flipside, no problems whatsoever with my G4 iMac. And I just bought the 10 GB iPod a few hours ago... With no problems yet. Maybe my luck is changing.