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G4 Mac User · Mar 27, 2002, 08:16 PM

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I used to get 10 1/2 hours per day (I work 10 hours a day 6 days a week and have for the last 4 months) non-stop from my iPod but since the update last week to 1.1 I now get about 8 1/2 instead.

Could the equalizer (I use treble boost) use that much battery power? I even did the restore to factory fresh condition last night, redownloaded all my songs and contacts and charged the iPod until this said it was fully charged - about 3 hours later.

Turned on iPod right at 7 and at 3:30 it crapped out.

Anyone else notice lose of battery life with the new update?

Your Pal

G4 Mac User

PS I just got an idea that tomorrow I would turn off the equalizer to see if it would run longer. If that is the problem I will also be sure to post back and let everyone know. I can live without the equalizer but not the iPod itself for 2 hours a day.

[ 03-27-2002: Message edited by: G4 Mac User ]

jules · Mar 27, 2002, 10:40 PM

Looks like you might need this:
http://www.griffintechnology.com/audio/powerpod.html

dav · Mar 28, 2002, 10:20 AM

i just noticed the crappy battery life this morning. charged the ipod all last night via the outlet adapter cable. this morning i'm listening to music and after an hour i'm at three bars on the battery indicator. hour later i'm at two. at this rate my ipod will run maybe four hours on a full charge.

G4 Mac User · Mar 29, 2002, 03:34 PM

I just downloaded the old version 1.0.4 and redid all my songs.

I will find out tomorrow afternoon if the iPod makes it 8.5 or almost 10.5 hours.

I will post my findings.

Your Pal

G4 Mac User

OpenStep · Mar 29, 2002, 04:45 PM

Seems to be the opposite for me

Since 1.1 my battery has lasted longer and the battery meter is more accurate.

G4 Mac User · Mar 29, 2002, 07:16 PM

I agree the battery meter was more accurate. Tomorrow I will post all my findings since I am now back at 1.0.4 and I am charging the iPod right now and will use it (hopefully) for 10 hours tomorrow.

Your Pal

G4 Mac User

poocat · Mar 30, 2002, 07:21 AM

the battery meter is definitely more accurate, but i would also say that my ipod's battery is not lasting as long... i'm truthfully a bit skeptical of 1.1... i hope apple kicks out another fixer soon!

1.1 definitely crashes more, uses more battery power, and starts playing songs more slowly.
strange.

poocat.

Phat Bastard · Mar 30, 2002, 10:08 AM

I'm getting lowerbattery life as well. I didn't even make the connection that it was 1.1, but now that I think about it, it probably is. What's the deal? A car charger isn't an option on the train ride home.

G4ME · Mar 30, 2002, 10:19 AM

I am having no problems with 1.1 I love it and get the same if not better battery life.

slboett · Mar 30, 2002, 05:57 PM

One thing to remember with rechargable batteries is "memory"
It's good to let your device discharge totally once in a while to allow the batteries to do a full recharge.

ScottB

[ 03-30-2002: Message edited by: slboett ]

MacmanX · Mar 31, 2002, 09:35 PM

Originally posted by slboett:
One thing to remember with rechargable batteries is "memory"
It's good to let your device discharge totally once in a while to allow the batteries to do a full recharge.

ScottB

[ 03-30-2002: Message edited by: slboett ]

Is that really a problem any more? I thought with NiMH and more exotic batteries, there was no problems with charge "memory". Also, computer controlled charge management has come a long way. I remember when batteries charged in a significantly larger period of time than they actually worked. I mean, charged in three hours, lasts for ten? Really! I remember charges in ten, last for thirty minutes. So, I would be surprised to see charge memory with the iPod. It could, of course, happen. I'd just be shocked.

Cheers!

dav · Apr 1, 2002, 07:43 AM

Originally posted by dav:
i just noticed the crappy battery life this morning. charged the ipod all last night via the outlet adapter cable. this morning i'm listening to music and after an hour i'm at three bars on the battery indicator. hour later i'm at two. at this rate my ipod will run maybe four hours on a full charge.

actually, turns out i had plugged my ipod into a switched outlet, so when i cut the lights off for the night, the ipod stopped charging. duh. so, ipod is charging/running like normal.

poocat · Apr 3, 2002, 04:33 AM

after another couple days of testing, 1.1 DEFINITELY decreased battery life across the board (meaning fully charged, partially charged, charged from comp, charged from wall adapter, continuous play, stop and start play, etc).

i just finished reverting to 1.04 which, well, seems better. thank god for firewire or recopying everything would be a complete bitch. (not that it's fun as is....)

come on apple, fix 1.1! this is absurd. the contacts don't work, the eq is crappy, and the battery sucks!
what was the point of that?!

a slightly peeved but still in love with his ipod
poocat.

tonewheel · Apr 3, 2002, 06:04 PM

Gang,

I, too, noticed that I was down to 3 bars after a significant charging period that used to keep me at 4 bars for a long time. I wonder...

Is this simply a case of 1.1 displaying either a MORE accurate, or conversely, a LESS accurate meter? Is 1.04 really accurate? What I am asking is, has the actually physical battery time really changed, or are we getting upset about seeing a meter that indicates we're sucking up more pwoer quicker...when, in fact, we aren't?

I suppose the only way to gauge this is to compare a full-to-empty perormance between 1.04 and 1.1 Has anyone done this for an accurate comparison?

Phat Bastard · Apr 3, 2002, 07:52 PM

I was listening to my Pod today and at 2 out of 4 bars it died. That was really damn annoying, and this never happened before the 1.1 update.

If that isn't proof of the update messing up the battery I don't know what is.

I always completely discharge the battery before I charge it, or at least I THOUGHT I did. 2/4 is not completely discharged but how can I get it to 0/4 bars when the iPod dies at 2?

G4 Mac User · Apr 3, 2002, 08:46 PM

Hi everyone.

All you have to do is go back to 1.0.4 and you will get your battery life back. I guess the more each update does the more power it takes to run the iPod.

At least that is what happened in my case.

Your Pal

G4 Mac User

parkds · Apr 3, 2002, 10:10 PM

Originally posted by Phat Bastard:
I was listening to my Pod today and at 2 out of 4 bars it died. That was really damn annoying, and this never happened before the 1.1 update.

If that isn't proof of the update messing up the battery I don't know what is.

I always completely discharge the battery before I charge it, or at least I THOUGHT I did. 2/4 is not completely discharged but how can I get it to 0/4 bars when the iPod dies at 2?

Check out the Apple boards though....This has been a big problem since the original firmware. You are very lucky if it is just starting for you. I hope Apple fixes it though!

Todd Madson · Apr 4, 2002, 08:51 AM

Can anyone point out a site where I can get the previous version?

My wife and I are about to head out on a long car trip and we need
as much battery life as we can get.

Thanks.

poocat · Apr 4, 2002, 07:48 PM

*bump*

somebody throw 1.04 up on an idisk for him...

(poocat is rushing to work and can't)

1.04 does give me much better battery life...

pcat.

poocat · Apr 4, 2002, 07:52 PM

hey.

it's up (1.04) on poocat's idisk.

all yours, best of luck.

pcat.

nana2 · Apr 5, 2002, 04:28 AM

Originally posted by slboett:
[QB]One thing to remember with rechargable batteries is "memory"
It's good to let your device discharge totally once in a while to allow the batteries to do a full recharge.
QB]

Lithium Ion and Lithium Polymer batteries don't have a memory effect like ni-cads had.

Apr 5, 2002, 02:41 PM

all your iPod updates can be found here:

iPod updates

Apr 7, 2002, 07:31 PM

i just got an ipod off ebay and the battery life is only about 6 hours.. its running Os 1.1, haven't gotten a chance to test it with 1.04.. anyone have similar problem? is it 1.1's fault?

G4 Mac User · Apr 7, 2002, 08:09 PM

Actually 6 hours is very low battery life. If you played with it alot and used the backlight alot then you are OK. Honestly the best thing to do to test the iPod is select "Songs" then start playing with the first song. As long as you have say :"300 or more songs" then the iPod will never get to the last song before the battery life goes out, but if your not sure set the iPod to repeat then select songs.

Now just leave it alone. No backlight, no more touching, no ear phones connected, nada. Just let it play and see how long it last. Even with 1.1 update I was getting 8.5 hours mostly and that is with an iPod I purchased the first of last December. Surely yours is newer ( or close to the same date as mine).

Good luck and post the results on this thread to keep it going for others.

Your Pal

G4 Mac User

tonewheel · Apr 7, 2002, 09:11 PM

I wound up going back to 1.04...for a few days, anyway. But today I restored 1.1. I never go anywhere where I'm more than 5 hours away from a nightly recharge, and the equalizer and other features found in 1.1 are worth the trade off, for me, anyway.

Surely, Apple is hearing rumblings about this. I'll be curious to see when they address this issue head-on.

poocat · Apr 7, 2002, 09:24 PM

ok... i'm a bit frustrated.
i went back to 1.04 and that has not fixed the problem.
feels, in fact like the ipod is tapping the battery when off, because here's the scenario...

turn it on at 11.45 on way to work, listen to it on train, turn it off at 1 at work.
turn it on at 9 at work, listen to it on train, turn it off at 10 at home.

try to turn it on next morning,

nothing.

empty battery.

what!?!

i'm running 1.04, never had this problem before i switched to 1.1 and then still have it now that i'm back...

wondering if this means that i've got a bum battery (on updating only?)
or perhaps my battery isn't snugly connected inside?

any suggestions?
am going to take it in, but you see, i live in japan and don't speak the language
(certainly not enough to explain this...) so any other suggestions are welcome.

ug.
poocat.

tonewheel · Apr 8, 2002, 09:18 AM

Sounds like you've had a hardware problem all along...nothing to do with software. Hopefully it will get fixed under warranty!

poocat · Apr 10, 2002, 10:17 PM

ok.
i have to say that i fixed this problem.

let the battery drain all the way,
then charged it fully (in 1.04) and now the battery life is back.

fixed everything, and my ipod is running just like it used to.
i still love this toy, but 1.1 was a scary week of uselessness, which is a lot for it's expense!

hope all is well around the globe.
poocat.

G4 Mac User · Apr 11, 2002, 05:09 PM

Hey Poocat.

Thanks for posting. In all honestly this is the first software update (of any kind) that Apple has put out that just does not work for me. Heck I even got the dreaded 1.0.3 update for the iPod before they pulled it and it worked fine and did not wipe out any data. The scroll wheel was a lot slower (than I liked) so I went back to 1.0.2 that very night and did not even know they pulled it for about a week.

Update 1.1 makes my iPod freeeze at least twice a day ( and the only way to fix it was the 3 finger salute - and that only worked if you had lots of battery life; otherwise, you had to find a power source to give the iPod enough power to reset itself). Also as mentioned above, the battery life was shortened.

Well hopefully 1.1 (?) update will fix my weird problems. Thank god I found 1.0.4 to get me back to being a happy iPod owner.

Your Pal

G4 Mac User

[ 04-12-2002: Message edited by: G4 Mac User ]