Changing an iPod battery.

[Globalti]

This was the most difficult home repair I've ever undertaken. Give me something simple like a car, which you can hit with a hammer, any time. I opted for the £11 battery fitting kit from iPod Doctor rather than the £38 service.

They supply two weedy little plastic tools for removing the back but this was a struggle, it took me 45 minutes and even then I bent the metal clips holding the back on, meaning that I achieved it by brute force rather than correct technique.

Next was unsoldering three tiny contacts attaching the battery to the circuit board and resoldering the new battery in. Another nightmare, which took me another 45 minutes, lots of eye-strain and some choice words. However having staked my reputation in our household as repairer of all things I was determined not to give up and after trying a different type of solder I finally made it.

Anybody else tried this? Was it as bad for you?

Two pints of Copper Dragon's fresh cool Golden Pippin for my reward tonight, methinks!

 

[summerdays]

No I haven't but was contemplating it (well it would be Mr Summerdays doing the physical work and swearing). I've forgotten what a good battery life is like... mine lasts about 4 hours max. I just put up will it as its not often I want to listen that long.

 

[nickb]

I would have though that a tired-out old battery would be a good excuse for a new iPod.

 

[Mr Pig]

Although I ALWAYS manage to burn myself after I've finished.

Yeah, I usually do too :0( Can't use Superglue without getting it on my fingers either.

 

[Cranky]

I replaced the battery in an iPod mini. It was very fiddly indeed, especially getting the case apart. Then I found that the fault wasn't due to the battery anyway. More time and money wasted.

 

[Landslide]

I did it on a 1st or 2nd (?) generation one, no soldering needed.

 

[John the Monkey]

Not as hard as that (no soldering) but replacing the top screen in my son's DS (after the dog chewed it) was fiddly and high on the eyestrain scale.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

Not as hard as that (no soldering) but replacing the top screen in my son's DS (after the dog chewed it) was fiddly and high on the eyestrain scale.

did you know you can get a brand new unit from nintendo for about £50? you just let them know, get a job number and send the broken one to them. that's assuming it's not a warranty replacement of course.

 

[4F]

did you know you can get a brand new unit from nintendo for about £50? you just let them know, get a job number and send the broken one to them. that's assuming it's not a warranty replacement of course.

Now you tell me Just paid 55 to get my lads one repaired. 2 broken screens and a duff motherboard.

 

[Carwash]

Sick of the damn things now - Sony next time.

Sony tagline: "If you thought Apple's DRM was restrictive, wait till you see ours!"

 

[bonj2]

ipods /itunes are an absolute bloody nightmare. Proprietary software that youc an't bypass would be ok if it worked allthetime, but it doesn't , it doesn't sync properly, and you can't see it as a drive.
my dad used his ipod in its speakers as the music for a pass the parcel at an xmas gathering the other night and it really showed itself up in a bad way. is there a pause button? oh no, that would be too simple wouldn't it. After a few instances of someone unwrapping but followed by jeering when the music failed to restart, i had to tell him to not bother with the buttons on it and just take it out of the speakers and put it back in again! how stupid!
both my parents have got ipods and they are constantly having problems with them, normally it's something like they've got so-and-so track "on my itunes but it's not on my ipod" and no way of getting it onto it, for everything else computer related they ask me and i fix it for them no problem but they know not to bother asking me anything to do with ipods. whatever anybody says about 'oh well mine works fine' - they just aren't user friendly AT ALL.
Why can't apple make something simple and user-friendly that just works?

fine - have auto-sync, but enablethe user to turn it off and sync itmanually by showing it as a drive if they want to/ifit fails towork. it's almost as if they're forcibly preventing you from manually doing it on the pretence that the 'auto sync' is so good you wouldn't want to manually sync, when in fact the exact opposite is true.

 

[alecstilleyedye]

Why can't apple make something simple and user-friendly that just works?

 

[Globalti]

iTunes works great for me.... but then I'm not clever like you nobs.

 

[Carwash]

Why can't apple make something simple and user-friendly that just works?

I love you, bonj.

 

[LondonCommuter]

I didn't have to solder but found it one of the most stressful experiences of my life. For £15 it was worth though and has given my ipod a new lease of life. Given the alternative was buying a new one (which I'd secretly prefer but can't really afford or justify now that I cycle rather than tube and hardly ever use my ipod) it was worth the risk but did bring me out in a cold sweat