The $165 million in bonuses dished out to AIG executives last month was a national-scale raw deal. Today, I return to a more palatable, personal-scale raw deal: the exorbitant price that Apple wants to replace an iPod battery.
Apple has made replacing the battery either challenging, risky or impossible for most iPod owners. Return it, Apple says, and it’ll replace it with someone else’s returned iPod, newly freshened up and impregnated with a fresh battery. Apple charges anywhere from $49 for a Shuffle to $79 for a Touch.
For my old-time (first-generation) Nano, a measly 2 gigabytes and itself long since replaced by a Touch, investing $59 for a $2.85 battery didn’t make sense. So I bought a $2.85 (plus shipping) lithium-ion battery fromamazon.com and did it myself.
Apple didn’t make it easy. I had to pry open the Nano with two plastic tools that came with the battery and, when that failed, summon additional armament — the tip of a paring knife — to access the motherboard.
Then I needed a soldering iron to remove the old battery leads from the motherboard before securing the new battery. Lost you at the soldering iron? Here’s the easy way out: Snip the other end of the three lead wires, close to the original battery, leaving the soldered ends in place. Strip some covering off the wires, then twist them together with the corresponding leads of the new battery. Wrap each in electrician’s tape, and the iPod’s reborn.
OK, let’s just say it can be done. Newer iPods are much more difficult (thank you, Mother Apple). For the Touch, don’t even think DIY. It’ll cost $79 if returned to Apple, but there are plenty of less-expensive options. Two: Juice Your iPod (ipodjuice.com) will do it for $32, RapidRepair (rapidrepair.com) for $50.
With proper care, an iPod battery should last about 400 charges. Enjoy it while it lasts.
