Shame On You: The Apple iPod

CBS 2 New York ^ | Arnold Diaz

[finnman69]

Shame On You: The Apple iPod
Battery Replacement Problems Are Creating Problems

Feb 25, 2005 3:00 pm US/Eastern

NEW YORK (CBS) The Apple iPod is one of the most popular consumer electronic products in history. Thus far, 10 million have been sold to music lovers.

But you may be surprised to learn what happens when the battery on the iPod dies.

Our Shame On You team reports that battery replacement problems are making some people irate over the iPod. See why Arnold Diaz puts Apple in the Hall of Shame.

Video at the link

Here: is the link to the movie referrred to at the video story:
http://www.ipodsdirtysecret.com/

[orangelobster]

"Not true."

o.k. man, whatever you say. computer scientists can change the battery after doing the proper research. The Creative player has a battery that you can pop out and replace without the Apple chicanery.

[cyborg]

I pinged some people who can explain better than I :-)

[SlowBoat407]

This video has been circulating for quite some time. I put it in the same category with the Zip Drive "Click Death" issue. It's really hard to tell how much of this has been driven by motivated parties creating fear campaigns, and how much is really a sincere consumer issue.

[Petronski]

I've seen it done. It is about as difficult as replacing the battery on a cordless phone.

[mollynme]

From your link:

The movie is accurate. Apple's battery replacement was placed AFTER the movie was distributed throughout.

[Petronski]

The Creative player has a battery that you can pop out and replace without the Apple chicanery.

The ipod has a battery that you can pop out and replace.

[Arkie2]

Thanks. I'm a lot less PO'd now and a little embarrassed that I bought right into the videos claims

[Petronski]

It's sweeps month, and it seems WCBS has timeblocks to fill. There's only so much sensationalism to go around, and this time they've really been scrounging....or so it would seem.

[savedbygrace]

The latest scheme is to sell the ipod without accessories. You have to buy the adapter separetly etc.

That's simply not true. Did you believe somebody who told you that, or is that lie original with you?

For anyone who might doubt what I'm saying, just go to http://www.apple.com/ipod/ and click on the button to go to the Apple Store and click through to the iPod. You'll see that the adapter and several other "accessories" are included.

[orangelobster]

"The ipod has a battery that you can pop out and replace."

o.k. man. I'm sure computer scientists will get a kick out of reading the 'instruction manual' and getting out the toolkick to replace a battery. This link about how to change the battery makes it clear that Apple has made it as difficult as possible to do without sending it back to the factory and doling out a hundred bucks for Apple's expert technicians to change the battery.

http://www.ipodbattery.com/ipod2k4install.htm

The fact that the i-pod firmware blocks all other major music websites other than i-tunes also indicates that they are trying to create a monopoly for online music distribution. monopoly=more cash for Apple. "think different" indeed.

[Theo]

Is 18 months insufficient? Seems like a good long time for a batter to last....

[Petronski]

Did you believe somebody who told you that, or is that lie original with you?

That is an especially salient question. Provocative, even.

;O)

[Petronski]

[moroque11]

A couple years back I had 3 Iomega zip drives fail within 6 months. Iomega replaced 2 drives and sent me a 10-pak of disks and told me to throw out any zip disks that had ever shown the clicking symptom.

[orangelobster]

"Did you believe somebody who told you that, or is that lie original with you? "

I love it. Now I'm being called a liar. Here's the latest news about the new "think different" scheme to not include the adapter with new i-pods.

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/portable-media/ipod/2g-ipod-mini-reviewed-verdict-insanely-okay-034157.php

[Always Right]

There are alternatives that may be better. You can get something like a Creative Zen Micro for about $200 that has 4 GB of storage and an easily replacable battery. Then sign up for a service like Napster which offers unlimited downloads for $15 a month. It is a cheaper solution if you want to download hundreds of songs legally, the only problem is once you subscription expires, the files no longer play.

[Tribune7]

ping

[Petronski]

The fact that the i-pod firmware blocks all other major music websites other than i-tunes also indicates that they are trying to create a monopoly for online music distribution.

Have you had any difficulty loading onto your iPod mp3s that you didn't buy from the iTunes store?

[Always Right]

Is 18 months insufficient? Seems like a good long time for a batter to last....

18 months isn't bad, except that you can't replace it yourself. You need to send it back in and it costs almost $200. That is ridiculous for a $400 device.

[fuzzycat]

Thanks for that link. When I bought my 15G model last year at Best Buy they had a deal for $45.00 when the battery dies I take the iPod back to Best Buy with my receipt and they give me a new iPod.
It's good someone has after market batteries tho.