So, how long are they really supposed to last? Mine (3g I think) lasts about 5 hours. I just figured that the claim for "up to 8 hours" was like the "up to 5,000 songs" claim - under certain peculiar circumstances that bear no resemblance to reality would this happen.

I saw a lady in a mac-shop the other day going on a major rant about her defect battery. She wanted the shop to replace it, as she had bought itthere. they patiently explained that she had to write Apple, send in her iPod and so on, and she asked "what is the point of me buying it in this shop when I have to go straight to the company for everything? What do you *do*?"
Good question lady. That's when I walked home and ordered my mac-gear online instead. ;)

(battery?? wow. Sorry.)

Actually, I see that they now claim "up to 12 hours" for a battery charge. I wonder what you have to do to make that happen? Is it related to volume, which would make sense? Is it possible that the bitrate affects the battery life (my music is mostly at 320kbps)?

Mine is the current model with the click wheel, whatever generation that is.

*wonders what dabitch is apologising for*

My strange spelling, I was thinking in the wrong langauge and thought for a mo' that battery=a beating or heavy artillery, and batteri = a battery. It all makes sense in my head.

Blame the spell of Bubees.

It all makes sense in my head.

Well, I'm glad it makes sense somewhere ;-)

So, this class action is for 1st, 2nd and 3rd gen iPods only? It seems that mine must be a 4th gen, as it has the control buttons integrated in the click wheel and has a dock connector, so that means I am not included (apart from being in the wrong country, of course).

It'd be great if apple found a way to address the battery problem without ruining the case design. This thread reminds me of a problem that just recently came up, so just to hijack for a second in a pathetic request of advice:

I really hate mp3 players right now. I've been using a Creative Nomad Zen for about a year and a half now, and I was (naively) planning on using it for a long time. I dropped it last night. Some piece of the headphone jack fell out, a piece I can't find and that is apparently necessary to hear anything from the player.

I don't really want to replace it with another nomad because I'm annoyed enough with this one, but on the other hand it had excellent sound quality and would be a cheaper alternative to an iPod, whose problems this thread is now reminding me of.

What should I do?

i think you're sunk, invita--if the piece that fell out was from inside the player. are you still under warranty? i'd send it to them for a replacement. Back it up first tho.

Except for the battery stuff, i've thoroughly loved my ipod--and it's only an issue when i'm flying. I've gotten used to charging it 2-3 times a week, just for my commute. It's been a slow process--every recharge gives me a few minutes less of a charge i guess. And they batteries drain even if it's off and locked.

dg: you're 4g and your batteries are supposed to be better than what we've got. How many hours do you get?

Nah, I think the warranty was for one year at most. As for the piece, well, it was somewhat a part of the exterior - the headphone jack is now missing a black, raised ring that used to be there. I feel like it would be fixable if I could find the thing.

I'd be interested to know about the battery life on 4gs too. Then, when I win the lottery...

No one answered so: I have a 4G and my battery doesn't last very long. When I drove to Stonington, Conn., and back, it died at the Greenwich rest stop on the Merritt. We got lost, so maybe it was something link seven hours total over two days. I also have mine charging a lot (because the dock is always plugged in and I play it at home via the dock's line out).

Not great. Not terrible.

amberglow, I am not sure how much I would get from full charge to dead flat, but it seems to be about 5 hours until the battery indicator is almost empty. As I said, I am aware that lots of things affect this, particularly volume, plus most of my mucic is ripped at 320kbps, which I think might have some effect (extra processing or something?)

dame: this says it'll age the battery faster to have it always plugged in

It has tips and stuff and info there too, dg.

Thanks amberglow.

I have found one thing out the hard way - attempting to charge an iPod by plugging it into a Win98-powered notebook (I know the system requirements are for XP, but was a long way from home and wanted to listen to music on my three-hour drive home and figured it couldn't hurt to try), will not only not charge the iPod, but will actually discharge it, in this case, completely and utterly dead flat after being plugged in for about 5 hours. True story.