Slightly Off-Topic: iPod Problems

[Mosquito]

I figured this would be a good place to investigate the problem I have been having with my iPod (or think that I have been having).

I have a 5th generation iPod. This is the one with the click-wheel and basically the latest model. I have the 30 gig version.

When I bought it two weeks ago, I noticed it was fully charged. From what I remember, the iPod's came with enough charge to let the user know it worked but that it needed to be fully charged before real use. It was at this point where I thought that perhaps this was a returned iPod?

After having it for the past two weeks, I have watched the battery constantly, trying to adjust my use of the iPod to allow the battery maximum power at any given time. Backlight is down to 1 second, Clock is disabled, etc. However, after a 3 day charge of the iPod, I was able to have the battery gauge showing around 3/4 - 2/3 power after just under an hour of iPod use.

I have the hold button switched on at all times unless I am actually hitting buttons. I do switch songs if I don't feel like listening to what comes on (I usually leave the iPod on shuffle) and I know this taxes the iPod's cache, which consumes more battery power. I was sure that my use of the iPod wasn't heavy use really.

At this point I decided to run some system diagnostics, to which everything that I tested checked out fine. However, when I rebooted the iPod back into it's normal mode, the battery displayed at near empty (this is about 3 minutes or so with constant backlight). I left it alone thinking that the battery display was not exact (and this is something I have felt was true the whole time). I figured that this display was giving an estimate based on a certain time frames battery use. This would explain why the gauge would drop so dramatically since it would assume I was going to be in full-on backlight mode for an indefinate amount of time. I was correct in my assumption because after leaving it alone for a minute, the gauge went back up. However, it only "re-gauged" to half power. This means that within a 3 minute time frame, I took the iPod from 2/3-3/4 power to just under half. I have read many sites claiming that the iPod has a lifetime of about 12 hours under a full charge. This does not seem to correlate with my findings.

I have asked a few friends that have iPod's and they don't seem to be having the same issues that I am having. For example, one friend said her iPod took about 3 hours to tick down to the 3/4 marker. I am sure the amount of button pushing either of us do is about the same. I am also sure her backlight is still set on factory default (which is 5 or 10 seconds).

Sorry for the lengthy post, but I want to give a detailed explanation of what I see to be a problem and find out if anyone has similar issues and/or what their experience has been with the iPod. How long does it take to tax your battery out to 2/3-3/4 after a full charge? How long until 1/2? Do you hit your next button maybe every 6 minutes, depending on what is played? I plan to return this iPod because I personally feel that the battery is royally screwed in some way. However, I wanted to see what other iPod users experiences were.

I know this is not a music post, but I think it is at least indirectly related to music so I hope this will not be deleted.

Thanks!
justin

 

[Jibrille]

I have the 4th gen and have never had problems. You might have just gotten an iPod with a bad battery. It happens. One thing I do recommend is to make sure the equalizer is off. That can kill your battery. Then just use it for a day and if it dies really fast (don't even pay attention to the battery), bring it in. I have found that my iPod will go to half pretty fast but then still be usable for another 2 days (not constant use usually but easily 3-4 hrs a day). Also, don't leave it in cold weather. Twice I've left my iPod for an extended time in my car by mistake and when I drive off, it dies really fast. Even if I had just charged it that morning.

Equalizer is the EQ under settings.

 

[J-Dubya 777]

I don't own one (yet), but anything using a rechargable battery, whether it be a drill, or a cordless phone, or an IPOD needs to be COMPLETELY drained, and recharged during the first cycle of the battery. If it comes charged, drain it until it doesn't work, if it comes with a slight charge, charge it all the way up, per manufacturer's instructions, and then drain it completely.

The other more suspicious side of me wonders if you got an IPOD that was returned, tested to be ok, and then re-boxed.....

J-Dubya

 

[No-Mercy]

indeed, a bad battery might be the problem...or you could be a knucklehead like my bud who didn't realize he wasn't turning it off right...so it was continuing to run.

but, psh...stick the old player!! cmon, you cannot dessert that!! i mean, i need to have the booklet, feel the cd, take the dozen unecessary anti-steal stickers off...or, its just not the same...

 

[Mosquito]

so you want to lug 30 cd's around with you at any given time?

because you know..when I'm in class...and I want to listen to some Saturnus or Immortal...cd's are not in range...and usually they aren't the cd's I brought in the car with me either.

 

[corvinus]

so you want to lug 30 cd's around with you at any given time?

because you know..when I'm in class...and I want to listen to some Saturnus or Immortal...cd's are not in range...and usually they aren't the cd's I brought in the car with me either.

exactly, if your post was being sarcastic, I totally agree with you.

 

[Pellaz]

so you want to lug 30 cd's around with you at any given time?

because you know..when I'm in class...and I want to listen to some Saturnus or Immortal...cd's are not in range...and usually they aren't the cd's I brought in the car with me either.

A mere 30 CDs? Pshaw! You kids have it easy.

You should see me trundling into WREKage on a typical Friday night. Three 200-CD 'notebooks,' a cardboard longbox full of promo CDs, and whatever other crap I toss into the duffel bag. Thank god it's just once a week!


(And yeah, I seriously need an iPod. )

 

[Mosquito]

dude I've seen those notebooks remember? (happy bday btw)

 

[chibitotoro]

I have a first-gen 10GB iPod that looks and feels so old in comparison to the new ones that sometimes I feel like it has vacuum tubes sticking out of it or something. My battery gauge goes to 3/4 in no time, and to 1/2 in an hour or two. However, that really isn't a good estimate of how much life it's got left. If it dies after four hours of use from a full charge then you've got a problem...but ultimately, I wouldn't worry about the battery gauge unless the thing is actually dying on you.

 

[Curufin]

Maybe you should call Apple, who would probably know a lot more about your problem than any of us. They might even fix it for you!

Also, the whole drain-completely-and-then-charge thing only applies to the Nickel Cadmium (NiCad) and Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) rechargeable batteries. Crystals build up in these batteries after extended use, and need a full discharge cycle to cleanse the crystals and enable the battery to complete a full charge.

Almost all current cell phones, PDAs, MP3 players, etc. with rechargeable batteries use Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) or Lithium Ion Polymer (LiPo). These batteries are absolutely NOT supposed to be drained completely. This will severely damage the battery. That's why the smart manufacturers install safeguards against completely discharging these types of batteries. Even though your device may say it's completely drained, it's still got a bit of juice left to keep it from becoming damaged.

Also, I found this handy link on Apple Battery Care: http://www.apple.com/batteries/

 

[DAVETHEMETALGUY]

THAT'S ALL? man i have 4 storage totes and a 5 foot metal rolling cabinet. i figure 10,000 cd's easy...screw the notebooks....i absolutely hate the cardboard sleeves Century Media sends out too, they are too hard to track down.
anyway, that's my two cents

A mere 30 CDs? Pshaw! You kids have it easy.

You should see me trundling into WREKage on a typical Friday night. Three 200-CD 'notebooks,' a cardboard longbox full of promo CDs, and whatever other crap I toss into the duffel bag. Thank god it's just once a week!


(And yeah, I seriously need an iPod. )

 

[Kenneth R.]

personally I rate Apple products really, really low.

my Sony mp3CD player lasts -days- at a time on 1 AA battery. I have 3 of the 394 CD cases maxed + more lying around in cases of various types. In total I have several thousand. What I do is burn them all to backup on my 2nd hard drive (dedicated to this purpose) so they are all in my Winamp library (F-off itunes), and then I burn a collection of albums that go together onto individual CDs to go in my CD player. I also, as a precaution, backup all of these albums on DVD's in case my computer is damaged or my CDs become lost.

My advice to you (of course it would be unrealistic for me to suggest axing the iPod and getting some other brand or device) is to contact Apple or the place you got it, get a new battery, and test it again.

 

[Dustin]

The other more suspicious side of me wonders if you got an IPOD that was returned, tested to be ok, and then re-boxed.....

J-Dubya

How Ironic! Here's my recent beef with my 4th gen. iPod:

I'm on my #2 of this thing. My first one worked beautifully for about 8 months and then took a major shit - symptoms were: skipping like a CD, skipping to the next song in the middle of the current playing track, or skipping back and playing the 1st second of a previous track and then going into the next track - all of a sudden I couldn't reset it, put in disk mode or even get it to STOP resetting itself at some point. In fact I vividly remember it finally shitting the bed on me the night I picked up Jerry (Bassist of Helstar) at the airport. All I got was a damned "frowny face" or folder with an exclamation point. I later I filled out their service info on the apple website (being that it was a warranty issue) and sent it in. They sent me an empty box and it only took 4 days to get the replacement. They exchanged it for a REFURBISHED 4th generation.

Fast forward two months later:

My replacement iPod has now suffered the EXACT same fate with the same symptoms - now I'm frustrated. I repeated the same steps, sent it back to them, and now they claim that nothing was wrong and sent it back. WTF? I messed with that damn thing for THREE DAYS and all it did was frown at me and making loud clicking noises. They get it - and it works great. If it has issues like this again, I'm flying to apple and sticking the damn thing up the CEO's ass.

However, I have a theory: my wife's 4th Gen iPod did the same thing, and we both own Alpine interfaces (alpine CD deck not included, but only compatible with one) which allows us to plug our Pod's directly into the CD deck via the CD changer outlet and now both car's can control them from the CD deck themselves, with song, artist and album display as well.

She was smart and returned her interface - and her replacement iPod has had no problems since. So, it is possible that the interface had a glitch and was corrupting the iPod, as it would work fine when it was NOT plugged into the car, and the problem seem to persist when it was. But it finally got to a point where even unplugged from the car deck, it wouldn't work worth a shit (see above symptoms).

My new interface will be in to me next week - I'm going to give it another chance.

Regardless - I love the iPod, it has been reliable and is a great product...when it works. but I feel like a beta test subject for some reason, and feel a lot of bugs still haven't been worked out. For $399+ for an MP3 player - the damn thing should be made of steel and last years.

Thank god I have all my music backed up on my hard-drive AND have the physical albums to back THAT up. A lot of work just to take a few hundred CD with you in something the size of a cigarette pack.

\m/
Dustin

 

[Jibrille]

personally I rate Apple products really, really low.

my Sony mp3CD player lasts -days- at a time on 1 AA battery. I have 3 of the 394 CD cases maxed + more lying around in cases of various types. In total I have several thousand. What I do is burn them all to backup on my 2nd hard drive (dedicated to this purpose) so they are all in my Winamp library (F-off itunes), and then I burn a collection of albums that go together onto individual CDs to go in my CD player. I also, as a precaution, backup all of these albums on DVD's in case my computer is damaged or my CDs become lost.

My advice to you (of course it would be unrealistic for me to suggest axing the iPod and getting some other brand or device) is to contact Apple or the place you got it, get a new battery, and test it again.

I rate Sony products really, really low. What's your point? I had an mp3 CD discman for years. I had to replace mine once a year and the size of them isn't convenient for stuff like sticking in my purse. It just got old. So does buying new batteries all the time. If you go rechargable, you're still charging them everyday. And I've been using iTunes for years now (own a Mac and a PC) and can't stand anything to do with winamp.
I love how people see the Apple name and are like "z0mg! that is the crappiest thing I've ever seen." If you haven't owned one or refuse to try something, don't bother commenting on it.

 

[Kenneth R.]

Actually I have used Macs extensively (I am forced to at College) and my ex girlfriend owns one. I still think they are abysmal, fashion oriented and more user-friendly than useful.

As for iTunes, try playing .wma, .ogg, or other odd filetypes on it. You can't. Winamp plays everything and doesn't look like a fashion accident as well.

As for discmans, I have rechargeable batteries, which, as I said earlier, last me 2-3 days one 1 AA. And yes, I often have the thing on and running all day.

I guess it's personal preference, but experience has shown me to steer far clear of anything made by Apple.

 

[Pellaz]

Uh-oh. Apple. Microsoft. Be careful; religious debates aren't allowed on this forum.

DaveTheMetalGuy, those are the CDs I bring down to the studio each week. The other deejays bring their own as well, and WREKage's own library has pretty much taken over the CD and vinyl 'vault' behind the studio.