Newb with questions regarding battery
Hey everyone,
Awesome site. I am an I-Pod newbie, as in I don't have one. I currently have a Nomad JB 20G frisbee. The one thing I hate about it is battery life.
I am absolutely in love with the I-Pod. I am a PC user, but I've always appreciated the style and feel of Apple products. I want an I-Pod more than any other MP3 player because of it's size and style. BUT, I'm already thinking the battery life would #### me off. Can you guys fill me in on average life in daily use? Any frustrated folks here because the battery doesn't go long enough? Honest answers, please.
I'm also considering the Zen and Dell DJ. Both nowhere near as attractive as the I-Pod, but the DJ has much higher touted battery life.
Thanks!
Gary
# 1 Re: Newb with questions regarding battery
first off, its iPod not I-Pod ;)
well, i use my iPod for walking to and from school, listening during class, and at lunch time in the school' newspaper room we hook it up to speakers and listen all lunch, and the battery has never drained below 40%
it really depends on how you will be using your ipod, if you are going to be using it as i have been, you'll be ok. If it REALLY concerns you, get the belkin battery pack, 4AA's and youve got 20+ hours!
# 2 Re: Newb with questions regarding battery
In normal use maybe 6-7 hours...
If I just prepare a playlist with good music so I never have to skip songs and stuff like that, ~8 hours :)
It almost never gets under 50% for me anyway.
Erty at 2007-11-15 14:13:08 >
# 3 Re: Newb with questions regarding battery
I've had my iPod for about 3 weeks or so and really the battery is the only thing that really bugs me.
2 days ago I charged the thing up to full.
Listened for about an hour.
Did not use it at all yesterday.
turned it on today and the battery was completely drained.
I'm sorry, but a battery at 80% full should not drain to 0% over a 24-30 hour period.
As for day to day use...I get about 6-7 hours of use on a full battery.
My best solution is to treat it like a cellphone.
Put it on the charger each night before bed and you should be ok for most of the following day.
6-8 hours of time is plenty for me in an 'average' day.
And I do not mind putting it on the charger each night..but when the thing has just come off the charger and a day leter it's dead..that bugs me.
# 4 Re: Newb with questions regarding battery
I just returned my iPod for a refund because the battery life totally blows.
Seriously, if you are skipping songs, stopping and starting it from time to time, and using reasonably high bitrates for your music, you can not expect more than 6 hours. If you are using it across a few days knock another couple of hours off that.
Everything else about it rocks, but the battery life is a killer. The battery pack people are referring to practically doubles the size of the thing, plus it takes 3 hours to recharge the standard battery.
My advice - save your money, because if you think the battery might annoy you, it will. A lot of people here are apparently happy to be tethered to the wall by a three foot power cord, so they will not say a bad word against the precious pod.
# 5 Re: Newb with questions regarding battery
I would prefer the iPod be a bit thicker and use like 4 AAA betteries.
Even if I have to replace them 2 times a week.
Batteries are so cheap now...you can get a 24 pack for like 7 bucks.
As for the battery pack...I think that would be a good option for at home use.
But the Belkin is a rediculous $60!
I am not frustrated enough to where I'd return my ipod but it's true...it is a major,major flaw. However...it is almost the ONLY flaw.
If this battery put out a true 10 hours per charge and if you could let the thing sit for a day w/o losing more than 10% of your juice it would truely be a perfect product.
But every mp3 player has a flaw or two..and despite the crappy battery life I find the iPod to be the best there is by a long shot.
# 6 Re: Newb with questions regarding battery
Never fear, if your hand with a soldering iron, you can make a battery pack that is superior to Belkins for less than 10 bucks, and holds 8 AA batteries, which would probably give you more than 10 additional hours on top of the inbuilt battery.
Adam at 2007-11-15 14:17:12 >
# 7 Re: Newb with questions regarding battery
Basically, you can make the batterys last a good four hours by pressing all the buttons and stuff all the time.
You can increase that to about six if you actually plan to listen to music and not #### around with the menus and stuff all the time.
Six hours sounds really short. It isn't. Infact, if you listen to six hours of music in one day (on the iPod I mean) you're gonna mess up your ears quite quickly I'd reckon.
Six hours is easily enough to get you through the day. Me? It's enough to get me through about two or three days. Two or three days before charging seems pretty good to me. I mean, at the end of the day, you're not paying for the batteries so battery life isn't a huge deal.
Lezta at 2007-11-15 14:18:05 >
# 8 Re: Newb with questions regarding battery
I manage around 7 hours of use per charge, but I don't use the controls very often, preferring to shuffle all my songs and maybe skip the occasional track that i'm not in the mood to listen to. I carry the AC charger with me and will charge at work or at home when required, but it would be mostly every other day (more like every 36 hours). I don't feel that's too much of an issue though as I carry my mobile phone charger with me as well.
I was hoping that the replacement battery on ipodbattery.com would increase the time between charges, but it seems not (according to the brave soul that tested it out - http://www.ipodlounge.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=12452).
However I bought the iPod because it holds close to 2000 tracks that I can carry with me anywhere (almost) so that i can listen to them at my leisure. I just also make sure that I have the AC adaptor with me, just in case ;)
# 9 Re: Newb with questions regarding battery
JP_in_GB: When you said about your battery life reducing from 80% to 0% overnight, the first thing I thought was, do you have the alarm turned on.
I had the same problem, and found that my alarm on the iPod was set to go off at 12midnight. The problem with this is that the alarm goes off by beeping twice and then proceding to play a playlist of all your songs (I presume this is useful if you have it connected to a stereo or something). If this is the case and your alarm is on, then the playing songs would soon drain your battery.
Hopes this helps.
aktive at 2007-11-15 14:20:08 >
