I am a big Macintosh fan. My school didn’t use computers growing up and we were a PC household—my dad liked to build his own computers out of spare parts. When I began college I was exposed to the world of Apple Computer. Most people who know me probably think it was the bright design, but this was back before the iMac came out.
In any case, Macs have been my computer of choice for the last 11 years. When the iPod came out I was in love. It was well designed, matched my white iBook and was something coveted by PC users, but only available to Mac users! Now, of course, Apple makes iPods that work with PCs. My iPod is a 2nd generation model, manufactured in 2002, and it traveled with me all around Asia during phase 1.
Unfortunately, over the years the battery has worn down. At best, it held a charge for 10 hours, but now it’s closer to 2 hours. That’s not very long at all when I’m regularly faced with 24 hour train rides so I decided to replace the battery. Rather than go through Apple, I decided to do it myself for less than 1/3rd the price. Of course, with a device as old as mine there is no warranty to void so I popped off the back cover and got to work.
The inside of the iPod is not too scary, but getting the back off took a lot of work. In fact, even with the plastic pry tools provided I managed to draw blood. But what’s a little blood and sweat between me and my iPod? The new battery only charged half way overnight and I was worried that going through a third party dealer was a bad idea. After a frantic email to customer support I realized that my outlet was too overloaded and moved it to it’s own outlet—apparently my iPod is a primadonna, but I guess I would be too if I was that pretty.
Right now it’s playing Sufjan Stevens in an attempt to test the battery life. The battery manufacturer promises to double the life of the original battery, possibly up to 20 hours. If this holds true I will be one happy traveler.
4 responses to “iPod Surgery”
For some reason this post reminded me of the article you sent me in like ’94 or ’95 on building your own theremin. Strangely I still have and use that theremin built on a kitchen sponge.
It’s about the same size of the theremin I made—but mine was made from a Radio Shack kit box, not a sponge! A friend borrowed mine and never gave it back. But if I have a theremin it really needs to have a stand so I can act ridiculous while playing.
So what’s the verdict? Did the surgery work?
Yes! Just about 20 hours. It played the entire night while I was sleeping and kept going. I think it was worth it.