Eric Hsu posted on June 23, 2008 00:26
Last week my iPod took a shit and all it displayed on the screen was an cartoonish image of an iPod with a sad face. Nothing told me it was the battery taking a dump though. After several unsuccessful attempts at connecting with my PC via USB cable, I read somewhere on the Apple site that said that the battery might be gone if the symptoms I was having were happening. I was thinking that I should just buy a new iPod because my 4th gen click wheel iPod just looks so old school, but the Chinese side of me said, "no way man, this thing works perfectly." So I found the
ipodjuice.com website and bought a 750mah 25% extended life battery for $29.95 plus $4 for shipping and handling. I got the battery in two days and it came with some tools to open the iPod and unscrew part of the motherboard (torx T6 driver). It took me about 10 minutes to open the iPod as it's kind of tricky even with the tool they supply, but otherwise the directions were clear and concise. I plugged the battery in, charged it up, and all is well now. It costs about $65 for Apple to change it for you. The cheap ass Chinese side of me saved $32 and the battery is supposed to last 25% longer.
The blue tool works pretty well to wedge the iPod open. You have to read the instructions several times before understanding them though.
Here's the sad iPod icon. It looks like an ipod on drugs if you remember those illustrations from elementary school when they try to teach you not to do drugs. My iPod is about 4 years old so I guess it was time.
Overall, I'd say to get the ipodjuice.com battery. Their tools and instructions are pretty good and the battery even has a 10 year warranty. You can't beat that with a bat.