[mariowar]

MacDef thanks for clarifying the RAM issue, now it reallyt makes sense, the longer the HD spins, the faster your battery drains.....

By the way I just checked my receipt, they charged me 34.99 for the TAP on the 15 Gigas (399 dollars). If they made a mistake is not my fault...

 

[Spad]

Quote:

Originally posted by mariowar By the way I just checked my receipt, they charged me 34.99 for the TAP on the 15 Gigas (399 dollars). If they made a mistake is not my fault...

You and MacDEF are both right. I believe it's $35 for one year and $60 for two.

 

[Spad]

Quote:

Originally posted by jaskin By drive access do you mean adding, editing and deleting songs on your computer with an unpowered firewire source? I find that my IPod's battery runs out of juice really fast while I'm adding music.

Yes, particularly that, but also manually changing selections on the iPod itself. Any action that requires the drive to spin up will drain the battery. Selections are fully buffered from playlists, but manually switching from one song to another not on the list requires a spin up.

The longest battery life occurs when listening to audio books, I assume. They are typically 16-bit files and the drive spins up only to reload the 32MB buffer.

 

[Ruahrc]

If I may add my thoughts and results....

I have the original 10GB iPod and bought it in October giving me about 6-7 months. A little shorter than other users here but there's not much I can do about that

Anyways I also own a Palm m505 PDA and was really obsessed with the internal "non-replaceable" battery that was in it. I would try to scheme and dodge my way to better battery preservation. It mostly ended up giving me stress and headaches (I've had it for over a year and it still runs fine, even though I hardly use it anymore

)

So when I got the iPod I decided to be more like an unconcerned user and simply used my iPod how and when I wished, recharging it how and when I wished. I didn't try to top it off every day, but would not let it drain completely often. Just a couple of weeks ago I tested the play life by charging it, turning it on and letting it run till it died. My recorded playback time was right around 10h15m. Very good considering that my music is all mp3 alt preset extreme with average bitrates around 220-230kbps.

Conclusion? My battery seems to be ok- and it doesn't seem like it has started to falter at all. I would definately say that I have not mistreated the battery in any way, but merely have dictated its charging to support my desired usage, not the other way around as I tried to do with my pda. The end result ended up being about the same.

Here's some quick calculations just for the fun of it....

Let's assume you bought the new 15GB iPod- $400.
Use it at 8 hours per charge, 1000 charges per battery. After the battery fails you go and buy a new iPod.
Total playtime was 8*1000=8000 hours. It cost you $400. That means $400/8000h=$0.05 per hour.

If you buy the $50 iPod battery replacement then it's $50/8000h= 0.6 cents per hour

Now say the iPod was driven by alkalines. Since the iPod's 830maH battery is closer in capacity to AAA batteries than they are to AA, I will assume you need to plop 2xAAA batteries in the iPod and get 10 hours of playtime.
Now run the AAA powered iPod for 8000 hours. 8000h/10h per use is 800 battery changes. A quick check on BestBuy.com reveals that an 8-pack of AAA batteries (4 changes) is $5.99. In order to get your 800 battery changes you need 200 packs (200*8=1600 batteries. At 2 batteries per change that is 800 changes) of batteries. 200*$5.99=$1497.50
$1497.50/8000h = 18.7 cents per hour.

You tell me which is more money.

Yes the battery is an issue but try not to get so worked up about small things like this. We all have more important things to worry about than iPod batteries.

Ruahrc

(hope the math is right

)

 

[MacDEF]

Quote:

Originally posted by Spad You and MacDEF are both right. I believe it's $35 for one year and $60 for two.

That makes sense, thanks

 

[Spad]

Good point well made, Ruahrc. And if those hours are consumed at the rate of four hours per day, we're looking at about five and a half years before a battery replacement is required. There are definitely better things to obsess about.

 

[mariowar]

Burning the Flame.....
This is what I found at the Ipod Lounge.......two different posts:

" Re: List of ALL bugs on the new iPod to send to ap
« Reply #10 on: May 5th, 2003, 5:26pm » | Reply with quote | Modify

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I called Apple today for tech support regarding a few of the problems
Regarding resets - he said that it is most likely due to a bad MP3 file, and the best thing to do would be reformat/restore the iPod and that would take care of it....
Second, I inquired about the battery life - my 15GB will only run continuously and play about 4 to maybe 5 CDs, which is about 4-5hrs. No 8-hr life, for sure. Tech support said that this is NORMAL! I said that I wasn't switching songs, just queueing up CDs one at a time and playing them all the way through. He said that this actually uses more battery juice than playing individual songs one at a time? Why would that be?
Nevertheless, this isn't encouraging."

"One other thing that should be reported that's not strictly a bug but should be fixed. I and others have noticed the new iPod seems to keep the drive spinning the entire time it's mounted to the computer even if you're not using it. It would make sense to have some kind of inactivity timeout as I suspect some users may just connect it to charge it. Unless you manually eject it, it will sit there spinning for hours or even days on end."

 

[Clutz]

Quote:

Originally posted by vegasjlt I'm also considering a new ipod & the whole battery issue concerns me too. For such a beautifully designed product i can't believe you have to pop open the case with a sharp instrument! The ipod has new touch controls with no moving parts, but battery issue has yet to be addressed. Every other battery operated piece of electronics i've owned has easy access to change the battery. Just seems strange to me.

Palm Pilot V and Vx both have internal rechargable batteries. I'm sure some of their newer models do too.

 

[Spad]

Quote:

Originally posted by mariowar Burning the Flame..... This is what I found at the Ipod Lounge.......two different posts: " Re: List of ALL bugs on the new iPod to send to ap « Reply #10 on: May 5th, 2003, 5:26pm » | Reply with quote | Modify -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I called Apple today for tech support regarding a few of the problems Regarding resets - he said that it is most likely due to a bad MP3 file, and the best thing to do would be reformat/restore the iPod and that would take care of it.... Second, I inquired about the battery life - my 15GB will only run continuously and play about 4 to maybe 5 CDs, which is about 4-5hrs. No 8-hr life, for sure. Tech support said that this is NORMAL! I said that I wasn't switching songs, just queueing up CDs one at a time and playing them all the way through. He said that this actually uses more battery juice than playing individual songs one at a time? Why would that be? Nevertheless, this isn't encouraging." "One other thing that should be reported that's not strictly a bug but should be fixed. I and others have noticed the new iPod seems to keep the drive spinning the entire time it's mounted to the computer even if you're not using it. It would make sense to have some kind of inactivity timeout as I suspect some users may just connect it to charge it. Unless you manually eject it, it will sit there spinning for hours or even days on end."

Take these statements with a whole lota salt, Mariowar. The people posting in these places are often totally clueless kids.

I can't speak to the battery thing since I haven't actually tested mine, but obviously playing an entire CD won't appreciably impact the battery as described.

I haven't used it with my Windows machine, but here's the poop on the way the iPod works with the Mac: When you place the iPod in the cradle iTunes is automatically launched. As soon as iTunes is up, the iPod spins up and appears in the source window. It simply waits there until some action is taken. If you don't want to use it all you need do is dismount it by clicking the button in the lower right corner of the iTunes window or dragging its icon to the trash. You can also dismount it using the eject button on the keyboard. As soon as it is dismounted, the hard drive spins down and it continues charging.

See what I mean by clueless?

 

[mariowar]

Spad, I've only been only to download just one cd to my Ipod with the poor MusicMatch. I think that there are a lot of bugs related to compatibility problems, I never posted anything regarding this because I have not been able to call Apple to get support, I always arrive home after 7 pm, and they are closed.
You might be right regarding the first post, but the second post is true at least with Windows, when you connect your Ipod to the pc, the HD never stop spinning, and that depletes the battery fast. Anyway, these are software bugs that can be corrected with just an upgrade. Let's wait and see. I will get home early today, and I will be finally able to contact Apple.

 

[Spad]

Quote:

Originally posted by mariowar Spad, I've only been only to download just one cd to my Ipod with the poor MusicMatch. I think that there are a lot of bugs related to compatibility problems, I never posted anything regarding this because I have not been able to call Apple to get support, I always arrive home after 7 pm, and they are closed. You might be right regarding the first post, but the second post is true at least with Windows, when you connect your Ipod to the pc, the HD never stop spinning, and that depletes the battery fast. Anyway, these are software bugs that can be corrected with just an upgrade. Let's wait and see. I will get home early today, and I will be finally able to contact Apple.

Wow! Are you sure there isn't a way to dismount or spin down the iPod while it's connected to the port? If not, maybe you should consider a powered (6-pin) Firewire card.

If I see any information on the subject while traipsing around the Web I'll let you know. Meanwhile, try http://www.info.apple.com/usen/ipodwin/ if you haven't already. This often beats sitting on the phone waiting for some half-baked service rep, especially after a new product release.

If nothing else, the rumored Windows iTunes port should address the problem. And it will likely be free.

 

[mariowar]

Spad, I have a Compaq laptop XP Professional 1G AMD Duron and I bought a Pmcia USB 2.0 because I needed to plug my External burner. According to Apple the new Ipod was compatible with Windows, so I bought it. Then, I found out that I don't only have to buy SEPARATELY the USB cable FROM THEM, I would have to wait also until June when the USB 2.0 support has to be downloaded from the internet. Buying the USB cable right now would be a stupid option because I would be able only to use it as USB 1.1 so the songs would take forever to be downloaded to the Ipod.
Therefore, with no money in my pocket and a beautiful Ipod in my hands, I bought a Belkin Firewire PMCIA and I'm using it right now with it, so the problem that I'm experiencing is not using it through USB. The thing is that I just found out thet UBSB 2.0 is even faster than Firewire, so in less than a month I'll be returning the Firewire card to get my money back to buy the expensive USB cable form Apple.
Its funny, after so many attempts to be able to download songs, there was no way to disconnect the Ipod form my pc. The Ipod screen kept stating, DO NOT DISCONNECT, and that screen was supposed to dissapear after the downloads were performed, so after 5 minutes of hearing the HD spinning I just disconnect it and I had to reset it, and guess what, the songs were there........ I just don't think this is normal.....
I definely check that link. Thanx

 

[Spad]

Quote:

Originally posted by mariowar Spad, I have a Compaq laptop XP Professional 1G AMD Duron and I bought a Pmcia USB 2.0 because I needed to plug my External burner. According to Apple the new Ipod was compatible with Windows, so I bought it. Then, I found out that I don't only have to buy SEPARATELY the USB cable FROM THEM, I would have to wait also until June when the USB 2.0 support has to be downloaded from the internet. Buying the USB cable right now would be a stupid option because I would be able only to use it as USB 1.1 so the songs would take forever to be downloaded to the Ipod. Therefore, with no money in my pocket and a beautiful Ipod in my hands, I bought a Belkin Firewire PMCIA and I'm using it right now with it, so the problem that I'm experiencing is not using it through USB. The thing is that I just found out thet UBSB 2.0 is even faster than Firewire, so in less than a month I'll be returning the Firewire card to get my money back to buy the expensive USB cable form Apple. Its funny, after so many attempts to be able to download songs, there was no way to disconnect the Ipod form my pc. The Ipod screen kept stating, DO NOT DISCONNECT, and that screen was supposed to dissapear after the downloads were performed, so after 5 minutes of hearing the HD spinning I just disconnect it and I had to reset it, and guess what, the songs were there........ I just don't think this is normal..... I definely check that link. Thanx

Man, what a bummer! At least you shouldn't lose any data removing the iPod that way--as long as it's not writing at the time. I have to admit that I'd be more than a little nervous about it though. I'm surprised that you have to do a reset. I've inadvertently removed mine from the cradle without first dismounting and all that resulted was a warning within iTunes. In fact, I've never been forced to reset any of my iPods.

The Apple cable thing can be maddening at times. I have two G4 towers on my LAN that were purchased only several months apart. I'd like to switch a 19-inch Sony monitor on my server with a new 20-inch Apple flat panel but the cables aren't compatible. Of course, such problems aren't limited to Apple. If the PC world had implemented Firewire as Apple designed it, you wouldn't be having this problem.

A pox on both their houses!

 

[MadDog5145]

Anyone know where can I download the firmware update 1.2.6 for windows? Or is it possible to use the 1.3 update for the Mac OSX at http://www.apple.com/ipod/download/ for a windows ipod?

 

[Spad]

Quote:

Originally posted by MadDog5145 Anyone know where can I download the firmware update 1.2.6 for windows? Or is it possible to use the 1.3 update for the Mac OSX at http://www.apple.com/ipod/download/ for a windows ipod?

Here ya go.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120119