Calling Dr. Clemster

I believe I mentioned in an earlier post that I've been having problems with my iPod battery. Lately, the battery will only last about 4 hours, and even after a full recharge it believes that the battery is empty. I have to "reboot" the iPod several times before it will recognize that the battery has a charge.

So I decided to get drastic and perform iPod surgery! Dun dun dun! The patient? A green, 2nd generation, 6GB, iPod mini. The illness? Stupid-Annoying-Battery-itus. The solution? A battery-ectomy followed by a battery transplant. The battery donor? PDASmart.com's iPod mini battery replacement for $40 US + $18 US shipping. Not the cheapest solution on the block, but not the most expensive either. Plus this battery is "larger" which should mean continuous playback of over the factory rating of 18 hrs.

I ordered the replacement on Monday, and it arrived today from Texas after making a layover in California. I can't complain about the delivery time because that was definitely quick, but didn't they ever learn that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line?

Here are the tools that came in the kit. One battery, two plastic pryers, and a screwdriver with a Philips and Hex head.


Here is the patient posing with his new battery pre-surgery. I hate that penny. He kept sneaking into the pictures. Puh-shaw!


Not for the squeamish or faint of heart, here is the patient mid-surgery.


All in all the procedure took around 30 minutes. The most difficult part was carefully prying off the while end caps. The prying tools are softer plastic than the white end caps so the end caps were not damaged. The patient is currently in recovery, sucking back as much juice as it can before his first day back on the job.

I'll run some playtime tests and report back later with my results.

Matthew.