Finding DIY Solace in iPod Battery Replacement

by Liz Burr     Department: Technology

It's Spotlight on DIY month here at WIRED SCIENCE, so I thought I would revisit one of my first attempts at taking something apart and fixing it up. Over a year ago, the hacking bug bit me. Though I spent 4 years at MIT among some of the best hackers in the world, I never got the urge to take anything apart in an effort to make an improvement, make it cool, or just to see what was under the hood. I admired my hacker friends at school, and often took advantage of their concoctions (my favorite being the homemade DDR system in our lounge). In a sense, the hacking bug finally caught up to me out of necessity: due to my music obsession I needed an operational iPod without having to shell out a couple hundred dollars for a new one.

I purchased my 3rd generation iPod in June 2003, and I was geeked upon first use. It was so sleek and "cool." Of course, I deemed it cool at the time because the only other person I knew who had one was 50 Cent: he showed it off in his P.I.M.P. video. I had the same iPod, so of course, that made me cool by association.

By the time 2007 rolled around, my iPod was on its last leg. It had seen me through my last years of college, my first years in the working world, and boy was it tired. The hard drive was still kicking--never gving  me any problems, but its battery life was virtually non-existent. I could depend on it to last a full 30 minutes on it's own. Pretty uncool.

I'd heard you could replace an iPod battery for cheap, so I took it upon myself to figure out how to do it. Why not? If I failed, I could buy a new iPod if it came down to it. So I went on a mission through the Internets in search of iPod battery information. I read an article online about battery replacement, and decided to order a battery from iPodBattery.com for $16.00. Even though the new battery came with an iPod opening tool, I decided to purchase some case opening tools from PDASmart for good measure ($5.00).

A week later, my items came in the mail and I started taking things apart, all willy nilly. I admit, the first few attempts at opening my iPod case were difficult. I had two sets of tools and two sets of instructions telling me how to open the iPod. Don't use a tiny screwdriver to pry open the seam: you will scratch up the acrylic. I am glad the people at PDASmart provided me with multiple tools because I ended up breaking a few in my fight against the iPod seam. When it was open, I felt like a rockstar. Getting the old battery out and the new battery in was a cinch (just be careful not to rip the top part from the bottom part!). You can check out a slideshow of my process on Flickr.

It's been almost a year since I replaced the battery and everything is still running smoothly. I ended up giving my old iPod to my dad, because he really wanted one and 15 GB was no longer enough space for my music habit. I find that my ears perk up whenever I hear someone talking about their iPod battery life (are you still under warranty? are you going to buy a new one? can I try fixing it for you? can I have your old one?). So far---no luck. In the meantime, I have found every excuse to simultaneously own the iPhone, the iPod nano, and the iPod Classic. Maybe in a few years my gadgets will be ripe for open-iPod surgery.

Check Out These Other Resources

• Get your battery replaced  the Officially Official Apple Way
• Watch video tutorials on opening all versions of iPods
• CNET offers video and instructions on 1st & 2nd Generation iPods
• Lifehacker's Hack Attack: Get the Most out of an Old iPod

Tags: apple, DIY, ipod, ipod battery

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