iPod battery care? (charge cycles, depletion, etc)

[michaelsanford]

I just got my brand-spanking-new iPod!

Now I'm kid of paranoid about wrecking the battery. I want to maintain it's maximum charge time as long as I own it.

Now some batters work best when completely depleted before charging, some maintain charge best when they are kept fully charged, etc.

Which family of batteries does the iPod battery belong to? Should it be completely depleted before I charge it? If it's at 50% and i start charging it, will I eventually burn the battery?

TIA!

 

[Rhino_G3]

The battery in the iPod is a Lithium Polymer battery. Which has the same charactaristics of the Lithium Ion batteries of the past. I was always told to completely drain this type before recharging it. If you do a search it was talked about a few weeks ago as well. It also seems that MOST of these types of batteries are limited to around a 10,000 recharge life cycle.
It seems that some people have serious issues with battery longevity while others really don't seem to worry about it. When I get my pod I'm going to charge only when it's absoloutely needed.