iPod charging strategy/philosophy

D

d8n_two

Registered
I've had my iPod for a little over six months, and I love it. Of course, I'd like a little better battery life, but I'm not complaining. I am however paranoid about how I charge and discharge it (this comes from the fact that I just had an iBook battery die and was told that I didn't "manage the charges properly").

Typically, I charge until full, then disconnect it, and run it down until it is almost empty (repeat). This is based on the advice of an Apple Store "genius". This usually results in 5 solid hours of playback, but I'd like to get more out of it if possible. Another reason I ask is that I'm considering getting the Belkin car adapter for the dock-type audio lineout. I'm just concerned that plugging it in/charging it each time I get in the car, regardless of the current charge, might affect the battery life.

I don't know if this makes sense outside my own head. Anyway, I wanted to see how others manage their iPod battery, and the subsequent results. Chances are I'm overthinking this, but after dishing out for a new iBook battery, I don't want to screw up my iPod.

d8n_two
 
Well, I shall tell my story.

I was lucky enough to get the first iPod 5GB. And I've always had the same habit. Charge it fully, use it until it dies, and then charge it fully again. And my iPod still holds a good charge. I'm not one of those people complaining about the iPod's battery life. I think despite what the official Apple policy is about cycles and whatnot, a battery lasts longest when it is used and charged fully.

Just my $0.02
 
How you use it will determine battery length as much, if not more, than charging it. Keeping the backlight off, or to the minimum time, is a big one. Playing the games seems to eat a little time, especially Music Quiz.
The bitrate also has some influence on battery length.
I usually charge it up at night, especially if I'm listening to an audiobook before going to sleep.
 
Also, using shuffle mode eats more battery life -- don't ask me why, it just does. Something about the iPod not being able to cache more than one song into memory because it hasn't decided which song to play after the current one yet. Or something like that. If you play playlists in normal mode instead, the iPod can fill its buffer completely.

Also, using the EQ feature will decrease battery life.

Following are some links about caring for the iPod's battery:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=62018
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61385
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61434
 
That's actually a question I've had. I believe the Apple website says to set the EQ to "flat" if you have EQ settings in iTunes. I've always thought that it made more sense to leave the EQ off on the iPod, as everytime you change the EQ setting for a song in iTunes that song is then recopied to the iPod, to me indicating that iTunes is changing the way the song sounds, not the iPod.
 
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