6GB iPod and possibly duff battery?

Capodecina
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I have been given an ancient 6GB iPod which appears not to be working - to be more specific, the battery appears not to be able to hold a charge.

When placed in a docking unit, it works fine and the battery appears to be being charged. However, when it is removed, it shuts down pretty well immediately. If you try to start it up, you see the Apple logo followed by an image of a battery with a superimposed exclamation mark surrounded by a triangle and then it shuts down again :(

Am I correct in thinking that this is because the unit is old, has been used regularly and the battery is now useless?

If so, is it possible to replace the battery or have it replaced?


As a separate question, can one (easily) buy a replacement lead to connect an iPod to a PC and is any special software required or can one just drag and drop MP3s onto it?


The observant amongst you will suspect that I have never actually used an iPod before, so any informed advice will be most gratefully received ;)
 
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An Apple Store will replace the battery (or more accurately take your unit and replace it with an identical refurbished one) for £39 (it was £39 when I left I'm certain it'll be the same now).

Another option is that an Apple Store will recycle the unit and in exchange give you 10% off a new iPod.

Third option is swap the battery out yourself. www.ipodrepaircentre.com will replace the battery for you and send it back, or sell you the gubbins to do it yourself.

For ease, I'd go with 1 or 2. If you like the retro iPod, they'll give you a brand spanking one exactly the same, I did this a while back with a (super cool) 3rd gen iPod. I'll do it again if I can lay hands on another one.

Otherwise, swapping a dead ipod for anything between £10 and £30 off a new one's not a bad deal considering in its current state it's no good to anyone. The new iPods will have vastly better batteries, be vastly smaller, and have better sound quality than a really old one.

Personally I love the old iPods, but then I'm a massive Apple geek. But there's your options, anyways :)

As for the cable and putting songs on it issue, you can get a new Apple cable for £15, or a third party one for £5-£10. You'll need iTunes to put the songs on, or a third party bit of software. I'm not too clued up on Windows stuff, but I know of Anapod and Ephpod. Never used either, you'll have to ask an iTunes hater to get an opinion on them.

Depending on what iPod it is you might need a Firewire cable, which will be considerably harder to get hold of but certainly possible. Just have to hunt around a bit, shouldn't be expensive. If it's 6gb though I assume it's an iPod Mini? They use USB, so no problems there.
 
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Capodecina
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Thanks for that most comprehensive answer; I believe that it is an iPod Mini but I will probably bin it since I really can't justify spending £35 on a second hand 6GB MP3 player and I am really not that bothered about either the Apple name or "style".

Again, thanks for the feedback :)
 
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An Apple Store will replace the battery (or more accurately take your unit and replace it with an identical refurbished one) for £39 (it was £39 when I left I'm certain it'll be the same now).

Another option is that an Apple Store will recycle the unit and in exchange give you 10% off a new iPod.

This is interesting, is this the same for all old iPods? I have an iPod Mini with a knackered hard drive sitting around looking lonely.
 
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This is interesting, is this the same for all old iPods? I have an iPod Mini with a knackered hard drive sitting around looking lonely.

Yes, but it only applies to the battery, they tend to verify where possible that nothing else is wrong with it and the hard drive would most likely count it out.
 
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