A question for iPod nano owners

[Andrew]

Does anyone here have a second or third generation iPod nano? If so, what kind of battery life do you usually get out of it?

I've had my first generation nano since October 2005 and although I've never been particularly impressed with its battery life, lately it's been very unreliable. To that end, I've been thinking about simply using it with the RoadTrip in the car and getting a new one for use everywhere else. I'm interested to know if anyone actually gets anything close to the advertised battery life out of a single charge as I never have.

[el badman]

I'm not sure which generation my video nano is, but I've had it for about 6 months now and it's been very reliable as far as autonomy so far. I don't know what battery life is advertised for it but I'm guessing I reach this estimate each time. I guess your battery doesn't fully reload or something.

[buzzy]

I have a Nano third generation (I guess, well, that one who supports videos) since it came out, September last year. Apple says the battery life's supposed to work 24 hours full charged.
Actually my ipod never got out of battery ever since i used it. I plug it regularly into the PC to charge it, but I also haven't been onto long vactions or something like that anyways.
Well all I can say, is that I'm happy with it. I think if you just listen to the music, don't select anyting ant let it play, I think it works for at least 20 hours.

[el badman]

Well all I can say, is that I'm happy with it. I think if you just listen to the music, don't select anyting ant let it play, I think it works for at least 20 hours.

I would say so too, I use it in my car to go to work during weekdays, that's at least 5 hours each week, and I think the battery lasts more than a month when used that way.

[Andrew]

My nano is fine as long as it's in the RoadTrip which is why if I do buy another one I'll be keeping the old one for use in the car. I'm sure I'm leaving it to charge long enough, perhaps it's been damaged or part of a faulty batch. Anyway, thanks for the info.

[Joe']

1st-gen Nanos' battery life tends to decrease as they get old. My old 1st-gen Nano's battery life started to decrease just after a year and, of course, when I broke the LCD it got even worse.

Steve Jobs said in an open letter that all the issues reported regarding the batteries on iPod Nanos were fixed when the 3rd-gen Nanos came out, and that is September 2007.

[Dramacydal]

Got a 3rd generation nano and it works perfectly. Never had any trouble with the battery, it lasts really long. And I use my iPod a lot.

[Andrew]

Interesting, that certainly makes buying a replacement a more appealing option if the third generation are indeed more reliable. The one I've got failed me after about 30 minutes on a one hour flight only a few weeks ago, supposedly when it was fully charged.

[PiksS]

I have the 2nd generation nano, for a year and a half, worked great, the battery lasted like 8-10hours, don't know how it is working now, because I lent it to a girl! Still prefer my video ipod!....that little overpriced peace of shit, has all my music, it's awsome!

[Klayface]

Over charging tends to lead to a quick dying battery, so all those docks that play and charge your ipod are pretty much no good.

Andrew, if you don't wanna spend the money for a new ipod there are a couple of sites that sell ipod battery replacement kits. Most of the batterys last alot longer than the one that comes in the ipod.

[Jing]

Been wondering if it's time to upgrade. My G1 Nano still works pretty well, battery life still decently strong, though wish I could fine a case. My last one got lost and haven't been able to find a decent replacement.

[Andrew]

Over charging tends to lead to a quick dying battery, so all those docks that play and charge your ipod are pretty much no good.

I've wondered about that too since I've been using the RoadTrip for a couple of years now.

A few days ago I listened to my nano continuously while only skipping a couple of songs and it did actually hold up alright so it's probably just my habit of skipping songs I'm not in the mood for or making selections through the menu. All the same, I used to be able to do that without the battery wearing out in under an hour.

[cyanide]

I do have a 2nd generation Nano as well. I haven't used it in a while, but I actually get a long battery life out of it; definitely way more than an hour's worth. Maybe you need to get the battery replaced, or if that doesn't work, a new one?

[Andrew]

I'm still leaning towards getting a third generation 8 GB nano but while the old one is still working it's difficult to justify the expense.

[Joe']

If you're gonna get an 8GB nano, I would suggest you consider getting an 80GB classic. It's only 50$ more and it has a hard drive that's 70GB bigger.

[cyanide]

^ That is, if he listens to more than 8GB of music

[Joe']

Well, it's not about just music anymore. You can fill the remaining space with movies, TV shows, anything you want.

Most people think it's stupid ("you're never gonna use all that space", "the screen is too small to watch videos", blah, blah), but I find it very useful since you can watch videos anytime you don't have anything to do. For example on a long trip (or during a boring class at school. That's what I do...) and personally, I think it's worth the extra 50$.

[Lamrock]

Hard drives are far less durable than the Nano's flash drive though.

[Joe']

Hard drives are also replaceable and far cheaper than flash drives. A replacement hard drive sells for $50 on eBay. I think Apple covers hard drive failure in their warranty, though, and anyway, it's rare for the hard drive to fail before four or so years.

[Andrew]

If you're gonna get an 8GB nano, I would suggest you consider getting an 80GB classic. It's only 50$ more and it has a hard drive that's 70GB bigger.

True, but for me that would be overkill, especially since I'm spending a fair bit of money to replace something that's still working (for the most part). Given the size of the iPod's screen - even the classic - I'd be more inclined to put a few mp3s of standup of comedy or Kevin Smith podcasts on there for long trips.

[deihatein]

I dont know what generation this Ipod is, but i own this Ipod



For me the battery life is long if you dont use it often. I have some kind of habit that i listen to one song then turn it off already, maybe because i always do not want my ipod to be low in battery?

[Andrew]

Well, that stands to reason. If you're using it infrequently you're not likely to run the battery down very quickly. I put mine to use a fair bit and as I mentioned tend to use the menus a bit which doesn't help in conserving the battery.

[Andrew]

I ended up picking up a new 8 GB nano this weekend just gone. The difference is certainly noticeable to say the least, even skipping a bulk of songs I wasn't in the mood for it hardly made a dent in the battery life after I'd let it fully charge.