What? No post claiming that Apple should have supplied free batteries for life with the purchase of every iPod. I'm truly amazed.

Long before these publicity seekers made their movie and Apple offered their $99 service, there was a solution. If you are not afraid to open your iPod yourself go here: http://www.ipodbattery.com/ As for me, I have one of the very first first-gens and I still get a day's worth of listening. You need to be vigilant in charging as the clock eats the battery in a few days. BUT as for the vandals, it sounds like they have the brains of the MS butterfly taggers - Hey, maybe it is the same idiots?

First of all: LiIon batteries are only really designed to have a life of 1.5-2 years. Granted, plenty of people own LiIon operated devices who's batteries last longer than that. Point is: that's a known factor about their design. So...
Being that the ipod just turned two years old recently, Apple is finally having to deal with this issue. Their original price of $255 and the "Well, just go buy another one" advise they received from contacts at Apple is.. ridiculously offensive at best. But $100 is pretty fair, considering the kind of devise and work involved.

To design something as incredible as the iPod, you have to give at least something up. Period.

Oh, and I totally agree w/the dude who had the Dell employee comment. ;) Haha.

How dare they de-face a Apple ad. Have they no morals. The video was funny , get over yourselves. You guys have such thin skins, you all got beat up alot in school didn't you. How does any of this affect any of you ?

okay, they bitched. apple did something about it. now shut up and go away.

Mine 2 year old battery still works great.

Stop whinning - get it repaired - get a Dell.

I wonder if they are paid by Dell or Microsoft or however wants to kick the iPod. I mean, why are they videotaping themself, if not the are sure to have a solid backening...

I wonder if they are paid by Dell or Microsoft or however wants to kick the iPod. I mean, why are they videotaping themself, if not the are sure to have a solid backening...

Are all zealots idiot or vice versa? Paid by Bill Gates? By Michael Dell? By Andy Grove? Sheesh, you guys must be retards to have these knee-jerk, insecure, paranoid reactions. You idiots make the rest of us Mac users look dumb to the rest of the world.

No, the people who did this are the Neistat brothers. Avowed Mac users and idiots in general. Oh, they also call themselves artists.

i'd say this is freedom of speech at it's most basic, grassroot level! some people are just fed up with being not told the whole truth trough advertisement. And I think we all know how long it takes for Apple to respond to some of their product shortcomings (broken Wallstreet screen hinges anyone?). While they now did come up with a solution to the iPod battery problem, it may not be acceptable by everyone to not get back her/his own iPod towards which they have developed a somewhat warm and fuzzy feeling... I too fell in love with my iPod, and sometimes I am ashamed a little bit that Apple made me become one of those consumers that I think are going to get this planet down the gutter sooner or later, but that's a whole different matter.

I'd like to add that my original 5 gigger, nearly 2 yrs old still holds a fine charge. My iPod is still the one piece of electronics I wouldn't want to go without, and it still turns heads. - What other 2 yr old gadget does that?

David

You, sir, are a r*****. It is not free speech when that speech is incorrect on its very face. The batteries are indeed replaceable by at least two sources. And even if this acknowledgement were late in coming, the very least the Neistat brothers could do would be to stop serving their video (rather well done, at that), and more rightly, retract their erroneous "speech."

Obedient consumers outraged at an act of civil disobedience: details at eleven! Give me a mutha f***** break, people. They spray-painted ads to pressure Apple into facing a problem that was blown off for way too long. The "how dare they?" responses in this forum are sad - join a religion already!

I have the original 5GB model... and the bat in it is still good... f*** these a** holes.

I had a problem with my ipod (1st Gen) after not using it for a while. So, after reading about the problem. I followed the instructions on how to open it and disconnect and reconnect the battery. Then, IT WORKED AGAIN!! Its been running Ok since. I have been cahrging it. So if you know anoyone with a dead ipod, you might want to buy it off him cheaply and disconect and reconnect the battery.

I had a problem with my ipod (1st Gen) --it DIED after not using it for a while. So, after reading about the problem. I followed the instructions on how to open it and disconnect and reconnect the battery. Then, IT WORKED AGAIN!! Its been running Ok since. I have been cahrging it. So if you know anoyone with a dead ipod, you might want to buy it off him cheaply and disconect and reconnect the battery.

Just a note on an earlier post, the iPod has a Lithium-Polymer battery, not LiIon. It's much better than LiIon. Lithium Polymer is replacing LiIon in the marketplace. Nokia is now switching over their cell phone batteries to Li-Poly.

What amazes me is the complete righteousness and infantilism of those two individuals. Who the @#$% cares about their iPod experience?
iPod is a product and not a public policy. If that’s their way of expressing their anger at a total lack of will in face of s*** Apple ads then they should go to therapist and not buy spray paint. Losers.

Why did the person who submitted this "reader report" include [sic] after the word "unreplaceable"? All he had to do was use the dictionary in Sherlock to see that it's spelled correctly....

they're spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt, unjustifiably.

Note: This word is sometimes inserted in a quotation [sic], to call attention to the fact that some remarkable or inaccurate expression, misspelling, or the like, is literally reproduced.

the inaccurate expression is that the ipod's battery is replaceable, either through apple, or replacement by owner.

the inaccurate expression is that apple's ipod battery is unreplaceable.

the truth is that the ipod's battery can be replaced by the owner, or by apple.

thus the (sic).

This is so stupid.

Okay, first of all... If their claim were true, they would still be idiots. This is 2003. A guerilla campaign against a corporate product? I am sorry, but it's just silly. Who is so self-righteous that they think their bad experience with an electronic toy is worthy of such politicized indignation?

Second... They are just wrong. The batteries on most iPods last a lot longer. Mine will turn two at Christmas, and it still goes for 6-8 hours even though I treated the battery badly. It looks like it will last a lot longer. And, when it dies, I have at least two options for replacing that "unreplaceable" battery.

Basically, their campaign has come too late, because Apple has already offered a solution to the perceived problem. They are obviously just too childish to give up on their pranks now that they have their plan together, even though it is now irrelevant.

are supposed to last forever! Dambit!

My '88 does not get the gas mileage it use to what's more it burns oil and the only way to fix it would cost a lot of money. DAMN! now I want to go vandalize some stuff.....


Some people never grow up.

"Apple's iPod posters were legally posted. They were illegally vandalized. "

You're sure? Proof please...

where required to take some statistics and finance classes they might not be so clueless. The warranty is one year. If their video camera that their parents bought them is out of warranty, do they expect it to be fixed for free? And does one iPod whose battery has failed after 18 months mean that ALL batteries are like that?

As a personal anecdote, I have a first gen 5GB ipod over two years old still going strong, and a 20GB a year and half in the same condition. Of course, I'm not so stupid as to draw vast conclusions from these two cases.

and I am pissed off too. Geez, maybe some of you will realise that this is a problem. Not that I would go to thje lengths that these guys did, but $80 is a lot for a damn battery

wheres apple legal now? someone needs to smack these kids with a huge C&D, seize that video, and subpoena the morons to find out who the 'actors' are.

I wouldn't say videotaping yourself destroying private property is the smartest of moves.

I'm sure Apple has thick enough skin to avoid this, but if these kid's don't shut up and play nice they deserve everything they get, and I don't mean a personally engraved 'I'm Sorry' iPod from steve.

"i'd say this is freedom of speech at it's most basic, grassroot level!"

There's this thing called "Libel" that you might not have heard of. It's where freedom of speech ends and distortion of the truth for your own benefit begins.

"and I am pissed off too. Geez, maybe some of you will realise that this is a problem. Not that I would go to thje lengths that these guys did, but $80 is a lot for a damn battery"

Did you miss the whole, "One year warranty" coverage????? Geez people, think! IF IT'S OUT OF WARRANTY, IT'S NOT THE COMPANY'S FAULT. IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE COVERAGE LENGTH, DON'T BUY THE PRODUCT.

It's just this simple. STOP COMPLAINING.

My original 5 Gig Pod was working fine even last week. About 6 hours of life and I use it almost daily for two years. I actually bought a new battery about 5 months ago from the iPod battery page, but found that my battery worked fine still. So I held out unil the battery was getting reallly bad(OOH, only six hours). 50 bucks later and about 15 minutes of my time to replace it. Ok, 15 Min is a guess, but I was watching a particualrly good episode of Stargate SG-1 while replacing it. Anyway, It was not a very technical act. The battery came with instructions. So, 50 bucks to easily do it myself, or 99 to give it to Apple to do it. Seems pretty reasonable to me. h***, I've spent more time writing this post than it took to repace the battery.

I can't believe most people here are bothered by some guys that fought back... Their battery died, they called Apple to see about a replacement, was told they'd have to pay $255 to get it replaced. Not cool. They're's no way the battery costs even close to $255. So instead of being scammed, or crying about it, they did what what any brave warriors would do, fought back. It sounds like all you other Jack-asses would've just went and cried in a corner and/or gave in to the scam.

If Apple would've just had a reasonable battery replacement option before this issue came up, this whole charade would have never happened.

To all those whining, "My battery works fine, they're wrong..." Lucky you. Mine works fine too, but I'm glad these guys brought an issue to light, and made Apple see the problem, so when my battery fries, there's now a cheaper more reasonable solution.

And to those that say, "There are other cheap solutions for battery replacement out there..." Well, then why didn't Apple just refer these guys to the alternate solutions... Maybe Apple could put a link on there site to these other solutions. Just because you know about these alternate solutions, doesn't mean everyone else does.

And finally, to those that say, "These guys are whiners, they need to stop complaining." You know what, you guys need to stop whining and complaining.

So, for those that hate the Neistat brothers, you must enjoy getting scammed and rolled, and I say if you dig it and don't mind getting taken, wallow in it. I, however, hate scams and appreciate them fighting back.

Batteries going strong on both. One new style, one old style.

Can't complain here.

Read the response - Apple has had the replacement battery and the extended warranty in the works, according to a rumor site, for about a month, probably because of complaints. This predates the smear video by quite some time - the domain was registered a month later than the rumor.

This smear campaign was lame NOT because they publicised the conversation, but because they refused to update their page once Apple changed their policies. (I would not call it a smear campaign if they just stuck to the truth.)

And no, the tech could not have told them about the upcoming policy until it became real. He likely did not even know.

While I have little respect for the brothers who chose not to update their site, and who took advantage of someone's generosity to boot, I have no respect for the vandals. At least the brothers had a valid gripe, and eventually corrected themselves. Vandalism is always illegal. It cost someone cash to put the billboards up, and unless we decide that people can deface your property for the h*** of it, damaging it is not a social good.

Scott

That's it, I"M BUYING A MAC!!

Once I get into the insanely great tractor beam, where everything Apple does is A-OK with me.

And how dare they deface a BILLBOARD...

How long have Apple had iPod? Why did it only start the battery replacement program last month? Shortsightedness maybe?

No respect for people who blindly worship Apple.

You guys make it sound like someone was burning crosses or something.

I think this whole thing is pretty funny. Some guys pissed off at apple finally took a stand and did something about it, and a million people jumping online and saying that it's FUD, or slander, or some other load of c***. The apple adds were publicly placed. Anyone can rip them down, change them, whatever. There's not a damn thing apple can do about it. A public ad on a board is "speech", and what these guys did is counter-speech. You might disagree with their opinion, but please. Slander? Give me a break.

You apple-worshipers should really give it a rest. An apple rep basically told them to "f*** off". I'd be pissed too. In fact, it seem that they did some good by their little campain. It called attention to the issue, apple got worried, and now you can replace the battery for $99. I'd say their campain worked.

Thumbs up to the Neistat brothers! Their campain might just have been what triggered Apple's battery exchange program. We iPod users should be a big grateful. What they did was not illegal. They just had the guts to "speak out" loudly.

That said, it is true that the Neistat brothers should change their web page to accurately reflect the fact that Apple now has a battery-replacement program. (I ignore if they have done that already.)

Eventhough U.S. costumbers may be happy that apple has a battery replacement program in place, internacional customers might not be so lucky. Does Apple Latin-America have a battery replacement program? In Mexico?

If you think $80 is a lot for a battery, have you ever priced the battery for a laptop? It is at LEAST that much, if not twice as much, depending on the model.

I've had an iPod since the first day they were introduced from november of 2001 and and since the batery fix/system update almost a year ago, my iPod is used daily and averages over a seven hour charge when it is used in a outdoor temp. that is well below the 72 degree operation standard that is in the instruction manual.

sorry, i kinda stupid. But i'm buying a 40GB ipod. Can someone tell me about the replacment plan thing? so apple will replace battery for $99? Isn't that alot? I'm talking about the 40GB ipod, the new ones, this date i'm writing this post and after. Tell me about the battery thing, I'm extremely confused.....

ya same here. Please tell me about da battery thing.