iPod & iTunes: The Missing Manual, Second Edition

Charging the Battery

Many a cloud of gadget euphoria dies instantly when the new owner realizes that the device must sit in a battery charger and juice up before any fun can happen.

Out of the box, the iPod may have enough juice to turn itself on and get you hooked on spinning the scroll wheel. But you’ll still need to charge the iPod before you use it for the first time.

Charging via FireWire or USB 2.0 Cable

If your Mac or PC has powered FireWire or USB 2 jacks, you can charge up the iPod just by plugging it into your computer. (For FireWire, “powered” usually means the fatter 6-pin FireWire connector, not the little 4-pin connectors found on many Windows machines. For USB 2, you need a powered jack like those on the back of the computer, or on a powered USB hub—not, for example, the unpowered jack at the end of a keyboard.) The battery charges as long as the computer is on and not in Sleep mode.

It takes about three hours to fully charge your iPod. Note, however, that it gets about 80 percent charged after an hour. If you just can’t wait to unplug it and go racing out to show your friends, you can begin to use it after an hour.

During the charging process, you may see either the “Do Not Disconnect” message (if the iPod is also sucking down music from your computer), the “OK to Disconnect” message (if it’s done with that), or the main menu (if it’s a 2003 or later model).

The Dock

Some iPods come with a cool accessory: the iPod dock. The dock, shown in Figure 1-4, is a plastic stand with FireWire and stereo line-out connections built into the back. To charge up the iPod, you can either plug in the flat FireWire cable right into the bottom of the player, or plug the cable into the back of the dock.

Figure 1-4. The iPod dock allows for upright charging and a better view of the iPod’s screen, not to mention a healthy flow of air around that toasty little battery as it charges. If your iPod didn’t come with the dock, you can buy one separately on Apple’s Web site for $40. (Alas, the dock doesn’t fit 2001 or 2002 iPod models. There is one available for the iPod Mini, though.)

Once the dock is plugged into the computer, place the iPod upright onto the metal connector in the bottom of dock to begin charging it. The iPod trills out a little tweet of joy when it makes contact, and you see the animated "charging battery" icon.

Using the AC Adapter

You can also charge the battery by plugging the iPod’s FireWire cable into the boxy white AC power adapter that comes with it (Figure 1-5). With the iPod turned off, a larger version of the animated charging battery icon appears in the middle of the screen.

Figure 1-5. The FireWire cable that comes with the iPod plugs into the end of the AC power adapter. Flip out the electrical prongs tucked into the adapter’s end, and then plug it into a regular wall socket. Run the FireWire cable between the AC adapter and the iPod’s FireWire port (or charging dock). Inset: The iPod makes it graphically clear that you’re charging its battery—just in case you were wondering.

Note

Even when fully charged, the battery in an “off” iPod slowly drains after 14 to 28 days. If, for some inconceivable reason, you haven’t used your iPod in a month or more, you should recharge it, even if you left it fully charged the last time you used it.

Checking the Battery’s Charge

The battery icon on the iPod’s screen shows the approximate amount of gas left in the tank. When the iPod is connected to the computer, the battery icon in the top-left corner displays a charging animation, complete with tiny lightning bolt.

Battery Life

The iPod uses a rechargeable lithium ion battery. Battery life depends on which version of the iPod you have.

If you let a 2001 or 2002 iPod play all night, you can get about 12 hours per charge. But if you’re like most normal people who turn it on and off, tinker with settings, skip around playlists, and turn on the backlight, eight hours is a more likely average.

GEM IN THE ROUGH Prongs Across the World

The iPod’s AC power adapter can handle electrical currents between 100 volts and 240 volts at frequencies of 50 and 60 hertz. Put another way, it works not only with the voltage in North America, but also in many parts of Europe and Asia.

But although the iPod adapter automatically converts the voltage of global outlets, it doesn’t convert the prongs of the world’s various outlets: round prongs, flat ones, prongs in pairs, prongs in threes, and so on.

The Apple Store sells a World Traveler Adapter Kit for the iPod: six plugs that snap onto the end of the iPod’s AC adapter to adapt its prongs for electrical outlets in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, Japan, China, Korea, Australia, Hong Kong, and other parts of North America. The World Traveler Adapter Kit costs about $40 at Apple’s Web site and stores.

The 2003-and-later iPod is smaller than the previous models, so it contains a smaller battery; same goes for the iPod Mini. Apple estimates that modern iPod models have a battery life of up to eight hours. Again, you can expect shorter life in the real world (see the box below for more detail). If your iPod is conking out too soon, contact Apple Support by phone or Web.

Originally, Apple made the iPod without a replaceable battery, at least until it faced a spate of power cells with early deaths (and user complaints). Apple now offers a $99 battery replacement program and a special AppleCare warranty just for iPods.

Tip

If you don’t mind voiding your iPod’s warranty—or if it’s already expired—and you’re up for a little manual labor, you can pry the case open and replace the battery yourself (Section 15.2.5.3).

POWER USERS’ CLINIC Maximizing Your Battery’s Potential

Battery life varies. Someone inclined to settle into a long playlist and let the iPod go without interruption will enjoy more time between electricity refills than an iPodder who constantly jumps around to different songs and fiddles with controls.

Apple has several recommendations, both environmental and behavioral, for getting the most out of the battery. For example, as better power management is a perpetual goal, the company recommends always having the latest version of the iPod software installed.

While the iPod can operate without incident in temperatures between 50 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit, the iPod (like most people) works best at room temperature—around 68° F. An iPod left out in a cold car all night, for example, needs to warm up to room temperature before you play it; otherwise, it may have trouble waking up from sleep mode. It also may present the Low Battery icon onscreen. (If this happens to you, wait until the iPod warms up, then plug it into its power adapter and reset it by pressing the Menu and buttons until the Apple logo appears.)

Using the Hold switch (Section 1.2) can make sure that a sleeping iPod doesn’t get turned on, and therefore run its battery down, by an accidental bump or nudge while in a purse or pocket. Pausing the iPod when you’re not listening to it is another way to save power, especially if you tend to get distracted and forget that the player is set to repeat songs and playlists over and over.

Jumping around the iPod’s music library with the and buttons can also burn down the battery sooner rather than later. Like a laptop, the iPod stores its data on a tiny hard drive, and hard drives can be power hogs. To save power, the iPod lets its hard drive stop spinning as often as possible—by playing upcoming music from a built-in memory chip. Pushing the iPod’s buttons to change songs forces the iPod to start its hard drive spinning again, which requires energy.

The iPod’s memory cache works best with song files that are smaller than 9 MB. That’s plenty for songs in the MP3 or AAC formats (Chapter 3). But if you’re listening to AIFF tracks you copied straight from the CD without compression (you know who you are), the larger file sizes may overload the cache, and your battery won’t last as long.

That backlight, while illuminating, is also a power drain. Use the light sparingly for better battery life.

What about the iPod’s charge when you’re not using it? Turns out that it quietly sips juice even when it’s turned off. In fourteen days (or much sooner), the battery will empty itself completely. In short, treat the iPod as you would a pet snake: Give it a big meal every few days.