4gen iPod battery life?

most likely a hardware problem. i get excellent battery life on mine. you might want to install the latest hardware updates, but i highly doubt it will have any affect on your problem.

iJon

Yeah, the loswest battery life I've heard of on a 4th gen is 10hrs. I'm sure you can just call apple and get them to send you a replacement ipod.

yea mine doesnt have 10 hours of playing battery life either. Mines more like 6 but i always have mine on suffle so that could be it.

Possible solution to your ipod battery life!

Just bought my iPod a week ago and had the same problem. Fully charged the battery and lasted only 2 hrs or less. One day, it never turned on!

Called Apple and the sales person told me that it's the software issue and that I needed to get the latest "IPOD UPDATE" from the apple web site. Believe it's the "iPod Updater 2004-08-06."

After installing it, he suggested that I "RESTORE" (not update) my ipod. The problem with this is that all my songs were erased (had just removed all the songs from iTunes, ugh!). After restoring the ipod, he suggested I fully charge my battery. To see if the battery lasted 12 hrs, he suggested I download a song, play it, and have it repeated for 12 hrs. This does not damage the iPod since the song is being played from memory, and thus, does not spin the hard drive.

I tried this and my iPod lasted longer than 12 hrs (with the backlight off).

If this does not work for you, then something is wrong with your battery. iPod (and PB) battery can be exchanged for free during the first year period. Let me know if the update and restore suggestion work or not.

Good luck

Eevee

did you charge in between going to the gym? even when "off," iPod is draining some power from the battery. two days is a bit too quick, but it's possible...

@Eevee: Uunder regular usage, he shouldn't have told you to repeat the same song until the battery dies. He should have just told you to repeat the same playlist for 12 hours instead. At least this way, you access the HDD every 4-6 songs. It should still last around 12 hours, but whatever.

It also depends on how your songs are encoded. If your songs are encoded as 192kbps AAC or mp3 files, the files are 50% larger than the playing conditions that Apple uses to test battery life (128 kbps files, mid volume setting, no playing with the clickwheel, put on Hold). Using 192kbps tracks, the battery would last around 8-9 hours if you don't skip songs too often. If you skip tracks back/forward occasionally, the battery life should be around 7-8 hours, no problem at all.

Oh, and you shouldn't fully charge and then fully discharge your iPod until the battery dies before you recharge it. Recharge it whenever you want or when you get home (ie: at 50% life, 63%, at 29%, or anywhere).

Hmmm...I've been suspicious that my battery hasn't been lasting 12 hours or even 6 since I received it. I've only had it about 2 weeks so I've been shuffling around and using the click wheel lots and the backlight was constantly coming on.
But if I leave it for a couple days it doesn't turn on at all. Just this morning it had been 36 hours or so since I used it, hit Play and nothing. Hit Menu and then I got the Apple logo on the screen for a few minutes and then my menu options appeared. Almost as if it was rebooting.
I'm almost sure I have the most recent software update. How can I tell if I actually do?
I think I'll test the battery this weekend to see how long the charge is lasting under optimal conditions.
How do you complete a "restore" of the iPod?

Inkmonkey: The most recent update should be "iPod Updater 2004-08-06." Eventhough I bought my iPod two weeks ago, the CD did not come with this update. Try going online to see if you have this update. If not, download the update and try the suggestion I recommended. Your iPod should last at least 10 hrs. Even then, the battery should not run dry.

If this doesn't work, you can have Apple replace the battery for free (1 yr period). Not a bad deal!

Abstract, I haven't tried repeating the same playlist and see if it last for 12 hr. Did this work for you? Were you able to get 12 hrs on your 4G iPod?

Eevee (a "she" not a "he")

Inkmonkey said:

But if I leave it for a couple days it doesn't turn on at all. Just this morning it had been 36 hours or so since I used it, hit Play and nothing. Hit Menu and then I got the Apple logo on the screen for a few minutes and then my menu options appeared. Almost as if it was rebooting.

Click to expand...

my 3rd gen does the same thing - if you don't use it for a few days, you'll see the apple logo and iPod will "reboot." so i don't think that's a "problem."

Alright, I'll try testing the battery this weekend and will let everyone know what I come up with. Guess I have to run it dry first.

i'm going to guess that you left your ipod on, either by accident or something jarred it awake and then played until the battery ran out
it's happened to me a couple times on my 3G one, i think it's off but i go back later to use it and woops no battery power

I've had my 4G iPod for about three weeks and I get great battery life. I use it probably at least three hours a day, using shuffle a lot of the time and the backlight is set to come on for two seconds and even still I get about 9-10 hours of battery life.

Man, I love that thing...

Testing, testing

So I installed the latest iPod software update (which I think I already had), restored my iPod to it's original factory settings, ripped a full CD into 160 MP3 (as suggested by the Support pages on apple.com), and since 7AM (Mountain time) I've had my iPod repeating that album. Over 6 hours so far and it doesn't look like the battery bar is half way.

I'll give an update on the final battery life number.

I'm sure going to be sick of Aerosmith's "Get a Grip" by the time I get home on the bus.

The results are in...

Ok, so my iPod battery test is done and I was quite surprised by the results.

Started playing an album at 7AM today (on repeat) and the battery finally died at 10:05PM tonight. That's just over 15 hours of battery life!! Of course this was under optimal conditions (as suggested by apple.com support) but I was still pleasantly surprised.

Anyone else getting results even close to this? I haven't heard of anyone else getting 15+ hours. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it.