The Warring States of NPF - Do You Own An iPod? Do You Want Free Money?

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Do You Own An iPod? Do You Want Free Money?

Quote:

By The Associated Press
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SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Inc. has agreed to settle a pair of class-action lawsuits in Canada alleging it misled customers about the staying power of their iPods, the latest courtroom truce over the dwindling battery life of early generations of the device. According to a court document, the company is offering credits for its online store of about $44.75 to people who live in Canada and bought certain iPods there on or before June 24, 2004.

To be eligible, the battery life of their iPods - while continuously playing music - needs to have dropped to five hours or less for the first and second generation of the device and four hours or less for the third generation.

The lead plaintiffs in the lawsuits - iPod owners Ines Lenzi and Bradley Waddell - claimed Apple misrepresented iPods' battery life by claiming they were capable of eight to 10 hours of continual music playback. After recharging, however, the iPods' battery life began declining.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment beyond the notice of the settlement agreement Apple posted on its website.

Motions to approve the settlement are scheduled for June 11 in Quebec Superior Court and June 20 in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the two courts where the lawsuits were filed.

In 2005, the company settled a separate class-action lawsuit in the U.S. over similar claims about iPod battery life. In that case, Apple agreed to give some iPod owners $50 in store credit or $25 in cash if the battery life in their early-generation iPods dropped below certain levels.

...Dropped to five hours or less? Who the heck listens to their MP3 player for more than five hours at a time? ...Well, aside from me...

Hm.

That might explain my problem.

I have a refurbed iPod Mini, and in about 75 minutes, it's all the way down to a little over half.

Sadly, I don't live in Canada.

I thought it was well known that after many recharges a battery loses strength. They shouldn't have to pay people back for those, just offer a free battery replacement.

And I'm sure a lot of people listen to their MP3 players a nice chunk of the day. Walking, working in office areas that are boring, working out.

Since my PSP is the only source of entertainment at work, I have it on for nearly the full 8 hours I'm there - but at least with a PSP it's easy to change the battery. I have no idea how to change an iPod battery.

I'm not sure about the PSP, they have some kind of wierd battery pack, but Lithium-Ion batterys found in iPods, Nintendo SP's (probably DS's too, can't remember) Laptops, and other popular MP3 players are known for having shorter lives after many charges. Like after 2 years of use.

Li-ion batteries have a shorter life expectancy, but they don't suffer from battery memory issues like Ni-Cad ones, and have the benefit of a measurable charge unlike NiMH units.

However, a few things that kill them:
- letting them get too low too often
- heat
- time, at a faster rate than other types

Frankly, I think just the reliability alone makes up for the issues. It takes the guesswork and labor out of maintenance.

This just shows that even Canadians are willing to do whatever it takes to make a quick buck, or just be a douche bag in general.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Torque

This just shows that even Canadians are willing to do whatever it takes to make a quick buck, or just be a douche bag in general.

I don't think I quite follow.

I've always thought, and this is just from watching the HOJILLION court shows TV, and all the "Hey, someone made a mistake so sue their asses" commericals, or all the "Hey, I spilled coffee on myself, so I should sue McDonalds for not telling me it was hot, assholes!" that people these days seem to be awfully quick to bring up law suits against eachother.
But it always seemed Canada was mostly exempt from this little... quirk.
I now see I was wrong. Canadians can be just as dumb as anywhere else in the world.
edit: I think the point I was trying to get across is that I have a huge problem with frivolous lawsuits and there seems to be so much of it these days that I sorta hoped that SOMEONE somewhere wasn't buying into the whole craze.

It's a simple idea.

If Apple's iPods would actually turn off ever, they could save a little bit more battery life, I suspect.

Regardless, 5 hours or less is unacceptable when the manual claims 14-16 hours (if I am recalling mine correctly; but it's a 5th gen).