Battery Issue with the Ipod 160 GB Classic

I just got an ipod classic and while I read that it was supposed to give up to 40 hours of battery life for audio, it seems like the battery starts to drain rather quickly after only 2 hours.


Sometimes the battery will go down then back up again.


I have it set to the backlight always being on (which can obviously affect the battery, but to this extent??) and a majority of my music is ripped at 192 kbps.


I understand the having the backlight on and possibly playing music at a higher than average bitrate can drain battery, but this is borderline ridiculous.

For those of you that have the ipod classic, how are the batteries issues working out?

Running the backlight like that will seriously drain your battery. Why do you need it on full time?

Run a simple test to see how long it lasts.

Pick a song, turn repeat one on, and hit play. See how long the battery lasts, run it until the iPod power dies. That is a good baseline for maximum battery life, after that you will have something to compare the average battery life with. If the maximum is less than 50% of the advertised battery life, take it back to Apple.

baggss said:

Run a simple test to see how long it lasts.

Pick a song, turn repeat one on, and hit play. See how long the battery lasts, run it until the iPod power dies. That is a good baseline for maximum battery life, after that you will have something to compare the average battery life with. If the maximum is less than 50% of the advertised battery life, take it back to Apple.

Click to expand...

good advice, I'll try that, thanks!

It seems that everytime I play a song on repeat to test my battery out, I come back a few hours later and it's frozen.


Does anyone else that owns anipod classic (160 gb) have any issues with the battery? I am not even expecting 40 hours of music, just 25-30.


But at this rate it seems like it would die within 12.

dude, you have the backlight one, that makes a HUGE difference, basically, take whatever they say for Video Playtime and thats what you'll get wih audio with the backlight on.....YES it makes that big of a difference

the ONLY difference in Video Playback time and Audio Playback time is pretty much the Backlight.......turn it off and ill bet you'll get what is advertised

yeah, I have it set to 30 seconds of backlight and it fares a lot better.


I just didn't realize it would drain it THAT much, but you were right

BTW, Apples battery numbers are based on your music being 128k AAC. If they are anything else, your mileage will vary.

There probably is something wrong with your iPod or the battery or the charging system. Try to eliminate these three and find which one is actually causing your problem.

Refurbed iPod classic 160 stuck in charging mode

When I first connected my refurbed iPod Classic 160 (from eGears) to my Macbook Pro, it immediately synced up and started downloading my iTunes library without any problem and without the need for any preliminary charging. All the displays and menus worked perfectly, too, and, although I never got a chance to use the supplied ear phones, it appeared to be playing selections when it was told to do so.

The problem began when I hooked the iPod to my car's after-market-professionally-installed Sony CDX-GT630UI USB port. It immediately started to play a random selection just fine, but I wanted to hear something else, so I picked up the iPod and realized that the Sony radio was now controlling the iPod, because the iPod screen now displayed the Sony proprietary logo ("Xplod") at the top and the music that the radio had decided to play was scrolling at the bottom.

So, I tried to use the buttons provided on the Sony receiver. One of the buttons on the Sony unit appeared to be allowing me to change "albums", but it never really did and it seemed to get stuck on one album; and then I noticed that the music was no longer playing.

I looked again at the iPod screen, and now it was saying "recharging." So, I disconnected the iPod from the radio and the iPod screen reverted to the iPod's own large picture of a battery with a triangular yellow symbol, with "!" in it, superimposed upon the battery. Underneath, it says "connect to power". This is displayed for about 5 seconds, then the screen goes black again. If I push MENU, it displays the battery all over again for another 5 seconds and then goes black.

I followed all of Apple's recommendations for "restoring" the iPod, none worked. When I connect it to my MacBook, it will not sync and the iPod icon no longer shows in the select menu of iTunes. I now am the proud owner of a rather expensive paper weight. I am returning it to eGears for replacement.

Has anyone had any similar experiences with a Sony car radio/receiver? It is supposed to work with any iPod, but my battery/no boot problem began when I plugged it into the Sony unit.

I did a test on my battery life, recording the times that I started and stopped playing. I didn't play just one song on repeat, I actually used it for normal playback purposes. I got 6.82 hours. My backlight is set to 5 seconds, sound check on, EQ off, all that jazz. My music is 98% encoded at 128 CBR mp3. I have only had the iPod for about 5 months. I bought it new, supposedly, but I opened it up and it's missing screws and the metal plate behind the screen. It has a replacement battery and I believe a replaced HDD. Anyone have any input? I thought about just replacing the battery and hoping that helped.