Battery Saving Tips for iPods and Zunes

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Thanks. This was really helpful for me since i have been lately having ipod problems. I think we should also add onto this that when you are not using your ipod, have it on hold. This is because sometimes it may slip in your pocket and turn on. This most likely will cause the batery to run out.
I know a few times i have been on trips without a charger, i put it in my bag without the hold button on, and it ran out of batery before i could even listen to the music.

Thanks
Bradley

Now now now, Chris — you should know better! Lithium-ion batteries aren’t helped by occasional draining; you’re thinking of NiMH.

Li-ions don’t need any kind of maintenance like that. Unfortunately, it’s time that does ‘em in, not recharge cycles. After X number of months (or, hopefully, years) they just stop holding a charge. “Charge early, charge often,” is the mantra.

Your other tips, of course, are spot on. But battery geeks will take you to task. ;-)

Right now I carry a 2nd-gen iPod Nano, 2 lousy gigabytes. I’ve decided that I’m picking up a Zune 80 for my next MP3 player though. I’d like to get an iPod Touch but $500 for 32 gigabytes?

That’s $100 more than my PS3 which plays blu-rays, games, has streaming media, and oh yeah has a 40 gigabyte hard drive by default.

Hey Chris thanks for all these tips they are very helpful! I’ve recently purchased an iPod and I’m rather happy with it because the battery seems to not really die to fast opposed to other music devises I have used.

Thanks,
Miranda

I use an iPod Touch.

Nice info! I am currently using my 80gb Archos 605 wifi and a 30gb iPod Video.

I always carry my PSP, I use it for my music, my videos, and my games, so I always carry it to use it in car rides, church, etc.
I also use it to go online when theres WiFi.

Great tips! Thanks a lot! That can save me much time with my ipod!

Hay Chris, the media player that I carry around use to be m ipod classic and I still do carry it around some times. But now I carry around my Iphone for all of my media, videos, podcasts, ext.

I have a 2GB, 4GB nano, 80GB, and 8GB touch. I put all my music on a 500GB external. And when I get a new album I convert every song to the bit rate of 128. So I put the songs I really want to listen to with a higher bit rate on my ipod and others to 128.

in addition to what bradley says, using the “hold” button on portable media devices (ipod i know for sure) disables the clickwheel completely, which saves battery.

I have a relatively new 16GB iPod Touch and I use it almost every day. I have the settings set to factory defaults with the following exceptions:

- Passcode Lock: on
- Auto Brightness: off

I kept the brightness setting at the midway point and turned the auto brightness off for two reasons. Auto brightness adjustment issues and picture quality. I use my Touch mainly for video, and since I use it so often I find myself recharging it almost every night anyway. I’ve used the auto brightness feature and even turned the overall brightness level down to help save power in the past, but I find that the Touch firmware seems to have trouble adjusting the brightness of the display appropriately for the ambient light level in the room. Also, if the light level in the room changes, it would either take a long time to adjust (going from light to dark ambient light) or it would fail to adjust at all. (going from dark to light). Or maybe it was the other way around… oh well, never mind. Sometimes in order to force the auto brightness to adjust, I’d have to put the iPod to sleep and wake it up again. Also, if the display ever dimmed just before the iPod would auto lock, tapping the display to prevent the locking would cause the display to brighten up again, but it would never return to the same brightness level it was at before, it would always end up dimmer. It has been a while since I last used the auto brightness feature, so those issues may have been fixed in a recent update. I’ve never turned it back on to find out. Since the brightness of the display also affects how vividly the colors are displayed on screen I keep the brightness slider at the midway point, I find that offers the best color saturation/brightness/contrast balance for me. It may not be great for saving battery power, but man does it look nice!

Draining the batter completely has never been a problem for me, since I almost inevitably drain the sucker everytime I use it. :D I love my iPod Touch!

Oh yeah, I also subscribed to The Chris Pirillo Show in iTunes. Nothing like having some Pirillo on the go. :)

Those are all great tips, but another thing worth mentioning is that putting your iPod on hold can stop it from turning on in your pocket. This is especially necessary with the iPod Touch and iPhone. Other than that, which is pretty obvious, those are some great tips. I usually only turn up my iPod all the way when walking to school because cars are loud. ;)

I think this is a very good idea because i have my backlight set for 30sec and i have to recharge it every day didnt really think about that

I’ve had several PMDs. My favorite was the Rio Karma, but it broke, and I was mad. I had a Creative Zen Touch but the battery’s dead, and I think I’m going to get a new battery. Now I have a pair of Nextar 1 and 2 gig mp3 players, which are fine, and can play specially converted video. I want another Creative Zen, if I can find a Vision.

i use Zune 30gb

I have a rockbox’d iPod Video 30gb, when using the rockbox mode, it chews up so much battery.

I’ve subscribed to the Chris Pirillo Show on the iTunes store.

I use a sidekick LX for my MP3 and Internet. Very cool video and tips

This was a very interesting blog for me. I could actually confirm all of these facts because I’ve done them all and my Ipod Nano is still running like the day I bought it two or three years ago.

While it is good to discharge l-ion batteries once in awhile, too much can actually be harmful!

i carry an ipod nano and a phone

I carry both a 80gb Ipod and a 30gb Zune with me at times (thought not at the same time, that would be overkill..which actually wasn’t a bad group in their day..boing). I like both of these players alot, but I do use my iPod alot more due to my podcasts that I listen too. I mostly use my Zune to listen to new albums to see if I want to buy them before hand, by using my Zune Pass I have. Makes thing so much nicer to see if I like something before purchase. Both are very good players, and both have good software that go with them. I do still find the iTunes a bit easier to use than the Zune marketplace though.

i have had many ipods and let me tell you these tips work really well and i have tried everyone of them. for me at least unless it is night time i don not have my backlight on because there is no point at all. i takes five seconds to do it, so why not do it. Also i never have my music blasting in my ear, it sounds the same no matter how loud you have it. i use the other ones except for the lower quality music files one, i just found out about that.

Here are some other tips that helped me save my battery

1. Listen to full songs- if you dont like a song take it off you ipod and if you do like a song dont switch half way through, switching songs half way through is a very efficient way to kill your battery, but if that not what your looking to do DON’T DO IT.

2. Dont over use the click wheel, always spinning the click wheel drains battery unbelievably fast, so if your bored dont start spinning the click wheel, find something else to occuoy your bored hands.

well that is all i have to say hopefully with these tips added to chris you will have long happy days of iPod battery life.

-Scott

This also helps on something like listening to music on the PSP.

Except if you have a custom firmware on that, you can underclock the processor even more and turn the backlight off on it as well and it’ll last so much longer.

First off Chris you are really awesome and stuff. I have gotten really into Tech by listening to your site and all.

I agree with William. It can also work on your PSP too. I use an iPod Touch and I love the feature of changing the brightness. It helps a lot! Without that I would be very upset. Because sometimes I will be laying in bed tired listening to music and if its to bright it wakes me up which I hate!

Later Chris. Your Amazing!

The “darin the battery before recharging” is an old wives tale from way back. The newer batteries especially are not affected by “memory effect” so keep your ipod on the charger when not in use so you will have maximum play time when you need it.

I use a Ipod Nano 4gb, I actually found that not skipping songs save a lot of battery life, and if you find that you keep changing songs spend the money and GET SOME NEW SONGS! Later Chris

Thank you for the tip im geting a iphone in a week this will help a lot!!!

30 Gig Video Ipod

80g zune

i use Sony’s first hard disk player…
NW-HD1…

won’t be having it for long, though…
am selling it, my old camera, and some other stuff for a new DSLR…
:)

30g zune :D

zune 30 & ipod classic 80

custom made 130gb ipod

ipod nano

zune 30gb

zune 30GB

ipod 3rd gen nano 8gb

30 gb zune

30 gb zune and a psp

I have a Zune and thanks for the tips!

ipod 30gb, zune 30gb, creative M.

8gb ipod touch

I have a 80 GB second generation Zune…awesome

i’m thinking of getting a zune, i have a 30 gig ipod video. for those who have a 4/8 and 80 gig zune, what’s the battery life i should expect for straight music and straight video playback?

jailbreaked 16gb ipod touch

Zune 80
Zune beats ipod all day

video ipod 30 gb

ipod nano 3rd generation 4gb

ipod video 30g

Microsoft Zune!

ipod 30 gb/psp slim/iphone 8 gb:X:X: all the time

ipod classic 80 gigs

80 gb zune, 80 gb ipod classic, 4gb ipod mini, 2 gb ipod nano, and psp

80 gb zune, 80 gb ipod classic, 4gb ipod mini, 2 gb ipod nano, and psp

16gb ipod touch

16gb ipod touch

ipod nano 8 gb

ipod touch jailbroken 8gb XD

zune 30 gb

zune 30 gb

ipod classic 80 gb

ipod 5th generation 30gb with 7,000 songs on it

lol a 512 mb Craig thing. Piece of shit, but I’m glad I have SOMETHING. :P

ipod nano 2gb

iPod Nano 2nd Gen 4GB

iphone

80GB 2nd Gen Zune
42GB Music
30GB Movies

Ipod touch 8gb

zune 30gb

80GB zune

1 GB Sony MP3
iPod 30 GB
Sony PSP 4 GB+2 GB

Ipod Nano 3.Generation
and
Iphone 8Gigs

i have an ipod 3g 4gb n ive had it for about 2 3 years n now when i listne to 1 or 2 songs the battery dies quick i need tips some say its because of the brightness…i need help…