Do you constantly charge your iPod?

[slystad810]

I usually leave it docked to my powered firewire port whenever I'm at home. I always eject it so the HD isn't working all the time.

What are your charging habits?

[sirgolf82]

I just leave it mounted. I find that if the pod is not accessed for a certain period, it will power down the drive. The display still shows the "Do not disconnect", but the drive isn't spinning. I am on WinXP by the way.

I would guess that it does this because I don't have my anti-virus program scanning drives, or any other disk maintenance that will run in the background on removable media.

Any others?

[M@rK]

I keep it charging, but leave t unmounted to save the HDD spinning up , its unnecessary wear on the drive. and as its in the dock a lot i expect after a while it would make a difference.

[jerrodh]

I charge it through my PC, and eject the HDD as well.

I wish that it wouldn't auto-mount. It's kinda a pain to manually eject. Oh well... it's only two mouse clicks I suppose ;-)

BTW... 100 Posts!

[Debaser]

is there any danger of constantly charging it all the time? does it prematurely wear down the battery life?

[TrappedOnEarth]

Originally posted by Debaser
is there any danger of constantly charging it all the time? does it prematurely wear down the battery life?

Good question. Unfortunately, I don't have a good answer. Only that to my understanding, topping off the battery all the time shouldn't do it harm. I can't back this up in any meaningful way.. except that is what I have heard from others over the years with lithium batteries. It is full charge cycles that make a difference (having charging it after the battery has exhausted (drained) itself).

My PDA uses a lithium rechargeable battery... been using it for hmm.. five years (I know it's time for me to get a newer one)... but so far I haven't noticed any real shortening of the battery life. Granted, I don't top off the battery as much as I do with the iPod, but I don't use it as much as I use the iPod.

[Cpt. Power]

I heard that Li-MH don't have memory problems, so generally it shouldn't make a difference.

[MikeM]

I only charge when it needs it but I don't wait until its critical. While I'm paranoid about shortening the battery life, I don't like having a dead iPod!

[mookiemeister]

I charge only when needed.

[Webbie888]

Can anybody...maybe from the battery makers or Apple tell us what is best for the battery life?

[kojak]

It is my understanding that the battery is a Sony and is good for 500 cycles; a full cycle being a discharge. So by always topping off your iPod and never letting it go dead, you should have years of enjoyment...

...or at least until The Next Big Thing

I usually use mine a few hours a day, then charge it till it is full.