And then everyone dies of consumption.

[snarp]

Originally published at SarahPin.com. You can comment here or there.

The iPod problem appears to be the battery. I am pondering my options.

Option 1 - Replace the battery using one of those kits.

Pros: This costs, like, $15.

Cons: I might break it. Also, sometimes I’ve gotten weird “hard drive needs to be checked” error messages when I plug it in the past few months, so it’s possible there’s also something wrong there. And even if the hard drive’s okay now, the thing’s three years old, and I have no idea how much longer it’s going to last. Given that my main reason for owning it is backing up my large files, this is kind of important to consider.

Option 2 - Send it in to Apple and get a replacement using this service.

Pros: Costs about $70, which is slightly cheaper than buying a used one off eBay, and probably safer.

Cons: I’ve read reports from people saying that the replacements are sometimes kind of glitchy themselves. So, maybe not all that much safer than going on eBay. See previous set of cons.

Option 3 - Get a new moderately-cheap MP3 player.

Pros: New hard drive = more reliable. Warranties are also nice. And the one I like the best - the Creative Zen Vision M - has some nice stuff the present iPod doesn’t, like a built-in microphone, video, and a TV-out jack.

Cons: It’ll cost at least $150 to get something with the kind of storage I want (ie, at least 20gb), and there’s other stuff I’d rather spend $150 on. And I wouldn’t use the video much, and I mostly don’t use the microphone I bought for the iPod.