by Phil Dotree

Created on: January 26, 2007   Last Updated: April 19, 2007

There are a few easy ways to maximize iPod battery life.

1. Don't switch songs a lot.
Every time you switch songs, the iPod has to load the new one from the hard drive, and spinning up the hard drive takes a lot of juice. Avoid putting too much stress on your poor little Pod by picking an album and sticking with it.

2. Cut up gigantic tracks.
The iPod's hard drive tries to read the whole song file at once, and if you've got a twenty minute extended dance cut of Sexy Back, it's going to suck your battery life. Use an audio editing program to split your huge songs up into smaller chunks; the iPod's ability to play songs back gaplessly will avoid messing with the continuity.

3. Turn down your screen's brightness setting.
The brighter the screen, the more battery life's being sucked away; in the iPod's settings menu you can turn this down and save yourself a few minutes of jamming out to the Phil Collins you love so dearly. Along the same lines, by the way, turning down the volume can save you some juice.

4. Switch out the battery. Some companies such as iPodMods offer longer life batteries-at a cost, of course, but they are attainable. If you've got about $75 burning a hole in your pocket and your battery's starting to drain, often you can get about 30% more battery life or more, depending on your iPod's model.

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