How do I maximize the battery life on my iPod?
Your recharging habits have no effect on the useful life of your iPod’s battery. This a common misconception leftover from the days when nickel-cadmium (NiCad) batteries were the only choice as far as rechargebility goes. NiCad batteries can develop a “memory”, so to speak. If you only used half of the battery’s capacity before you recharged it, and did that over and over again without fully discharging the battery, the battery would eventually stop giving out power once it reached that halfway point. Newer Lithium Ion (LiIon) batteries found in most modern handheld electronic devices (cell phones, pdas, iPods, etc.) don’t suffer from this shortcoming. A LiIon battery can only give you a certain number of charging cycles in its lifespan, but no adverse effects for only using part of its capacity before you recharge it. If you were to use half of your iPod’s battery, fully recharge it, use half of it again, and then recharge it again, that would only count as one full charging cycle.
