10 Tips to Extend Your iPod’s Battery Life

Listening to music on the go is an important aspect for anybody with a commute longer than 20 minutes, and you just can’t beat listening to a podcast while in queue at the supermarket. But what do you do when the battery runs out? Failure is not an option, so here are 10 useful tips that are guaranteed to extend your iPod battery.

1. Backlight Timer: The backlight is one of the biggest battery drains, some estimating that it consumes around 30% of the battery. Minimize the time it takes to turn off the light from:

Settings -> Backlight Timer (not available on iPod Touch/iPhone)

2. Brightness: The analogy for this aspect would be a light bulb. The higher the rating (40W compared to 100W), the higher energy consumption and brightness. Turn the brightness to the minimum when you can. This will for sure extend iPod’s battery life.

Settings -> Brightness

3. Clicker: If you’ve got used to the touch screen interface or the click wheel, you no longer need the audible feedback to confirm your actions. Turn the little speaker inside of the iPod off  to reduce power consumption.

Settings -> Clicker –> Off or Settings –> General –> Sounds (iPod Touch/iPhone)

4. Hold Switch: Use the hold switch to make the iPod ignore accidental input.

5. Pause: Don’t just leave the iPod spinning for no reason. If you are not going to be listening for a bit, pause it!

6. Avoid Track Change: Skipping forward or backwards causes the iPod to access the hard drive inefficiently. Use playlists effectively to prevent skipping. This is not the case however for newer SSD-based iPods like the Touch or the iPhone.

7. Equalizer: The Equalizer needs to calculate and modify the music on the go, which drains the battery substantially. Turn the EQ and Sound Check off from:

Settings -> EQ –> OFF or Settings -> Music

8. Use Compression: Efficiently encoded music will save battery life.  MP3’s are easier to reproduce than lossless AAC, and they spin off the hard drive less because of their reduced file size.

9. Battery Health: Batteries lose their storage potential due to two common mistakes. Excess temperature changes the properties of the battery and may change how much energy it can hold. Don’t leave the iPod battery completely discharged for long periods of time.

10. Software Updates: Often times, the coders and developers fix mistake and improve the software that your iPod is running. Better code means improved battery life, so make sure you update your iPod every time there’s a new version.

You can significantly extend iPod battery life with a battery extender like the Mophie Juice Pack. You might want to check out 50 Tools To Make your iPod Better.