Living Large and Uncharged

I have one of the original iPod Minis, which I got the day that they became available at Apple Retail Stores, sometime in February of 2004. That iPod Mini boasted 8 hours of use on a full charge, and was able to be charged in three different ways: connecting it to a computer using the enclosed USB cable, connecting it to a computer using the enclosed FireWire cable, or connecting it to the enclosed wall adapter using the FireWire cable.

Despite the iPods' suitability for portable use, I pretty much only use mine at work. I keep it connected to the wall adapter whenever I'm not using it. When I want to use the iPod, I disconnect it from the cable, listen to it for a few hours, and at the end of the workday I'll reconnect it. Thus, it is fully charged by the time I arrive at work the next morning. I occasionally will bring the iPod home with me so that I can sync it with my Mac, if I've recently imported a CD or purchased some songs from the iTunes Music Store. But other than that, the iPod lives at work.

When I arrive at work after having used the iPod the previous day, the display indicates that it is fully charged. However, the iPod can actually be in one of two states; when I touch it, the iPod is either cold to the touch, or warm to the touch.

If it is cold to the touch, then the iPod is fully charged, and I can get around 8 hours of battery life, as advertised. If it is warm to the touch, then it is not actually fully charged, but it seems to think that it is, an isn't charging any more. When it's in this state, the battery will die after only 3-4 hours of use.

After owning the iPod Mini for a year and a half, I have not figured out what usage patterns will reliably cause it to fully charge or not. If it has not fully charged, the only way I have found that will consistently get it to fully charge on the next charge is to let it play until the battery has drained completely.