A gift I thought I'd never receive

Mijn probleem

Years ago I bought an iPod photo because an audio guru wrote that this was the best sounding iPod, better than its successors. It took some looking, but I found it and over the years put a lot of good music on it.

It always worked great. That is until I put it away for a while and didn't keep it charged. The next time I tried to charge it - no go. I tried everything I knew, different USB chargers, different cables, even some praying to the gadget gods. No go.

I'd given up, but I couldn't get rid of an old friend. Hey, maybe someone can replace the battery; that's probably all it is. On to the Net and up comes ifxit.com. Some digging to make sure I know which iPod I have and there's the kit. Less than $20 shipped? Done deal.

Mijn oplossing

It took a little fiddling to get the first tool into the join at the top, and then a little more to get around the corner. Nothing happened, but I kept moving down the side and suddenly the two parts jump apart. From then on it was cake. I took care to treat everything gently, and went slowly when something had to be disconnected. When I was done you couldn't tell I'd even been there. Except for one thing; when I connected the USB cord it lit up and charged right up. %#*@, I'm back in business. Let's hear some old songs.

Mijn advies

Not much.

The instructions say there is a large and a small tool. I got two tools that were the same. They worked fine, but I wondered why my tools didn't match the instructions.

I bent the working edge of the tool getting into the iPod for the first time. Something like "The tools are made of soft plastic so that they don't damage your iPod. If they get bent or twisted, just straighten them out with your fingers or by pressing the tool against a table top, and keep going."

My battery wasn't stuck, it was STUCK. That was the only part of the job where I had to use force. I couldn't get a tool under the battery so I used a very small screwdriver. It might be good to assure the user that there is no hidden catch holding the battery, it will just take some force.