Kaonashi Ga Suki

According to Apple, the 2nd Generation Minis’ batteries are supposed to last up to 18 hours.

That’s the kicker, my friends. The term “up to”.

This is just a little legal term a lot of companies use so that if your item falls beyond certain expectations (such as the true longevity of battery life), they can’t be sued. They can still be yelled at, but at least they can’t get sued. After all, they only said that the battery would last “up to” 12 hours. It’s not their fault if it only lasted 9.

I was concerned that my iPod Mini isn’t exhibiting as much battery power as it’s supposed to have. I fully charged it on Monday and had been playing it for about 2 hours in the car each day during my commute to school. By Thursday the Mini appeared to have a little less than half the battery life.

Why, that’s only 8 hours so far, I thought to myself. How could the Mini have used more than half the battery on only 8 hours?

Being the scientist that I am, I decided to do an experiment. Okay okay, I found it on the Apple website. Basically, I fully charged the iPod, picked a playlist, and set it to repeat. I noted the time I started this.

Monday, September 26, 6:54pm

I let that bad boy play all by its little self.

I went to bed.

When I woke up at 7:15am today, I checked on it.

Yep, over 12 hours later, it was still playing.

Cool.

I played the iPod Mini during the drive to school. Still going strong.

I left it on my desk to keep an eye on it while I worked.

11:45 am- lunchtime.

iPod still playing.

I had a staff meeting then went to class. Checked the iPod before I left.

Class went from 1:15-2:30pm. I kept checking the iPod during class. It was still running.

Class ended, and I drove home- but went to Target first. The iPod played happily in my car the whole time.

Finished runnings errands at Target and am now home.

As I write this, it is now 4:54 pm. The iPod is still playing.

Do you realize what this means???

My iPod mini has been playing for 22 hours. That’s 4 more hours than the quoted time Apple gives!

Wow!

Normally, stuff falls beyond my expectations (yes, Dell notebook batteries, I’m looking at you) so this is a nice change of pace!

Jeez- it’s still going!

EDIT: It is now 6:03 pm- almost 24 hours before I started my experiment. The teeny little sliver of a black bar has disappeared from the battery icon, yet the iPod is still playing music just as strongly as it did at full strength.

EDIT #2: Time of death, Tuesday, September 27, 8:26pm. That’s almost26 hours of battery life!