One of the things i used to hate about apple and jobs was his over promising and underdelivering. That has improved over the years, but jobs still wants us to think of his $300/$2000/$4000 machines as common things like a $30 iron that works then breaks and you get a new one. Well an ipod isn’t a 20 or 30 commodity. it’s a 300-500 premium product and you should be able to replace the damn battery. So while, i’ve had no problems with my ipods (a photo, a video, a touch) i certainly agree with Renee. And hell, why should any product need to be disposed of or sent to the factory for dead battery.