There's an iPod Software 1.2.6 (OS 9 users see this page) with the following changes noted:

"iPod Software 1.2.6 provides improved battery management which solves a problem that may appear to shorten your iPod's battery life.

Some customers have reported that over time their iPod's battery life has declined. This update enables the iPod to more accurately monitor its battery charge, thus using the entire battery capacity and regaining long battery life. The result is longer playback time and extended standby time. After updating the iPod, customers can expect at least 10 days of standby battery life on a full charge.

Prior to this update, the iPod would sometimes mistake a temporary low voltage condition as an indication that the battery was discharged. This resulted in the iPod shutting down prematurely, even though the battery was still capable of powering the iPod.

(the readme file in the download noted:)

Increased playback time on scroll-wheel iPods

Longer stand-by time for all iPods "

I had no problems updating my 5GB (early model) this morning. A few readers have reported a problem, others not. See below for notes initial battery life observations, some having to reset the iPod and notes from a user of the iPod as a hard drive. One reader with repeated problems trying to update said rebooting the system and trying again helped. (Another option for those with problems with the OS X updater is to try the OS 9 updater.)

Reader Feedback: (latest reports first)

" Hey.
Despite the problems over the directions, I got the updater to install without a hitch (from a 15" LCD iMac to a 20GB iPod bought September, 2002).

To be honest, if the updater has affected my battery life, I haven't noticed. I have, however, noticed one oddity that has now occurred often enough for me to 1) realize it's there, and 2) wonder if anyone else has experienced it.
When I start up my iPod in the morning -- just hitting the Play button and letting it go into random play mode -- the iPod shuts itself off sometime during the first song (maybe 1.5 to 2 minutes in).

It has done this, I believe, every morning since I installed the update. It doesn't matter what amount of battery power it has. Today it was at full power. Yesterday morning I think it was either at half or 3/4 power. The iPod isn't being moved, and only my headphone jack is plugged in. The music just stops, and I look over and see that the iPod is off.
Otherwise, it plays without a hitch through the rest of the day.
Anyone else seen this particular gremlin? Gaylon P."

I've not seen that problem - You might try a reset (erase) but maybe it's hardware related. If there's an Apple retail store nearby - I'd take it in to let them look at it. Gaylon replied to my mail with those comments saying:

"Hi, Mike.
Thanks for your thoughts (and your site!).
I am probably the only person on earth who's had sufficiently bad experiences with the staff at both the Palo Alto and Valley Fair Apple stores that I really *don't* want to go to either one. It sucks to be me, I guess, but there it is. I'm thinking instead that I'd rather just tough it out for a while, maybe do a restore/reinstall, and see what happens. The iPod truly is the coolest gadget I never knew I needed, and a minor gremlin is no big.

On the battery front, I had the iPod plugged in and charging all day yesterday. I didn't use it last night or this morning until I got to work. When I did turn it on, the battery icon was at four bars. I've been listening to music almost nonstop since writing to you this morning. That's been, what, around five hours, and yet my battery icon is only down one bar.
I love this iPod.
Best regards.
gaylon"

An earlier report commented on button presses for sleep vs power off (as one reason why some noted short battery life when not in use). This reader replied that the original comments may have referred to the remote buttons rather than the main iPod buttons:

" (clip from earlier post)
"...The tech support person told me this. If you hold the play button down for 5 seconds, the iPod goes into a sleep mode, but is NOT turned off. He said that in order to turn it completely off, I needed to hold down the play button for 10-15 seconds. So, he contended that my battery was draining because I had only been in sleep mode. In sleep mode, when you press play on the iPod, it will pick up the song right where you left off. If the iPod has been completely shut down, it will require you to pick a song or playlist to start..." (I replied to that post saying my iPod 5GB buttons (on the unit) don't work like that. Pressing for 5 seconds or less turns it off.-Mike)

He may have been referring to the play button on the remote. That is, indeed, how the remote works. Pressing the Play/Pause for 5 secs will remember where you left off (but turn off the screen as if it is off,) holding it down longer turns it off and you are returned to the top of the play list next time you turn it on. I bought a remote for the original 5 GB. I have not even checked if any ROM updates changed that on the unit - I assumed it was only a feature of the remote. Thanks for such a great site all these years.
Eytan B. "

" Regarding inability to remount iPod, I am able to get around this by rebooting my mac from a different startup folder, and using Disk Utility to mount the iPod. Then restart the Mac from original startup folder and iPod will then mount.
Go figure.
Ted A. "

" G'day Mike and readers,
iPod 5 GB purchased within 2 months of release
Pismo PowerBook, 1 GB RAM, 10.2.4

I downloaded and installed the update since I too, had an iPod with inaccurate battery indicator, 1 hour play time, and 2 day idle limit even from a full charge. Unfortunately, I had heard that full discharge cycles can shorten the life-span Lithuim technology batteries. I thought it was my fault.

My iPod had been connected for hours before the update. The only confusion I noticed was that the updater gave me no indication that anything was taking place after I clicked "Update." I had to pick up the iPod and hold it up to my screen to see the update progress bar (room was dark). After about 30 seconds, it asked me to unplug and replug. Now I have to see if I can use it for more than an hour but reports have my hopes high.
Matthew Wheeler, Principal
The TechnicalMac Group
Apple Consulting "

" I have an original 5 GB iPod. I reverted to 1.1 for improved battery life. I canŐt get the updater to recognize the iPod. Is 1.2.2 required to update?
(he later wrote)
I was finally able to update it from 1.1. I think zapping the pram on my PB did the trick.
Regards, Steven C. "

" Mike, Just to let you know I successfully updated my iPod (5GB wheel model, bought in April 2002) to v1.2.6 using iTunes. I installed the v1.2.6 updater, but didn't launch it. When I plugged in my iPod, iTunes started up as usual, and reported a new iPod software version was available and did I want to update it. When I clicked okay, it started the iPod updater and went through normally from there. After the update was transferred to the iPod, it was automatically dismounted, and I was asked to unplug and replug the iPod. On reconnecting, there was the thermometer display under the Apple on the iPod lcd, and when it was done, I had 1.2.6 on the iPod. No need to restore any MP3s.
(I had seen the iTunes message since I had gone back to v1.1 from v1.2.1 on the iPod -- I had to be careful _not_ to click okay in iTunes whenever I mounted the iPod.)
I seem to remember seeing somewhere (not sure if it was MacFixit) that the iPod immediately dismounting on selecting update from the updater is an old problem, to do with having a MacOS X on the drive, and that the only workaround is to choose restore rather than update. (Many did not have this problem, including me, although some did - see reports/tips below-Mike)
regards, Sayling
(Mac OS X 10.2.4 on a B&W G3 running a NewerTech G4/450; iTunes 3.0.1) "

(reports from March 24th and earlier follow)

A reader commented on the problem some had with the update:

" I had similar problems with the iPod dissappearing from the desktop after entering my admin password...so I clicked on the finder 'n waited for like 10 seconds when the iPod showed up again...after which point I was able to update my 5gig iPod w/o any problems...if it had died, I would've been VERY unhappy since the mp3s on there are not kept on my hd 'cuz i don't want to spare hd space for them...
Hope that helps...
Dan "

" Just so you know, I'm am up to 10 1/2 hours and still going strong. How strange is this, it is still playing although there are no bars left on the battery and the display actually dims when the hard drive is accessing?!
Wait, it just kicked the bucket as I typed this, so 10 1/2 it is. That'll do. Time to tell apple what a good job they did.
Shane "

(reports from March 21st and earlier follow)

" I just wanted to chime in on my upgraded iPod. Before the upgrade my 1st generation 5 gig was getting only about 2 hours per charge, very very disappointing to say the least. Since upgrading at I have gotten 5 hours so far and am down two bars. This is very good.
shane k "

" Hi, as I mentioned yesterday battery life was improved a lot. In fact its coming back to the promised state of 10 hours. I started testing yesterday at 1 pm and the iPod ran flwlessly till midnight. So thats a full 11 hours... Think its enough time to get pain by the large earphones ;-) Standby time is improved as well!
Marcus "

" I've had a 5 Gig iPod from the first release and have done all the updates. When I applied the last update that added the clock feature my backlight would not work (shutoff with the timer). I just turned it off. This time around I updated the iPod and it still didn't work so just for grins I did a full reset, wiping the iPod to original factory state and then installed the 1.26 update. Now the backlight is working again. So in some cases a full reset may not be a bad idea if you are having strange problems.
John R. "

A reader with problems applying the update noted he had to reset (erase) the iPod to get the update to complete.

" Before the update I was having an issue of a charge not holding for more than two days. It was sad really, as I would often not even be able to listed to more than a couple songs after a weekend of it being idle (even on a full charge from Friday night). The life did extend a bit when I turned off "Alarms" though.

I just updated my 5GB iPod (original model, still alive & kicking after heavy abuse) from 1.2.1. The update went just fine from my TiBook 500 (10.2.4).

After running it solid for at least three hours (usually enough to drop the battery indicator by two bars), it only dropped by one bar.
Dan S. "

" Hi, I have a 10g iPod running on a Powerbook Wallstreet updated to a G4 with a PCMCIA Firewire card.

I ran the update and unplugged my iPod when it told me to. But when I went to plug it back in again, it doesn't mount and therefore doesn't finish the install. Worse yet, the iPod doesn't run. When I turn it on, it shows the Apple logo, then shows a firewire cable being plugged into the iPod (hinting it needs to be plugged in). I've tried resetting the iPod, but it's not mounting. I've also tried rebooting my computer - nothing.
I need help! I will call my local Apple Store tomorrow to see if they can help.
Thanks!
John
(he later sent an email update)
Update!
After the fix, it made perfect sense. And you were almost there.
If you have a portable device (like a laptop) and do a BIOS or firmware update, what do you need? Two power sources. (not really - you just need to have the laptop powered for a bios/firmware update to it. But again PCcard FW interfaces do not provide FW bus power as I stated below in the original reply to this post-Mike)

I went to the Apple Store in Edina, MN, and plugged it into their machine, which would be a powered firewire port, it finished the update. Since my PCMCIA card is not powered, it couldn't complete the update because it only had one source of power. If that power source failed during the install, the iPod would have needed a lot more to fix it.
Thanks for your help!
John "

(my comments to the original report)
I assume he tried rebooting the mac with the iPod connected. I also suggested he try the manual 'button' reset of the iPOD - holding down the menu+play buttons until the iPod reboots basically. (he later said he had) That button "reset" is not a wipe/erase like the updater reset option, and has helped me once or twice in the past when the iPod showed only the Apple logo at power up.
As a FYI - if the iPod is low on battery power - a PCCard FW interface does not supply bus power for it to charge - so I'd make sure it's fully charged also.

" Hi Mike, Thanks for a great site - I check it daily.
I had been having SERIOUS battery life issues with my early-model 5gb (purchased last April) - For the past couple of months, it would last for about 15-20 minutes without an external power supply. Since I am trying to use it for contacts & calendar as well, this was quite frustrating.
In addition, I was having random freeze problems (iPod would continue to play current song, but would accept no input, and would stop afterward). I have been holding out for updated models; in the meantime, I saw update 1.2.6 - downloaded it and updated my iPod. So far, no freezes and more than an hour of playing time without charging - making me much happier.
I am still waiting for the updated iPods, but can listen to music now while waiting!
Matt "

" Mike, Love the site. You do a hell of a job. I just finished an informal test on my iPod using the latest update, and it ran independently non-stop for 11.5 hours! The update does indeed work.
Regards
Jonathan C.
(Here's my post on Apple's site...feel free to use what you'd like.)
I am in complete shock. ELEVEN AND A HALF HOURS?! That's just plain crazy! I mean, I know this software update was supposed to address the battery issue, but this is beyond what I was expecting. Here's my story...

A few weeks ago, I brought my iPod to my friend's place to supply some background music for our poker game. The guys were all very impressed with the iPod, and even liked the playlists that I had created just for the occasion. Four hours after having turned on the iPod and plugged it into a small set of computer speakers, it died. Very little track adjustment (forward or back) and I think I turned on the light once or twice, just to show how the feature worked.

Needless to say my friends were disappointed, and I was pretty embarrassed, after having told them you can get up to 8 hours on a single charge...What ever happened to the iPod that got me through five hour flights with time to spare? *sigh*

Initially I blamed its age -- I've had my iPod for roughly 14 months -- and excessive use. It goes where ever I do on a daily basis. I don't know what I'd do without it. A walkman? Tapes? Ha! ; )

I began to search the net to see if other iPod users were going through the same kind of problem. Sure enough, they were. I even read one thread (here) that suggested opening your iPod, and disconnected the power source, etc. That seemed pretty extreme to me (warranty or otherwise) so instead, I downgraded the software from 1.2.2 to 1.1. By doing so, I eliminated the clock/timer feature, which I thought had something to do with the battery drain when not in use.

After going back to 1.1 (a relatively painless procedure -- putting my contacts and music back on didn't take too long) I noticed a slight increase in longevity, but nothing worth posting about. Perhaps I'd get an hour and a half more use from a single charge? Who knows. I didn't do any kind of experiment like today.

So last night while surfing the 'net, I noticed the update, and downloaded it within OS 9 (9.1) but it wouldn't work within my "main" environment (it needed 9.2.1) so I booted into X (10.2.4) and downloaded the corresponding version.

I opened the "package file", ran the installer, which put the "real" installer in the Applications/Utilities folder. From there I ran the update (upgrading from 1.1) without any problems. At no point did I launch iTunes, or did it appear on its own. I unplugged the iPod to manually test it (it worked) booted back into OS 9, plugged it back into the computer, and went to bed.

Late this morning (11:30 am) I decided to do a test. I would set the iPod aside from my computer, and let it run on its own to see just how far it would go under the new update. I set the songs to "random", activated the Bass Booster, left the volume at default, and then disabled Sound Check as well as the alarm feature. From this point on, I did not activate the light, or use any of the buttons on the iPod until the battery died.

At the four hour mark (3:30 pm) all four battery bars were fully lit. This was a good sign of things to come. At 4:30 pm I had 3/4 bars displayed.

Around 6:30 pm (the SEVEN hour mark) I had to leave for my indoor soccer game. I thought for sure that when I got back, my iPod would be "dead". Even so seven hours is pretty good, right?

I made it back at 9:00 pm, AND THE iPOD WAS STILL PLAYING! Can you believe this!? I was freaking out. From that point onward, I listened to the songs (without changing any of the settings mentioned above) just so that I could note the time when the battery died completely.

At 10:59 pm the sound went blank, and the battery was empty. An unbelievable 11.5 hours later.

Do I expect this amount of time/charge when I go to use my iPod in the future? This was not fully representative of how I use my iPod, but it wasn't too different -- I'll change tracks, turn on the light, turn up the volume, and bring the iPod outdoors (plus other factors) which will reduce the batter life.

The bottom line -- this update has done exactly what it is supposed to do for me. I hope everyone else has such a great experience with I think is one of Apple's best products ever.
: )

By the way, there's one other change I've noticed since moving to 1.2.6. Under previous software versions, from time to time, when a track would end and move on to another song (random play) I would here little "clips" of what sounded like other songs very quickly before playing the next song. I assumed it was either how the MP3 was encoded on my computer, or how the iPod was handling the "decoding" process. During several hours of monitoring my iPod today, this did not occur once, even though I have the exact same songs/playlists. Another bonus of the upgrade perhaps? "

(reports from March 20th follow)

This reader w/problems later noted rebooting the Mac helped:

(recd 3:35 PM EST)
"Hi Mike --
I'm not sure if the 1.2.6 update worked on my 5gb ipod. The About Menu on the ipod continues to read, "Version 1.2.1."
(it didn't update then - it should read "1.2.6" after the update-Mike)

After I installed the 1.2.6 update package on my OS X 10.2.4 G4 Sawtooth (with the ipod plugged in, as per the Read Me instructions), I unplugged the ipod and then replugged it in (also per the instructions). At that point I saw no progress bar on either the ipod screen or the Mac monitor. Not sure if I was supposed to see a progress bar indicating that the ipod itself was being updated.

I tried the same procedure again using an ibook, with the same results. I even tried rebooting the ipod, but that yielded no positive results, either.
John

(John later wrote:)

Solution!
After trying various fixes, to no avail, I restarted my PowerMac. Suddenly, after restart, the ipod update worked. "

My update went fine on a PB G4 that hadn't been rebooted for days (just slept), but if you did have problems applying the update, see if a reboot (for a clean system state) helps.

Comments/Tip from iPod used as a hard drive:

(recd 1:38 PM EST)
" One problem people are having is for iPods being used as a hard drive. You need to unmount them by dragging to the trash. Apple should include this step in the instructions. I got error messages until I did this.
Chris "

A reader with an original 5GB iPod that updated successfully sent a follow-up to his earlier report:

(recd 2:24 PM EST)
" Hi Mike, I got exactly 5 hours of continuous play with the new update, definitely better than the previous version (about 3 hours). I'll charge it again tonight and test the continuous play (when I tested it this morning, I had it fully charged while the battery was 1/2 charged, don't know if this will make a difference). Also, you may want to mention on your site that any playback time tests need to be done with the headphones attached, since this is the normal mode of operation.
Overall, I am pleased with th new update, finally!
paris "

(recd 1:23 PM EST)
" I was having a problem with my iPod discharging the battery while turned off. I called Apple and found out something I never knew. The tech support person told me this. If you hold the play button down for 5 seconds, the iPod goes into a sleep mode, but is NOT turned off. He said that in order to turn it completely off, I needed to hold down the play button for 10-15 seconds. So, he contended that my battery was draining because I had only been in sleep mode.
In sleep mode, when you press play on the iPod, it will pick up the song right where you left off. If the iPod has been completely shut down, it will require you to pick a song or playlist to start. Seems to have worked. Two days, and no battery drain. Was anyone else aware of this?
Steve
I have a 20gb model purchased back in November. "

Never heard this before and on my 5GB iPod - pressing the play button for only a few seconds (less than 5) turns it off and when truned back on it is at the root level - not back at the song I was playing. So not sure that comment is true or universal (unless it's a feature of later iPods... Mine is an early one.)

(recd 1:15 PM EST)
" I also have an early edition 5GB model. I am using a Dual 867 w/ 10.2.4 I tried the updater and it immediately unmounts the IPOD and gives me a No IPOD detected message. It won't even let me try the restore option.

It will mount when I am not running the updater. If I try to update it after it is mounted, the updater unmounts the drive and gives the same No IPOD detected message.
I tried reseting the IPOD and tried both methods again, but still no luck...
Thanks,
Jon "

(reports from Noon EST and earlier follow)

This reader included some observations on battery life (which was to be improved)

" Hi,
did run the 1.2.6 updater this morning on the original 5 GB iPod. I started playing at 1pm and it still plays at 5:30 pm. Battery level is down one quarter... So I think things have been improved a lot as I was only able to get an hour of music with the 1.2.2 update. Seems to be one of the better updates from apple ;-)
so long, Marcus "

" Hi Mike
The installation of 1.2.6 went fine on my 10GB iPod from a dual 1Ghz Quicksilver. Thanks for the great site.
John "

The 3rd problem report so far follows.

" Same problem with the Update here; tried it 3 times with the same message. Used Restore instead, then had to reload the iTunes music and iSync again. So far so good.
Dual Gig DDR, 1.768 RAM, OSX 10.2.4, 5GB iPod (1st generation)
Enrique "

My 5GB early model updated fine - not sure why some are having this problem but a restore was noted as the fix another reader had to do earlier today.

Another problem report similar to the earlier (first) report below:

"Hi there...exact same problem as Dave L...everything detects fine until I click on update, and suddenly, the iPod is unmounted.
(I'm not clear on this report as far as if the updater app actually worked, but the iPod is unmounted after the update is run and you're told to unplug and replug the iPod - if it was not unmounted then it's not recommended to disconnect it. Reconnecting the iPod after disconnecting it starts the firmware update (progress bar). The readme says to actually quit the installer after the update, then disconnect/reconnect the iPod. I've included a copy of the readme file below.-Mike)
Have also tried with iTunes and iSync off. Have 20 GB iPod and 700 iBook. If you hear anything, please post it on your great site! -Gleider.
He later wrote
I can't reset my iPod as I left all my music on there (have a laptop and am overseas--limits my storage options)...tried the suggestions you had, no luck. Oh well--will troll the Apple forums and we'll see. If I hear anything, I will let you know.
Gleider."

Here's a copy of the included readme file instructions:

" How to use iPod Software 1.2.6 Updater
Launch the iPod Software 1.2.6 Updater application.
If the iPod is not connected to the Macintosh, plug the Firewire cable into the iPod.

On MacOS X, click the lock icon in the iPod Software 1.2.6 Updater window and enter your admin password.

Click on the Update button or on the Restore button. For restore you will see a message asking if you are sure you want to perform the command.

After the update or restore is complete, quit the application.

Unplug the Firewire cable from the iPod and then plug it back in. "

" I updated my 20GB iPod just fine. I think the guy that had problems did not follow the directions. You are supposed to run the application first, plug in your iPod, enter your admin password, click update, then unplug and plug it back in to complete the update. His iPod was already plugged in when he ran the application to perform the update. That may be why he had problems.
Peter H. "

I updated mine ok and plugged it in before running the updater. The readme file in the download actually implies that's ok (it says if it's not plugged in, do so - see copy of instructions above.)

"Hi Mike and congrats for the great site. I updated my original 5GB iPod with no problems whatsoever (using a G4/450 AGP, OS 10.2.4). I am testing it today to see how long the battery will last (only get 3 hours now and even if I don't use it, the battery is dead within 2 days). Let's see.
Thanks!
paris"

I asked Paris to report back later if that issue has been improved. I see the same problem with my 5GB iPod (gradual self discharging is normal, but the rate always seemed higher than normal).

" Hi, i've just tried to update my iPod 20Gb with the new 1.2.6 update and i've had difficulties. I made sure my iPod was mounted on the desktop and iSync and iTunes were off. I ran the updater and entered my admin password and selected update. Then it unmounted my iPod and reported that it couldn't update the detected iPod as it isn't mounted. Weird. It even said it needed updating. Has anybody else seen this?
Dave L.
(he later wrote)
i had to Reset my ipod first and it upgraded it then. I then just had to restore the data onto it and thats it.. Bit of a pain really... Dave "

One reader suggested connecting the iPod after launching the updater, but I had mine connected before starting the update app and it worked fine. (In fact the instructions in the readme imply that's ok - saying if it's not plugged in, do so.)

If any other readers see any pros or cons from this update - let me know.