MP3 Player Battery Cost
Today I’m going to complain a bit. Now I’m sure there are some brains out there working on this, however I’m in the mood to complain. I know how enamored we have become to our portable music I myself remember my Sony Walkman cassette player. Then I upgraded to the portable CD-player now I am a proud owner of an mp3 player.
One complaint that I have is the durability that some mp3 players have and I’ve been through quite a few of them. Now I know many people love the iPod, I myself enjoy many of the features that it has as well. Two things about the product drives me nuts however; the durability and battery life. I will admit that I am hard on an mp3 player due to working in a warehouse, riding my bicycle, running, yard-work, or all of the myriad other projects I work on from day to day. It is also not uncommon for me to have my mp3 player on throughout the day.
After going through 3 iPods at a cost I wish not to remember, I ended up aiming for cheap as I figured I was going to destroy them anyway I might as well ruin $50 bucks vs. $300. I also wanted a battery I could replace on the fly because I can’t charge my player on a 20 mile bike ride. So I went with the convenience of AAA batteries. I soon found out however that the 8 hour run time has way too many variables as I averaged around 6 depending on backlighting, volume, how many times I paused and various other factors.
I finally decided to switch to rechargeable batteries when I realized I was going through 2 batteries a day. Since that time I have saved untold amounts of money as that was almost 4 years ago. I actually had to finally replace my original batteries with a new set a couple weeks ago. I can actually still use my original batteries however they only last around 3 hours now.
It would be interesting to see how much money we would save if we replaced most of our batteries with rechargeable batteries. I know I do not use very many other batteries around the house aside from a few for flashlights and the occasional remote control. Just using Wal-marts price for a 8-pack of AAA Energizers (currently $5.68) I would go through an 8 pack every 4-6 days. That’s about 61 packs of batteries a year! That comes up to a whopping $346 bucks just to keep my $50 mp3 player running. It makes the $26 bucks I spent on rechargeable batteries a whole lot more cost effective.
Granted many people aren’t as much of a music freak as I am, I only have a little over 900 CDs. I don’t even have most of those ripped to my computer; I do however listen to music throughout the day, every day. How about you? What are the hidden costs to your mp3 player that has slapped you upside the head? How many batteries have you gone through? How many of these batteries are going into our landfills and water sources? Just something to think about.
Written By:
Ken