IPod mini is very sick, please help

Question

Problem: When my mini is fully charged (8 hrs) and updated, I can listen to about one or two songs (all songs are playable at this point). After a song or two, the battery icon drains completely and the screen says "low battery". The iPod then turns off by itself. This happens every single time, no matter how "charged" the ipod is. When I press the middle button to turn it back on the battery icon in the upper corner is empty, and about half of my songs (albums) will play. The iPod will get to an album that it won't play and skip through every song on the album (even albums purchased from iTunes). When I can find an album that my mini will play, the battery slowly creeps up to about a third full, and I get about an hour or two of playing time before the battery is drained. I find this weird b/c my mini does not discriminate against certain songs, but ENTIRE albums (purchased from iTunes and imported CDs, doesn't matter). Meaning, if my mini plays one song on an album, every song on that album is playable. If it can't play one song on an album, no songs on that album will play. It doesn't matter if I'm playing it in shuffle mode, through all songs, by artist, or by album. When it gets to a song from an album it won't play, it just skips over the song. Is this a battery issue or a hard drive issue? Anybody know quick fixes or how much it would cost to repair? -thanks

Answer 1

As much as the new battery would help, if you open your iPod casing, then you'll void the warranty on your iPod, making it nearly impossible to get it fixed if you break something inside it, or if the battery isn't the problem.
Oh, and no, the iPod battery won't shorten life if you turn it on and off by the play button. That's an energy conservation tool so you don't need to waste battery waiting for your iPod to turn off by auto-sleep.
I reccomend that you simply take the iPod into Apple. It easier, and you won't void your warranty.
Intel-based Mac Mini   Mac OS X (10.4.6)