Left ear piece stopped working w/my iPod mini

Question

Just like the subject line says, the left ear piece stopped working with my iPod mini after using a regular pair of black headphones for a couple weeks. Gee, this must mean your headphones were garbage? Well I purchased a pair of $5 ear phones that didn't work well at all with my iPod. Gee, I keep buying cheap ear phones. How about purchasing the authentic Apple ear buds? Well that's exactly what I did 3 weeks ago. After purchasing the ear buds for $30 that were made by Apple with the assumption it must work just fine, I tested them and found out they didn't work, however I plugged them into other devices and it worked just fine. I exchanged the pair and same problem.
So yeah, something is effed up with my iPod where it won't play any audio in the left ear bud, however when I plug my ear phones or headphones into the slot on the iPod about half way in then I can hear the music just fine on both sides.
What do I do? Am I stuck with Apple's problem with their product for good? Can they do something about this problem? Is there any steps I can follow to open the 'pod and fix it myself?

Answer 1

This has helped people hearing warbled sound through their earbuds. Maybe it could help you, too?
"Hello everybody,
I have found a solution for my problem, I hope it can help you guys too. I found this following link to get my ipod open:
http://www.answerbag.com/q_view.php/30180
When I opened it I discovered that the connection to the little print (?) where you plug in your headphones was loose (it is a piece with both the headphone plug and the hold function). So I simply reconnected it, and voila, my ipod was fixed! Good luck!"
"I had the same problem and fixed it by following the procedures to opening the mini to replace the battery. Then you will see the CB that the headphones plugs into. This CB (circuit board) plugs into the main ( mother board )
Mine had worked it's way partly out. I pushed this plug back on securely and the headphones now work. Hope this helps. You can find the instructions for changing the battery by googling changing the battery on a mini IPOD."