Agreed, apple have had their problem with quality control lately but if the ipod is out of warranty there's no reason them to have to touch it if there's something wrong with it. For the kind of demand apple have, their supply is very small and they can't afford to be bothered with after sales service in products that are out of warranty. If your product is in warranty then they're usually extremely good. If, however you had read the iPod's user manual, you would see that it just has a standard Sony Lithium ion battery which you could easily order direct from sony and replace yourself for a much much smaller price.