So it turns out that Apple’s support page has listing for a $99 battery service out of warranty. I searched for iPod batter at the Apple support page and didn’t find this, but it’s turned up on a few blogs. So this leads to a few possibilities:
1. The recording on the Apple support call on the previous link was faked.
2. This was a fluke and the technician called was not aware of the $99 service.
3. Apple does not tell users about the $99 battery service, and the information about it is buried on the web site (note: the info might not be very buried, I didn’t look hard nor am I an iPod owner).
I’d call Apple support myself and try to find out about this, but I’m thinking they’re probably swamped with calls from people trying to duplicate this.
Also, I noticed the link to the battery replacement is to an AppleCare page… is there a difference between AppleCare and normal Apple support? It looks like you have to pay extra for AppleCare. So can someone who did not already purchase AppleCare get their battery replaced for $99?
Update: Some info from Mac Rumors. I wonder when that video was made/when the Apple support call was recorded. It seems that before Nov. 14th 3rd parties were the only way to get your iPod battery replaced.
Update 2: The brothers have posted a message with the story behind their video. This took place in September before Apple began offering replacement batteries and was not a fluke, Apple was the in the habit of telling people to just buy new iPods when the batteries failed.