As an iPod owner, I was interested in this entertaining video that John forwarded to me. Basically, it’s a recording of a conversation with Apple support that indicates that an iPod battery only lasts 18 months, and that it costs an arm-and-a-leg to replace them.
John helpfully followed up with developments from MacRumors, and an enterprising company that is offering a cheap and cheerful replacement strategy. Consumers 1, Apple 0.
UPDATE: My friend John writes to add this Kuro5hin story to the fray. I’ve also mentioned this on my day-job weblog.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
Great link, the instructions are straight forward too. Pity that site only ship to North America.
Yesterday I could visit http://www.ipodsdirtysecret.com, today it appears to have site traffic problems. Could it be that the new /. effect is the “Barefoot” effect?
Hah, you flatter me, sir. Nah, this meme is particularly hot at the moment, so I expect their just getting generally overwhelmed.