As if the patent issues that Apple is having with their best-selling iPod weren't a happy enough event, they had to go and have another problem with them, just to brighten my day.

It looks like Apple put some really crappy batteries in that ridiculously over-priced, fad-tech, MP3 player of theirs. Consumers reported having problems with batteries that wouldn't hold a charge. And what was Apple's first response to their blindly-faithful consumers who plunked down 400 bucks for something they could have gotten for half as much....?

....buy another one.

Well, apparently... even people dumb enough to pay too much for an MP3 player just so they can look cool have their limits. (tee hee... I love making fun of Apple users ) They started registering complaints, and Apple responded by offering battery replacement for $99 (about the cost of a reasonable MP3 player... ). But this wasn't good enough for all those disenfranchised iPod users... they felt they had been cheated... they felt wronged... they felt mistreated....... they felt like they could get some money out of Apple.  So they started a class action lawsuit, just like any other warm-blooded, hard-working group of Americans would. (oddly enough, the original lawsuits were from New York and California... lol... big shock)

Well, after almost two years... justice has finally been served. It looks like Apple is gonna have to cough up some dough (to the tune of about $15 million). What that boils down to for each iPod owner is $25 cash (or $50 of Apple Store credit.... ooooooh) or a free battery replacement (possibly even a new iPod) for qualifying users. For people who already forked out the 99 bucks to have their battery replaced, Apple will graciously give them half of that back.

But hey... at least Apple eventually did the right thing for all those iPod users...... oh wait... they had to get sued before they would replace their own defective products.... my bad.

WATYF