Unfortunately, the same thing goes for operating on your iPod. The maw of your music player isn't really made to be hauled apart by unskilled hands, then slapped back together again. And in case you're still wondering, neither is your cousin Stew.

Still, Blue Raven Technology is more than willing to sell you two tiny screwdrivers and a replacement battery for $19.99, should you feel the need to play Dr. Frankenstein with your inanimate iPod. Just don't say I didn't warn you when you realize too late that the included instructions are woefully inadequate to steer you through the complex task of pulling apart what those young Chinese women so skillfully put together.

A word of advice for those still thinking of venturing into the belly of the beast: Blue Raven's directions for replacing the iPod mini battery tell you to use the provided flat head screwdriver to "gently disconnect the [clickwheel ribbon] cable from its socket." What they should have written was something along the lines of "WARNING! This cable is flimsy as heck and isn't really designed to be removed. So ever so gently pull up from the front, and be careful of the wires underneath that you can't see."

But even with a warning like that, you'd still be likely to damage the cable. It's just not meant to stand up to the stresses of being pulled from its socket, especially not by jamming a screwdriver in from the side as Blue Raven's picture seems to suggest. The good news is that Ebay has a plethora of replacement parts for iPods, so I may yet breathe life and functionality back into my boss's (!!!) music player. But replacing a ribbon cable isn't exactly something you anticipate when you order a battery replacement kit. A few other unanticipated kinks along the way: scratching the heck out of the bottom of your iPod while trying to pry off the plastic panels, and jamming in a replacement battery that's slightly larger than the one you're replacing, causing some internal parts to shift, making getting everything back together all the more complicated.

I don't think I'll try surgery again anytime soon. Although I'm sure if I had a few more iPod cadavers to hack away on, I'd eventually get it right. But I don't so I won't. And unless you have a lot of busted iPods to practice on, or a few extra cousin Stews, you should probably leave operating to the professionals.

If you're still up for risking it all and replacing your iPod battery on the cheap, Blue Raven sells replacement kits for just about every flavor of Apple player.

Post by Matt Safford