How to Maximize and Monitor iPod Battery Life?

The Battery icon in the upper-right corner of the screen always tells you what your battery’s status is at any point in time.
When your iPod is running on battery power, the amount of shading within the icon provides a relative—and I do mean relative—indication of your battery’s current state. As you use battery power, the “filled in” part of the battery will decrease until your iPod runs out of gas. When it does, you’ll see an icon of a battery with an exclamation point that indicates your iPod is out of power, and the battery will have to be charged before you can use the iPod again.
To maximize your iPod’s playing time per battery charge, you can do the following:

• Keep the iPod’s software up to date.
• Use the Hold switch to prevent your iPod from being unintentionally turned on when you carry it around. You’d be amazed how easy it is for the iPod to be turned on and start to play without you knowing it, especially if you carry it in your pocket, backpack, or computer bag. (It’s no fun trying to listen to tunes only to find out your iPod’s battery has been accidentally drained—not that this has ever happened to me of course.)
• When you aren’t listening, don’t keep your iPod playing. Use the Pause button when you aren’t listening to music. Playing music uses power at a greater rate than not playing music.
• Put your iPod to sleep by turning it off when you aren’t using it. The Sleep, or Off, mode uses the least amount of power. (You can press and hold the Play/Pause button to turn the iPod off. You can also add the Sleep command to the Main menu if you prefer to use that instead.)
• Keep backlighting at a minimum level. Backlighting is very helpful to be able to see the iPod’s screen, especially in low-light conditions. However, it does use additional power, so you should use it only as needed to maximize battery life. When you don’t need it, such as in daylight conditions, turn it off. When you do need it, set it such that it remains on only a few seconds when you press a control.
• Minimize track changes. Each time you change tracks, the iPod uses more power than it would just playing tracks straight through.
• Turn the Equalizer off. The Equalizer uses more power than playing music without it.
• Every 30 recharges or so, fully drain and recharge the battery.
• Keep the iPod at a comfortable temperature. Using the iPod in very cold or very hot conditions lowers its battery life.