Below is an article about iPodJuice.com and the services and products they sell. There is a particularly good testimonial in the article about someone almost throwing away an iPod when they couldn’t figure out how to replace the battery. The iPodJuice affiliate program can be found at ShareASale by clicking here.

iPodjuice.com replaces dead iPod batteries

Web Posted: 10/16/2007 08:23 PM CDT

L.A. Lorek
Express-News Business Writer

Some people get so frustrated when the battery fails on their iPod that they just stick it in a drawer and buy a new one.

That gave Anthony Magnabosco, 37, of San Antonio the idea in 2004 to launch a Web-based business, iPodJuice.com, to supply iPod battery replacement kits.

At the time, Magnabosco worked as a logistics analyst in USAA’s materials management department, but he quit seven months after launching Milliamp Ltd., the parent company of iPodJuice.com. He expects to generate $1 million in revenue this year.

“I just started doing this on the side,” Magnabosco said.

Apple Inc. has sold millions of iPods from the Shuffle to the video version, but customers have expressed frustration that the built-in, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries don’t hold a charge after a while. Apple even includes tips on its Web site to extend battery life for the devices. Yet without help, it’s difficult to pry open the case and to replace the battery once it dies.

Magnabosco’s third-generation iPod battery died in 2004, so he bought a kit online to replace the battery. The kit was junk, he said.
On the Web

So he says he created a better one. Then Magnabosco designed a Web site for a few thousand dollars, and he found a plant in China to make his specialized tool.

Even without a lot of advertising and with a crude Web site, customers found him.

“It was getting to the point that during my lunch break I’d keep inventory in the trunk of my car and I’d go and mail the orders off,” he said. “I was working six to seven hours a night. One day I talked to my wife and I said, ‘I think I can make more money doing this.’”

So Magnabosco quit his day job at USAA.

Today, business is booming, he said. He has five employees and more than 35,000 customers. His company handles 50 to 60 orders a day. A fifth-generation iPod video battery replacement kit costs $29. iPodjuice.com charges $20 to install the battery in an iPod or iPhone and offers same-day service.

Yet 95 percent of iPodjuice.com’s customers choose to buy “do-it-yourself” kits. The kits include detailed instructions on how to replace the battery, a blue plastic knife-like tool called the “I-Opener” that helps people pry open the iPod case and a longer-lasting replacement battery.

“You get the customers that don’t even know they can replace the battery in their iPod,” he said.

Mark Lieberman, a sales director in Clarksburg, Md., had a classic 20-megabyte iPod that was holding a charge for only a few minutes. He found iPodjuice.com through Google and ordered a kit with the top-of-the-line battery for $40.

“The tools worked really well to open the case up,” Lieberman said. But as he was replacing the battery, he accidentally pulled out the iPod’s ribbon cable.

“I kind of reduced my iPod to just a paperweight,” he said.

He planned to buy a new one the next day. But first he made a call to iPodJuice’s customer support people. The customer service agent, John Prince, walked him through the process of reconnecting the cable and putting his iPod back together.

“Now it works beautifully,” Lieberman said.

For the entire article, click here.