Just listen

When you jump from one track to another with the Previous or Next Buttons, you force the iPod to spin up its hard drive each time, with a serious hit to its battery power. If you're really trying to conserve, just let it play.

Use the Hold switch

Yes, we know you're only dropping you iPod in your bag while you go to the store. Three hours later, you'll find that your wallet pressed its buttons, and your iPod's been playing the whole time. Just slide the Hold switch to let what's paused stay paused.

Turn off backlighting

If you don't need backlighting, don't make your battery pay for it. Go to the Settings menu and choose Backlight Timer > Off.

Turn off the equalizer

Equalizer settings aren't encoded in your tunes, so your iPod has to use its processor to apply them, and that sucks power. If your songs sound reasonably acceptable without iPod EQ enhancements, turn 'em off: Go to the Settings menu and choose EQ > Off.

Buy a better battery

If you find that you're regularly pushing the limits of your iPod's playing time, you might consider putting in a higher-capacity battery, even if yours isn't worn out yet. For about $30, iPod upgraders such as iPodResQ, Other World Computing, and TechRestore will sell you batteries with a higher milliamp-hour rating than the stock Apple battery, as long as you have the guts to install a new battery yourself (see Newer Technology's iPod-disassembly instructions at www.newertech.com/support for help). If you're not up to that task, have no fear - the same companies will put the battery in your iPod for a few dollars more.