I have an old classic 4th gen 20gig iPod where
the center button stopped working. When
trying to press the center button it would not move. No matter how hard I pressed the button it
was frozen solid. After opening the iPod
the button started working. It turns out
the lithium battery in the iPod is right underneath the scroll wheel and over the years the battery swelled to the
point where it was jamming the scroll wheel center button.
The most difficult part about replacing the battery is
getting the iPod open. I won’t go into
the details because there many howto videos to document the procedure. So if you are handy and have some good
close-up vision it’s not too hard to disconnect a few ribbon cables to get the
battery replaced. Considering the cost
of a new iPod classic it’s worth the effort.