Does it hurt my mp3 player to get cold?

November 13, 2005 7:26 AM

Does it matter if you leave an audio player (hard drive) in the car overnight in a New England winter?
posted by Mayor Curley to Technology (9 answers total)

Apple lists the following for their iPod:
# Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
# Non operating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)

You're more likely to cause damage to the battery than the hard drive, although I wouldn't rule it out. Try to keep it within this range, and you'll probably be alright.
posted by disillusioned at 7:36 AM on November 13, 2005

yeah...the battery and lcd. i've left a cell phone in the car overnight in winter and the screen didn't really work until it got up to operating temperature.
posted by eatcake at 7:43 AM on November 13, 2005

yes, I've been told that the battery is more at risk in case of very low temperatures.

if it helps, I have left my iPod in very close proximity of magnets, I have forgotten it on a lawn chair to bake for a couple hours under the unforgiving California desert sun, and I forgot it from morning to 11PM in the glove compartment of my car in zero-Celsius weather

the worst thing that happened, it kinda "froze" on the same song once (I let the battery run out then I formatted it, and everything was cool again) and for a couple weeks it started very slowly (the Apple logo stayed on forever when I booted the iPod up). I reinstalled again.

ps I keep a backup of my important mp3's on a LaCie FireWire disk just in case
posted by matteo at 8:05 AM on November 13, 2005

and of course, what eatcake said. in very cold weather, iPods and some digital camers don't really work anyway, you have to bring them back to operating temperature.
I bought my PS2 right before Christmas, during a horribly cold day, I tried to turn the still-very-cold machine and it didn't work until, after about 30 minutes, it gotten back to operating temperature
posted by matteo at 8:07 AM on November 13, 2005

I forgot and left my iPod in the car overnight a couple of times last winter, and it had no problems. I probably wouldn't make a habit of it, though.
posted by briank at 8:20 AM on November 13, 2005

I can't imagine moderate cold should damage the thing alone, but you did say "New England".

Note that if it is left in a mighty cold location, and you run back inside your toasty home you may cause condensation to develop inside, which could be harmful. You could put it in your hip pocket and talk a walk before going inside to lower the temp. more gradually.
posted by Jack Karaoke at 10:10 AM on November 13, 2005

A hard drive left in cold conditions, then booted at that temperature, is highly stressed. A portable music player is already pretty damn stressed, considering that is one job a hard drive sees the most movement in. You are risking your Mp3 player, don't do it.
posted by Dean Keaton at 11:02 AM on November 13, 2005

stressed in this case is considering that the drive was built to very close tolerances, and the temperature changed them, and it is spinning while heating back up.
posted by Dean Keaton at 11:03 AM on November 13, 2005

The biggest thing I'd keep in mind is to warm it back to operating temperature BEFORE trying to get it to work and seeing if it's warm enough. Be patient and let it get warm again.

You don't want the moving parts (hard drive) straining to work when the device is colder than it's supposed to be.

So long as you don't operate it, and so long as condensation / moisture don't get into it, the cold should not damage it. The most likely thing to cause damage would be trying to operate it outside of its prescribed range.
posted by twiggy at 4:12 PM on November 13, 2005