They didnt, thats why they are replacing them for free, that link i saw, it obvious they must have been bad if they still sound and the buttons work after being run over by a car, it must of been of a certain strength. They are just right for what i want becuase my current 1gb mp3 player is full of decent music and it need a aa battery and the amount that i listen to it, i have to change the battery every week, and it just isnt ideal for what i use it for so i am getting an ipod with a rechargeable battery, which is supposed to (I have heard about ipod batteries) last 10 Hours. Well lol, ill put it to the real test when i get mine playing exactly ten hours of my kind of music, might be hard but i want to know how accurate apple are. Knowing my luck it will last 11 hours and apple would have proved me to be wrong, but then i will feel good that i decided to test it myself with my own circumstances becuase it will probably be different for everyone.