John Ward, I would definitely start with the battery, it is the cheaper solution. Use this guide to get to it [guide|411] and the battery is available right here [product|IF196-016] as well as many other places. Since you will have to disassemble your iPod anyway, you might want to replace the microdrive as well. Here are the instructions [guide|412] If you do a good Google search for the battery as well as the drive, I am certain that the repair will definitely be more economical than you might think. Also, consider replacing the HDD with a CF memory card, less likely to fail later on. Hope this helps, good luck.