How to Ressurrect a Dead Mp3 Player

Step 1: Heres the Plan

here we have another dead mp3 player..

the problem ; dead battery , it wont hold a charge for more than a few hours.
its also scruffy looking  and a  hideous orange color under the aluminum tape i applied to it last year.
its a camnex ae900 2GB , mp3 /video player
with camera and a truly excellent ebook reader {thats how i wore out the battery]

what i intend to do is replace the battery and reskin it with something better.
it is too usefull to just dump and buy a new unit

Step 2: First Lets Try Some Failure

my first idea was to use this nice little casio battery i bought on clearance at wally world for 5 bucks it was a perfect fit for the space available and about the same capacity as the original one.
after opening the player up {4 screws in  plain sight}
i gently detached the battery from the sticky blocks of foam  that hold it in place.
then cut the wires one at a time to avoid short circuits.
at this point i noticed the battery casing says its 700mah capacity
but when the blue wrapper comes off of the dead battery it says its 650 .
lol if they were gonna lie about it why not make it a big lie.
at that point i tape the red wire to the positive terminal of the casio battery and the black wire to the negative.
then hook it up to the usb from my puter and wait and wait and wait .
the player lights up but the battery is cold and after several hours has not charged.
my guess is there is something  more required to charge up this battery or its a dud{it is at least 5 years old so that may have something to do with it}.
no matter i have a backup plan.

Step 3:

meet my first ae900 it was a month old when i got thumped by a shopping cart with this in my belt pouch. resulting in the nifty pattern you see in the screen.
is was so simple to just pull it apart and replace the battery from the other with this one i didnt even take a picture of it.
sorry

Step 4: Time for a Clean Up

well now i gotta cover up that ugly orange plastic again.
this time i will use {insert drum roll here}
Duct Tape.
more specifically this lovely digital camo pattern tape i got at walmart.
nice isnt it
for this bit we gonna use an olfa cutter and the duct  tape.
also something to press the tape into the seams to make nice scoring lines. like a dead pen ot a stylus from a palm pilot or nintendo ds.
 step 1. cut out some strips of tape a half inch longer than the player.
          2.  lay the first one on the back of the player .
          3. gently lay the next sheet up against the other to make i nice fine seam..
          4. rub it all over to set the tape on well the rub along the edges and trim    
              with the stylus.
         5. cut carefully along the scored lines with the razor knife
         6. peel away the excess tape  from the case {we only want to cover the orange}
         7. flip camera over and repeat with the screen side{careful not to scratch you 
             screen up}

Step 5: Finish

and here we are with nice renovated mp3 player that doesnt look like a six year old should have it.
when this battery dies{ and i know it will }/
i will try and rig up a differnt setup for it. and make a removeable battery for it .
i have a bumch of batteries for my old 6mp kodak camera.
i will try to make a holder on the back for those batteries to snap into and use the wall charger to top them up.
and you guys will get to see it here.
remember guys its better to repair than replace.
later folks