Batteries are something people complain about on Ipods etc. where they rely on them. Apple's website explains what happens to batteries very well. It's the most non-technical and easy to read description about what happens to batteries; they all go to battery heaven at some point, especially if you use them heavily.

see http://www.apple.com/batteries/

the stated lifetime of any item will of course be on minimal volume etc to get good values), so if you listen at full volume, and play games on it at the same time, it's not hard to expect it to die in 14 months. Laptop batteries for the same reason are not given a warranty of more than a year, and most people understand that. I've had a laptop for 5 years, and had to replace the batteries once given careful use of the batteries (i.e. not plugged into the laptop while using the mains where possible). it's good use of something that make it last, not an abuse of something.

No, I'm not an apple fanboy. Yes I have an Ipod, and have use it quite loud when rollerblading since traffic noise makes it hard to hear anything. Note I only have it so I can just hear it (to keep a rhythm while blading); I'm not advocating blotting out background noise when walking/whatever with an MP3 player -- that's just stupid. Enough pedestrians here in blighty seem to want to be killed by a bus/car/whatever while using their MP3 player (can we get some stats on that?). Wherever possible, I use the minimum volume I need to not sap the battery, and at the moment it works just fine after almost a year of careful use.