is it okay to leave your ipod on charge overnight?

If i can't find out how to fix my speakers which are broken, i'll have to buy a new set.
i like the look of the speakers/alarm clocks, they wake you up with your playlist at whenever time you set it for..
anyway, i was just wondering if it would be okay to leave the ipod docked on the speakers/clock all night or if it would like blow the battery and over heat it or something.
i would of thought not because they wouldn't of made the clock in the first place, but ya'know..i was just curious if it would have some long term effect after a few months or something.
any help would be great/
thanx =]

Yes.

The iPod has its own charging circuitry built-in. It will maintain its own battery and prevent overcharging. It's perfectly safe to leave it plugged in 100% of the time.

I leave mine plugged in over night all the time

oh that's great news!
Thanx, that's a huge help =]
it looks like i'll have to get new ones now, no one seems to know why my old ones have broken.

It will be fine but it is not the smartest idea to do so.

Oh?

Why not?

My fiance said that it can 'overcharge' the battery and end up reducing the battery life. This is only true for some batteries, I was told there are new electronics that do not have that problem. I really don't know much about electronics, so I listen to him since he has a degree in computer science. I figure that's close enough.

Oh..Dammit!
How about ipod 60gb 5th Gen?
Is that okay?

My fiance says you can 'overcharge' it, so don't keep it on the charger all night.

oh okay then
thanx for the help :]

Your fiance is incorrect.

I just spoke with him. I got my information incorrect, he was right. You can overcharge all batteries, but the machines that come with them can make sure it doesn't charge until it's under a certain percent. His his new macbook won't even charge unless it's under 80%. It the machine the battery is in, not the battery themselves.

I think someone should invent batteries that can't overcharge.

You can overcharge any battery, period.

The charging circuits are in charge of charging the battery and maintaining the charge without overcharging.

Way, way back in the day most battery chargers were simple trickle chargers. They just put a certain amperage across the battery. When charged too long in this way, lead acid batteries boil down, Ni-Cad batteries get hot and fry or melt, etc.

No modern piece of electronics uses this type of charger. They all have smart charging circuits that alter the charging voltage and/or amperage depending on the state of charge of the cell. In general, the charger will use a negative delta v cutoff and often have temperature cutoffs as well. iPods use Li-ion batteries and use negative delta v detection to know when to cut off the charging circuits.

In other words, when the iPod detects that its battery is full, it stops charging it completely. It does absolutely no harm to leave an iPod, a cell phone, a notebook, etc, on the charger 100% of the time because the charging circuits are advanced enough to maintain the battery perfectly well.

Well, alright I guess.

Way back in the day, did the batteries EXPLODE? I heard stories where they did. I had never even heard of that.

the way the "EXPLODE?" bit came out in my head was hilarious..:]