I've seen a few comments regarding leaving the headphone ribbon cable attached thus making it unnecessary to lift the hard drive when replacing a battery. I just replaced the battery in my iPod Video 30GB and I started with the intention of not doing that. After going through the process, I'd recommend following the instructions as stated. Those ribbon cables can be fragile and not removing the headphone cable forces you to torque it around while trying to remove the battery, and plus it's difficult to maneuver around it. It's better to remove it so you have more room to work and less possibility of damaging it when the battery finally comes free.