I've not had my bookport that long - about half a year - but this whole battery contact issue seems awfully strange. I've replaced them once without a problem. I have a 10 year old Talkman that uses two AA batteries (I use rechargeable) that has never failed me in all these years (I still do listen to some cassette books). I understand that the circuitry for the Talkman is no doubt a lot simpler than the entirely solid-state works of the Bookport but, honestly, I've never had that problem is digital cameras or any other battery powered device. Dan