Does being on FaceTime for long periods damage the battery?

Any intensive computing could cause your iPod to get hotter. Your noticing that with FaceTime. You don't have much to worry about with overheating, as long as you are within the right environment.

Apple's guidelines for heat are:

• Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
• Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)

They can be found on the iPod specs page, here.

If you're noticing that the iPod is getting uncomfortably hot after extended periods of use, you're not alone, this is a common compaint. Fortunately, it is unlikely to be an issue which will harm your device.

It should not damage the battery if you are on FaceTime a lot, but using your iPod does eventually reduce the charging cycles. If you follow Apple's tips on the following page, you can increace your battery life:

http://www.apple.com/batteries/ipods.html

You'll notice that using facetime will drop your iPod battery from 100% to 0% faster than using your iPod for simple activiites like using the calculator or calendar.

The way your battery works is that it starts with a maximum capacity for charging, and then over time, as you go from full charge to no charge repeatedly, your maximum capacity will diminish. After owning the iPod for a year you'll still see 100% charge when you put it on the charger BUT that 100% figure will not represent the same amount of charge as it did the day you got the iPod.

Your use of Facetime will make your iPod battery drain more quickly in the short-term, but also reduce the maximum capacity of a battery charge in the long term.