Battery change on mid 2009 Macbook pro

My Problem

The battery was completely dead after a long time of degraded performance.

My Fix

It was much easier then I had thought, after hearing too many exaggerated stories about the great difficulties with repairing MacBooks.

My Advice

Only this: Have a can of compressed air at hand and blow the dust out of the fan while you have the machine open. You wouldn't believe how much quieter it was afterwards! (Sorry, no photos.)