guide for the perplexed

Q: My ipod nano won't stop talking.

My ipod nano suddenly started talking and won't shut up. The voice over function in accessibility is off but it keeps talking, announcing songs, running through the contents of the ipod. How dod I shut it up?

iPod nano, version 1.0.3 Mac

Posted on Apr 9, 2014 12:38 AM

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Q: My ipod nano won't stop talking.

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  • by djstuff01,

    djstuff01 djstuff01 May 1, 2015 2:56 AM in response to attilio46
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 1, 2015 2:56 AM in response to attilio46

    Hello I have a ipod nano and my unit is doing the same thing your unit was doing. Did you ever find a fix for the issue. This is crazy.

  • by djstuff01,

    djstuff01 djstuff01 May 1, 2015 2:58 AM in response to dontcallitacomeback
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 1, 2015 2:58 AM in response to dontcallitacomeback

    Hello I  have a ipod nano and my unit is giving me the same issue your unit was doing. Did you ever find a resolve for the issue?

  • by djstuff01,

    djstuff01 djstuff01 May 1, 2015 3:00 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 1, 2015 3:00 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

    Hello I have a ipod nano and my unit is doing this crazy voice over issue. Did you ever find a resolve for the issue?

  • by sabi1971,

    sabi1971 sabi1971 Sep 15, 2015 11:52 AM in response to djstuff01
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 15, 2015 11:52 AM in response to djstuff01

    I have an ipod nano too, same thing.  it doesn't stop talking, it's very frustrating.

  • by SimonEustace,

    SimonEustace SimonEustace Dec 8, 2015 7:57 AM in response to guide for the perplexed
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 8, 2015 7:57 AM in response to guide for the perplexed

    Has this bug been fixed yet or should I say, are users experiencing this in the 8th gen, if you get my avoidance-of-recalling-all-7th-gen-nano's-gist?


  • by marcfromradnor,

    marcfromradnor marcfromradnor Feb 21, 2016 2:18 PM in response to winnipeg bear
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 21, 2016 2:18 PM in response to winnipeg bear

    SSame problem for months. Nothing works to fix it

  • by vend01,

    vend01 vend01 Feb 22, 2016 1:26 AM in response to guide for the perplexed
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 22, 2016 1:26 AM in response to guide for the perplexed

    Hi all, I may have found a work around (and maybe this will help Apple to identify and acknowledge the issue).

    I have the same problem where the voice over randomly kicks in and the ipod skips  through the songs every few seconds - iPod is completely unusable and it drives you to a strong case of Tourette's Syndrome within a couple of minutes, cursing in the middle of the street at your ipod.

     

    Anyway, after some experimenting, I noticed that if you press and hold the middle of the volume button on the left hand side, the ipod stabilises and works as normal. I have now put a small cable tie around the ipod and that has "fixed" the issue. I guess a rubber band would work as well as long as it is strong enough to keep the middle of the volume button compressed. Only down side seems to be that you can't use the volume buttons but you can still change the volume using the slide control on the touch screen as usual.

     

    Give it a go - keen to see if this works for others as well or whether it just works for my specific ipod's short circuit.

  • by Chitterby,

    Chitterby Chitterby Mar 9, 2016 6:25 PM in response to guide for the perplexed
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 9, 2016 6:25 PM in response to guide for the perplexed

    I read all the comments/advice in answer to this problem.

     

    Here is what I did to fix the problem (I did everything on this list at the same time, so I can't tell you which item is the one that actually worked:

     

    1.  I switched back to the egg-shaped earbuds that came with the iPod Nano (I had been using the old pancake flat ones that came with the old iPod Classic/video player as they are more comfortable to me)

     

    2.  I turned off the voiceover in all of the following locations:

     

    a. Settings, General, Accessibility, Voiceover - turn to off. Also, turn off "speak hints".

    b. Fitness > click the "i" icon > Run > Spoken Feedback > change to off  (note:  this was set to On on my player)

    c. iTunes - bottom of Summary section, Accessibility, uncheck the Voice over checkbox

  • by GMC62,

    GMC62 GMC62 Mar 11, 2016 6:38 PM in response to Chitterby
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    Mar 11, 2016 6:38 PM in response to Chitterby

    Doesn't work

  • by GMC62,

    GMC62 GMC62 Mar 11, 2016 6:42 PM in response to vend01
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 11, 2016 6:42 PM in response to vend01

    Hi vend01

    After trying everything possible I've tried your idea holding the middle of the volume control in with a rubber band and it works !!

    my wife is internally grateful it has been driving her bonkers ...I urge everyone to try this !!

    Thank you

  • by dontcallitacomeback,

    dontcallitacomeback dontcallitacomeback Mar 11, 2016 6:41 PM in response to guide for the perplexed
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 11, 2016 6:41 PM in response to guide for the perplexed

    Well, I ended up curing the problem by tossing my Nano into the forest.  Since I did that, I have not heard any annoying robot voices interrupting my workout music.  The throwing process was quite theraputic!  I've not had the same issues with the Shuffle.

  • by GMC62,

    GMC62 GMC62 Mar 11, 2016 7:17 PM in response to dontcallitacomeback
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 11, 2016 7:17 PM in response to dontcallitacomeback

    You should have tried vend01 solution it works !!

  • by kat171,

    kat171 kat171 Apr 20, 2016 10:30 PM in response to guide for the perplexed
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 20, 2016 10:30 PM in response to guide for the perplexed

    This is going to sound really strange and also frustrating after all these suggestions and things we have tried.

    I saw another post, where someone said that you should try different headphones or clean the headphone jack.

    I had done all of the suggestions on here and was also thinking it was time for a new ipod.

    I blew into my headphone jack, I will try and clean properly somehow later, but that bleeping woman has now shut up and my songs arent skipping anymore!!

    It appears to be some kind of short.

    Please, please, anyone that is having problems, give it a go. It takes a few seconds and for now at least, I have no more problems.

    Hope it helps someone!

  • by Kenichi Watanabe,

    Kenichi Watanabe Kenichi Watanabe Apr 20, 2016 11:33 PM in response to kat171
    Level 8 (38,406 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 20, 2016 11:33 PM in response to kat171

    That's a good tip.  And not so strange.  Many iPod models can receive remote control signals through the headphones jack, from headphones with control buttons on the cord.  Faulty headphones (with or without control buttons) may send false signals.  Or (like you said) it could be debris in the headphones jack causing a short circuit.  Or, if the headphones plug is not fully inserted, the connection points along the plug may not be properly aligned. 

     

    Among the things that you can control through the iPod's headphones jack is VoiceOver (including enabling VoiceOver) and skipping (like pressing Next) for songs.  If the iPod is receiving false control signals from the headphones jack, that could explain "out of control" VoiceOver.

  • by edfrompalo alto,

    edfrompalo alto edfrompalo alto May 2, 2016 2:16 AM in response to guide for the perplexed
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 2, 2016 2:16 AM in response to guide for the perplexed

    I visited an Apple Store in early April to try to resolve this problem.  Apparently, the voice over can be activated by randomly sliding your finger around on ANY screen, regardless of whether the feature has been turned off in the Settings.  This is a feature not a bug! (Is this documented anywhere?).  That plus the absence of a lock that was available on previous generations means that if you carry your ipod anywhere that anything can brush up against whatever screen you have left on top (like in your pocket) the odds are that the voice over will be activated.  The Genius suggested getting a case, which he said they don't sell at the Apple Store.  In theory, a case would protect the accidental movement across a screen.  I contacted a case vendor before purchasing one and asked if he thought his case (with a gatefold cover) would prevent this.  He said no, so I saved the money.  I have been resorting to desperate measures - I cut off the end of a sock, covered the ipod with it, and loosely wrapped the speaker cord around it to keep the sock in place.  This is, needless to say, a real pain and not 100% successful.  However, it has reduced the occurrence of the problem, depending on what's in my pocket, whether or not I bend over, etc.  It occurs slightly less frequently if I carry it in my shirt pocket and not a pants pocket.  The claim is that this is for enhanced Accessibility, but there should be some way to permanently disable this feature if you NEVER want it to turn on, and also to lock the screen, so that Voice Over does not turn on AND the selection you are playing, be it podcast or music, does not change randomly.  I tried various solutions, including a reset.  It was easy enough to reload all of my podcasts, but reloading any music that was NOT from iTunes was also problematic.  I had switched to an iPod touch when my old Nano died, but this had problems of its own and so I switched to a new Nano.

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