Earphone only plays one ear

Make sure the cable is plugged in all the way -- you'd be surprised how many make that mistake.

On a more serious note, it sounds like your headphone jack got damaged. It appears that the (whatever side doesn't play) contact got bent/damaged/etc. and is no longer having contact with the headphones, making no sound appear out of that ear.

I was entirely serious with my post -- I helped someone here just the other day with their Nano's "mono output" which was due to the cord not being plugged in fully.

In addition to making sure the plug is all the way in, make sure that the song file is stereo. I don't have any mono audio tracks to try on my iPod, but sometimes mono audio files will play out of only one ear on my Mac.

You iPod could be damaged, but before we jump to conclusions, try to eliminate all other possible problems.

Good luck!

In all honesty, his headphone jack may be slightly damaged because it is supposed to play out of both ears, even if only slightly plugged in. The contacts can still reach the bottom of the headphone jack plugged in.

Does that make sense..? 😀

It seems to be a common fault on iPods at the moment.

Many people I know are having the same problems about a year and 2 months after purchasing an iPod. It's a fault with the jack connector on the ipod but it is strange that it happens just as the warranty runs out, isn't it?!

i just had this problem occur about 10 minutes ago. i paused playback to answer the phone at my desk, and when i resumed, the right earphone was full tilt, but the left was a whisper. I've checked and double-checked the jack, and it's fully inserted. is this something to take it to the apple store for?

I have the same problem: sound in only one ear. One wrinkle is that I can get sound in both phones if I pull the jack most of the way OUT. Is there some pin that can get bent in there?

I'm having this problem as well, what exactly is the problem?

This is just now happening to my ipod. It is clearly the inner jack that is not making contact. When I push on one side I can make the contact and get both ears working... I bought a new set of headphones to see it it was a wire in the headset but same result. The inner connections are a type of spring steal and need bending back toward center to make contact. I use a lot of musical effects pedals that have had this same thing happen. Sometimes I can get in there and bend it but most the time I can't. Question is what do we do. Does i-pod fix it?