Apple Lossless Playback Hiccups

Question

Level 1

54 points

Apple Lossless Playback Hiccups

So I got a new 16GB iPod Touch 2nd Gen. The sound quality is great, the only problem is when playing back my Apple lossless files, it hiccups sporadically in the song, but never in the same place when you go back to where it drops out. I've reset, restored, only put one album on it, no foreground apps, and it still will have a quarter second or so hiccup. The song can be played off the device via iTunes without hiccup, so it's not the file. Seems to be a data rate problem. My test album is Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World" - which reaches data rates ranging from 873-1010 kbps, it seems that this data rate is too much

I've filed a bug report #6212922, but wanted to hear from anyone else experiencing this and see if it's just me or something a software update will need to replace.

(And to anyone who suggests I use a lower bitrate, no posts needed, no, thanks. 🙂 This device is spec'd to play Apple Lossless and sure heck better!)

MacBook Pro, 20" iMac (Core Duo), Cube, iBook G4, Pismo (G4), Mac OS X (10.5.4)

Posted on Sep 11, 2008 12:06 PM

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Answer 1

wickyb

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0 points

Sep 11, 2008 1:49 PM in response to Joel Bruner1

I have exactly the same problem. Some songs hiccup in the same place; others are random. The problem exists on both the headphones and the speaker. Strangely the hiccups don't usually happen when the volume is set low (<25%)

My music is ripped to FLAC with Max 0.8.1 and stored as my archive master; then I convert to ALAC for my Itunes library (again with Max). I'll try ripping directly to ALAC from CD in Itunes but if that solves the problem I'll have to rerip my entire library again.

Is your Bowie album encoded within Itunes directly to ALAC?

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Answer 2

Joel Bruner1 Author

Level 1

54 points

Sep 11, 2008 3:02 PM in response to wickyb

Yes, encoded with iTunes 7.7.1, I've recently been re-ripping my Library to Apple Lossless (ALAC) and it's not been a problem with my 5th Gen 80GB iPods, no hiccups. Just my shiny new touch has a problem with them :/ So I don't think it's a codec transcode problem as would be in your case, I fear it's a data rate problem and pre-buffering on the part of OS X.

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Answer 3

wickyb

Level 1

0 points

Sep 12, 2008 7:34 AM in response to Joel Bruner1

I returned my Touch today and got a replacement 16Gb unit. Unfortunately the problem still exists on all my lossless files; regardless of whether they're direct encodes in iTunes or converted FLACs.

To be honest I'm happy to NOT use lossless on the ipod (for my home setup it's a different story!). I'm going to go down the route of having lossless and lossy versions of each track in my library and manage it by using smart playlists e.g. Lossy:Type Contains AAC and Lossless:Type Does Not Contain AAC

It's not ideal but until there's an 'on the fly' sync. option like the Shuffle has then I can't think of a better alternative.

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Answer 4

Joel Bruner1 Author

Level 1

54 points

Sep 12, 2008 1:01 PM in response to wickyb

wickyb - I agree, I wouldn't mind saving space on my touch with lower bitrate stuff. But I don't have the time or patience to trancode everything and keep smart playlists. I so wish that they had that option available like they do with the Shuffle.

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Answer 5

Joel Bruner1 Author

Level 1

54 points

Sep 12, 2008 1:04 PM in response to Joel Bruner1

So on further tests, I converted the Apple Lossless to AIFF, this made them 1410kpbs bit-rate files and did not have the stutters (I may have heard the tiniest of ones, but haven't relistened again to make sure) but definitely a lot less than with 900-1010kbps Apple Lossless files.

So it seems it may be a codec decompression issue on the part of Apple Lossless that causing this.

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Answer 6

G-Force

Level 1

114 points

Sep 15, 2008 8:56 PM in response to Joel Bruner1

I'm having the same problem with my iPod touch 2G. Lossless playback skips. I hope Apple comes out with a solution soon. :-/

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Answer 7

Sep 16, 2008 5:53 AM in response to Joel Bruner1

I'm having a similar but slightly different problem. My iPod touch (2.1 firmware) will sometimes skip songs entirely, and they used to play fine with the old firmware. The files are in Apple Lossless format. I'm guessing there's something wrong with ALAC processing in the newest firmware.

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Answer 8

Sep 16, 2008 8:59 PM in response to Michael Steinbaugh

I'm having the same problem

I just bought a 2nd Gen 32 GB Touch, and when I'm playing Apple Lossless files it skips slightly at random points, a hiccup is a fairly good description. It's not a problem with the files they play fine in itunes and on my old 4th gen ipod.

It has to be a software issue on the touch, I'm not sure what I should do about it, a replacement is likely to have exactly the same issue

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Answer 9

Sep 16, 2008 9:03 PM in response to Joel Bruner1

Just wanted to chime in as well. I have the same problem with my touch 2G 32GB. It skips with ALAC files around 1000 kbps (Wolf Parade's "You Are A Runner And I Am My Father's Son" at 1013 kbps), but doesn't seem to skip with an ALAC (Feist's "The Water") that's 646 kbps. Insanely annoying.

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Answer 10

Sep 16, 2008 9:11 PM in response to Joel Bruner1

getting the same problem on my 32gb 2g

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Answer 11

dvguzman

Level 1

0 points

Sep 17, 2008 12:28 AM in response to Mr.Durden

Same here. Just got my 32GB 2G iTouch yesterday; synced some albums (about 7 only) and was surprised (and very disappointed) that I had to deal with hiccups as I was listening to the tracks on my way to work.

That led me to look into the forums and check if it was an isolated case; seems it isn't, therefore, should be looked into by Apple immediately. I'm looking forward to a fix asap!

The new iTouch is supposed to be fun...!

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Answer 12

Thuneau

Level 1

10 points

Sep 17, 2008 7:34 AM in response to Joel Bruner1

I have the same problem with lossless files. But, I also noticed slight audio dropouts with Pandora radio, which is now 64kbs aac's.
The first album I imported was originally ripped as lossless wma's. The rate varies between 650 and about 750 kbs depending on song.
It seems that the new touch is light on processing power or data transfer rate.
Lossless files are crucial for me as I use my ipod for tuning of audio systems.
I guess I will have to hang on to my old trusty 4th gen ipod a bit longer.

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Answer 13

Sep 20, 2008 8:15 PM in response to Joel Bruner1

I've been having the same problem too. Everything works fine on my second gen touch but it skips on apple lossless. Of all things to have problems with, why apple lossless? If it were something like wma or wmv, I would totally understand. Still, an excellent iPod. Took me quite a while to notice since I was doing everything except listening to music on it. The affected apple lossless files work on my fifth gen iPod, iPod nano and four macs of different architectures and different versions of osx.

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Answer 14

Sep 20, 2008 9:51 PM in response to Joel Bruner1

It's very safe to say that these aren't isolated instances. I have the same problem with my 32GB 2nd Generation Touch. Seven Years of iPod technology and you release a product that can't playback an "Apple Developed" codec. This is unacceptable. Even the most rudimentary product testing would have uncovered a flaw as flagrant as this one. Leads me to believe that the Apple Lossless Codec wasn't tested at all.

Not OK. to sell a $400 music player that plays my music like a scratched record on a Victrola. Yeah, I'm happy about this!

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Answer 15

Sep 21, 2008 1:42 PM in response to Joel Bruner1

I have the same problem with my new iPod Touch 32GB.

See this thread too:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8128987

I need to return my new iPod until the problem is confirmed fixed.

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