iPod shuffle locks up, requires reset

Question

Level 2

270 points

iPod shuffle locks up, requires reset

This was actually from a different forum, ( Kari Lemons, "interesting" #10, 12:42am Mar 8, 2005 CDT )but since the topic was not aptly named, I thought I may as well bring it up here to catch some traffic.

The problem is the IPS will stop playing periodically (on specific songs, as it turns out) which will require "resetting" the device (switch on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off...)

Not really the worst thing in the world, but say you are 5 songs in ... and it locks up ... you are back on song 1 in exactly the same order, and you can't get past that same song, so enjoy those first 4.

I tracked down one song that was crashing it regularly, although there are many different songs that do crash it. Here is the info on that song.

]Kind: AAC audio file
Size: 917.4 KB
Bit Rate 128 kbps
Sample Rate 44,100 kHz
Date Modified 3/5/05 7:57 PM
Play Count: 1
Last Played: 2/12/05 2:11 PM
Volume: -1.7 dB
Profile: Low Complexity
Channels: stereo
Encoded with: iTunes v4.0.1, QuickTime 6.3
]
Only three things I notice about it immeadiately is
1) it used QuickTime 6.3 ... I'll look into this one
2) I copied the artwork into this one when I ripped it (I don't usually do that, so its at least different than the other songs that do play)
3) the song is under a minute long ... does that matter?
]
Hope that helps. (Perhaps helps them at Apple)

Posted on Mar 9, 2005 10:02 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 10, 2005 2:34 PM in response to BGist

I hope you figure this out because this happens to me often, usually in the middle of a long run outside. If the player doesn't "like" a song, it should skip it, not lock up it up and require a reboot to fix. Get with it, Apple!

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Answer 2

BGist Author

Level 2

270 points

Mar 16, 2005 1:27 PM in response to BGist

Well since I haven't heard back, I can report what I have found. Every song that doesn't work was encoded with iTunes 4.0.1 using QuickTime 6.3

That is all I have so far. Hope that helps someone. Unfortunatly, you can't access "encoded with" to make smart playlists. This is seriously annoying when I'm out running.

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Answer 3

BGist Author

Level 2

270 points

Mar 30, 2005 4:58 PM in response to BGist

It seems a lot more people are having this same problem, since this is the thread I have been watching, I want to bring it back to the top ...

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Answer 4

Apr 28, 2005 9:52 AM in response to BGist

I have seen this problem, or a varient of it. I have not had it lock up during a song, but I have had it lock up when I pause. I have to cycle the power to get the IPS to responde after that. I will have try and take note of the song that it happens on so I can compare the info to what you have noticed.

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Answer 5

musik26

Level 2

390 points

Apr 28, 2005 10:04 AM in response to BGist

Haven't got such problem with my ipod shuffle!

However, I do have the premature ending problem (like many of us).

About your problem, personally speaking, I think it's not a problem with ipod shuffle. Maybe it's a kind of conversion problem.

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Answer 6

Jun 12, 2005 2:22 AM in response to BGist

I've been having the same problem a lot lately, too. After resetting my iPod shuffle I click the next button several times very quickly until I'm sure my iPod has skipped over the bad track. That's a temporary fix you can use.

Really looking forward to a permanent fix for this.

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Answer 7

Paul B.

Level 1

45 points

Jul 11, 2005 10:20 PM in response to BGist

Just thought I'd reply to this message to send it back to the top. I too have been experiencing this annoying problem. The iPod shuffle will play 5 or 6 songs, then freeze. If I turn it off and then back on, it will be alright again except that it will play the same songs all over again. I restored the software and it hasn't fixed the problem. Let's hope Apple is working on it.

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Answer 8

deggie

Level 10

167,177 points

Jul 12, 2005 7:20 AM in response to Paul B.

See if it is stopping at the same song and then starting over. If it is, remove that song from the Shuffle and try again as it could be an encoding issue with that one tune.

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Answer 9

BGist Author

Level 2

270 points

Jul 12, 2005 10:06 AM in response to deggie

It is a series of the same songs. I have found at least 200 songs that will lock it up. I now have my sync set to only sync iTunes Store songs, and there are at least a dozen of those. I had my shuffle repaced, and it ... did not help the problem at all.

Here is a trick that helps.

After you have listened to about 5 songs. Hit pause. Turn it off. Turn it back on, hit play. This will move the reset marker forward to the current song, so if you get one that locks it up, you don't need to re-listen to every song, and you can keep track of which one locked it up.

Also, once it locks up, you can reset it (slider - on -off -on -off -on -off -on -off -on) and then hit play ... and when you skip to the song that locked it up, hit skip twice in quick succession to get around the "broken" song. Then you can at least continue.

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Answer 10

Jul 13, 2005 9:08 PM in response to BGist

I just got my shuffle today charged it up and everything even put a playlist on it with 200 songs. After I play 3 or 4 songs if I'm lucky the shuffle just freezes up. I can hit anybutton and the green light just stays on until I lift up off the button. I even restored it and tried again still messes up. What should I do? All I wanna do is just listen to songs.

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Answer 11

deggie

Level 10

167,177 points

Jul 13, 2005 9:16 PM in response to Mike Burnett

Remove the song it is freezing on and try it again. It may be having problems with the format or encoding of one song. You might want to erase all songs and do an Autofill with the box convert higher bit rate to AAC 128 checked and if it loads the problem song delete it.

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Answer 12

Jul 13, 2005 10:59 PM in response to deggie

Okay I did what you said. I recently bought 3 songs from the Hustle and Flow (Soundtrack), by the way Whoop That Trick is good buy it! Anyway I noticed those Hustle and Flow songs are the ones that messed up my shuffle I took those off and it played fine. I also added other purchased music and those played fine. So I narrowed it down to those Hustle and Flow songs. I burned them to a cd and rip it. I can know cycle through all my songs with no problems. I'm listening to it right now and its playing perfect. Thanks man!

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Answer 13

deggie

Level 10

167,177 points

Jul 13, 2005 11:04 PM in response to Mike Burnett

Be sure to go back to the iTunes Music Store feedback and tell them which songs would not play. You should get credited back for them and they know to look at them and see what the problem is. In the meantime you can listen to the ones you re-encoded (there is some "lossiness" but not enough to notice with these songs.).

Enjoy the music.

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Answer 14

Paul B.

Level 1

45 points

Jul 14, 2005 2:06 PM in response to BGist

Yep - it's definitely a problem with the songs rather than the iPod shuffle itself (or at least in my case anyway). My shuffle was freezing up after listening to about 5 or 6 songs, and I was also noticing that there were a few songs that the shuffle wasn't ever playing. So I loaded all of the songs I had purchased within the last few months on to my shffle and then played them in sequential order. I narrowed it down to a handful of songs from Esthero, New Order, and Sting that were causing problems. I burned them to a CD, and then re-ripped them as MP3s. Since then my shuffle hasn't frozen up once!

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Answer 15

Jul 15, 2005 10:15 AM in response to Paul B.

Well I know in my post above it says that I fixed the problem but I guess I didn't. My shuffle went back to playing songs but I noticed that it wouldnt play certain purchased music and music I had ripped from cds. Now my shuffle will not even turn on. My computer sees it and lets me put songs on it but when I take it out It doesn't let me play songs. So its just dead! The battery is charged fully and I'm running v1.1 on it. I think its a software issue rather than a hardware issue. I called apple and told them all of this. They told me to restore it and everything which that works just playing songs dont. So they are going to send me a new one saying its a hardware issue. I'm thinking when I get the new one I will still have the same problem but wouldnt hurt to get another anyway.

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