Really, really slow syncing when ipod is almost full

Hi.

No, it's not normal and I took my 2 (one for my partner - green for him, (PRODUCT) Red for me) brand new nanos to a Genius Bar in Orlando, Florida. At first they thought it may be a hardware issue, so they swapped them out. I had my laptop with me, so I did a sync to show them what was happening. They saw what you described and sent a report to Apple tech in Cupertino, so I'm guessing it won't be too long before there's an update available solving this issue, seeing as they now know about it.

N.

Try running through the Apple troubleshooting list as well:
http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/five_rs/nano5gen/

Let us know if that fixes it for you.

i

I should also mention that we also bought a new iPod touch, 2 new classics and a new shuffle, and all of them synched fine, which is what brought the guys in the Apple store to the conclusion that it's a software issue on the nanos, not the iPods themselves.

Interestingly, one of the iPod nanos had software version 1.0 on it (green), and the other had 1.1 (red), but the synching problem was the same for both machines (we deliberately didn't update one of the machines to check that it wasn't the older software version).

I just want to chime in with another report of this slow synching issue. It seems to get pretty bad between around 12.5 GB - 13 GB on my brand new 16G nano, and from that point onward it's painfully slow.

I have followed all five of the troubleshooting steps, even restoring it, and noticed that syncing is very fast when the iPod is empty (~1-2 songs/second), but increasingly slower as it gets closer to full.

I'm using iTunes 9.0.1, with iPod software 1.0.1. FWIW, it's also a Product (RED) Nano.

Even worse, Nano 5th generation goes through the motions of syncing and then tells you that an "Unknown Error" prevented it from syncing. I've reset it three times in two weeks due to this problem.

Yes, I have the same exact issue! I get to about 12GB and then the update just becomes unbearably slow. I've restored it twice and I've had the same issue each time. Is this a hardware or software issue? Also, does anyone know if it affects all 5G nanos or only a select few? I'm running on all up to date software and still having these issues. Should I return this nano while I have the chance or just wait it out until a software update?

Have you all run through the Apple troubleshooting steps for both the Nano and for itunes?

http://www.apple.com/support/ipod/five_rs/nano5gen/

http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/

What steps have you gone through to try and solve the issue? Does it seem to happen more/worse/better with different types of material(video vs. music for instance)? Do you have voiceover turned on?

Let us know how you have things setup and what kind of material you are syncing and we might be able to give some suggestions.

I have a 5G Nano and have not had this problem. However, just about all my music is standard stuff, the other things I sync are a few movies and a podcast or two. I have not seen this issue and I run pretty close to full.

i

Did you already have an iTunes library on your system sync'd with a different iPod before you sync'd up with this 5G Nano? If that is the case, I assume you had an existing music library that you then updated from iTunes 8 to iTunes 9? Is that correct?

What kind of material do you have on your iPod?

i

Actually, this is an incredibly fresh library that was created with iTunes 9.0.1 - in preparation for my Nano, I created two brand new libraries, one for my losslessly imported CDs and one with 128 kbps AAC versions of the CDs and all my purchased music. I moved the music into my library using the "Automatically add to library" folder that's a feature of iTunes 9. In case it matters, the library that I've been syncing is located in /Users/Shared/iTunes Music/, rather than the default inside my home folder.

The only type of material that I've synced is music files, podcasts, and iTunes U audio recordings. They are mostly 128 kbps AAC files, with a smattering of 160 kbps MP3s and 256 kps AACs as well.

Well, add me to the list of slow sync users. My 5G nano is almost full - 1GB free. I am trying to add 20 more songs and it's unbearably slow. Is this just a software issue?