iPhone 4S Issue: Music app will not launch under ios5

Question

Level 1

35 points

iPhone 4S Issue: Music app will not launch under ios5

I have had this issue on 2 iPhones, my previously reliable for 2 years 3GS, (just upgraded to ios5) and my brand new 4S.

Here's what I did on both handsets:

I downloaded ios5 in iTunes, installed [3GS only] then setup as a new phone.

I then went to the Music tab and selected my, 'iPhone' smart playlist which contains all songs above 1-star, (approx 53GB) plus a few more selective playlists and synced successfully.

All worked fine.

Some time later I go back to my main, 'iPhone' playlist and changed the criteria so that iTunes selects 50GB worth of songs by number of plays so I get a bit more space for apps etc, (you only get 54GB of usable space on a 64GB 4S) and sync.

All appears to go ok but when I select a playlist containing say 20 tracks it takes a good 5 seconds to go into the playlist like it is checking/scanning each file then all is ok. If I choose a playlist of say 200 songs it takes longer, maybe 30 seconds to go in then I can shuffle but again this is slow starting to play.

If I go into my main 50GB playlist the 'checking' proceedure, (I am convinced is now the cause of the issue) does not finish before the app launch 'times out' and the home screen appears as the app has crashed and will never launch successfully again.

If I then goto:

Settings / General / About / Diagnostics & Usage / Diagnostic & Usage Data and slide to the bottom I see entries such as, "Music~iphone-2011-11-08-17..." and inside are crash details containing info such as :

bug_type: 188

exception code: 0x8badf00d

reason: com.apple.mobileipod failed to launch in time

elapsed total cpu time (seconds): 19.928 50% cpu

...there are then hundreds of lines of error codes.

Trying to relaunch the app after double-clicking the home button and closing all running apps or even rebooting the iPhone does not fix the issue as the Music app seems determined to check/verify the contents of the playlist I last went into, my big one!

ONLY WAY TO FIX THIS IS TO GO BACK TO ITUNES AND DE-SELECT 'SYNC MUSIC' THEN PRESS 'SYNC' (REMOVES ALL SONGS) THEN GO BACK AND SELECT 'SYNC MUSIC' CHOOSE MY PLAYLISTS AND LET 7669 SONGS COPY BACK TO THE DEVICE!

My question to Apple is:

Has this bug been spotted, (I am an IT Manager and can recreate the issue) and will the fix be included in ios 5.0.1?

iPhone 4S, iOS 5

Posted on Nov 8, 2011 12:22 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Macsr71

Level 1

4 points

Dec 14, 2011 12:04 PM in response to adw_uk

Just checking in to see if you have any luck getting larger smart playlists to work on your iphone. I had the same problem trying to get large nested smart playlists working on my 32g 4s phone. After many attempts I determined that any smart playlist larger than 10g caused this timeout issue.

As I have a very large music library (180g) that i like to work my way through (based upon last played) I ended up creating a 5g smart list based upon play count (figured that any playcount less than 2 will cause less frequent music to this list) then when I work my way through the library (some 8 months down the line) will increase the playcount to 3 and start over again.

What happens is a list will sync, once played (without a re-sync) the song will drop off the list (list shows 1000 songs but only 999 are available to be played) and upon sync will totally drop off the phone.

Seems strange as I have a 160g ipod that handles nested smart playlists very nicely no matter what the criteria is (although the startup can take up to 30 sec or so)

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Answer 2

adw_uk Author

Level 1

35 points

Feb 9, 2012 10:01 AM in response to Macsr71

Nothing has changed for me the app still crashes on launch if I select a playlist that has too many tracks.

What I do now is select a big playlist and shuffle then when I have finished arrow back to the main playlist selection and choose one with just a few songs in so that next time I launch the app it doesnt have an issue and I can then select the playlist I actually want to listen too.

So annoying as the only reason I bought a 64GB 4S was to get most of my music library on.

Have tried to talk to the Geniuses at the local Apple Store but I just get a blank stare and am advised to wipe the iPhone and start again!

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Answer 3

Macsr71

Level 1

4 points

Feb 9, 2012 10:35 AM in response to adw_uk

Yes, they definitely did not add all the good features from the IPOD into the IPhone, not sure if it has to do with flash memory driven vs a spinning hard drive but suspect it does. And I hear you on the reason I purchased an IPhone as I wanted to only carry one device.

My Iphone as a music player has been working well as long as I stick with less than 5g playlists, nothing nested or based upon difficult filters, simple play count to “hide” songs after they have been played a certain amount of times. Even when I do not sync for a week or so this strategy works to keep fresh music on top. One of the draw backs though is if you want to hear a song again you cannot just hit previous track as once played it is hidden, you have to go to the master song list and find it – sigh…. And a small 15 second or so delay in switching between playlists.

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Answer 4

adw_uk Author

Level 1

35 points

Feb 10, 2012 3:46 AM in response to adw_uk

i can confirm that this looks like an O/S issue where it is not handling VBR MP3 files as it did before. i converted 8000 mp3's on the device overnight to 128Kbps AAC and it works as normal with a delay of about 4 seconds going into a playlist containing all tracks.

i do not want to use AAC as a format so hope now Apple can fix it.

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Answer 5

adw_uk Author

Level 1

35 points

Apr 21, 2012 4:38 AM in response to adw_uk

Issue fixed under iOS 5.1

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Answer 6

WillemA2

Level 1

0 points

Aug 3, 2012 5:59 AM in response to adw_uk

I have IOS 5.1.1 and this problem still is not solved.

I have also removed my entire library and then synced it again and than it works.. for some time. As long as I don't kill the music app it will continue to work. As soon as I kill the app I cannot start it again. The last time was during my vacation .. where I did not have my iMac with me.. So no music for three weeks :-(

Will Apple fix this problem anytime soon?

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Answer 7

WillemA2

Level 1

0 points

Aug 3, 2012 6:00 AM in response to adw_uk

No, it is not :-(

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Answer 8

adw_uk Author

Level 1

35 points

Aug 3, 2012 6:16 AM in response to WillemA2

As you know I had this issue under 5.1 on a 3GS and 4S and whenever a firmware update comes out I generally, wipe everything, install the firmware then 'Setup as a new Phone' as opposed to just updating and since then I've use the Music player without incident with a music store of 7,587 songs.

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