I can see all my songs, but can't play them?

I must be missing something here because if your iPod is set to shuffle, then it's supposed to skip songs until it finds one to play.

This question has probably been asked a thousand
times, but I can't scare up an answer from the
archives so here goes.

I have about 3.11GB of songs on my iPod and iTunes
library, but for some reason the iPod only plays a
few of them. When I put the iPod on shuffle, I can
see it skipping past song after song and it's driving
me nuts.

What can be done to fix this. I recently lost my
external HD with my music library on it so a complete
restore and reload isn't a good option.
thanks

Hi, I have an ipod mini, and I have the same problem.

I like to play songs based on what I feel like listening too at the moment, so I never put the shuffle option on. However for the past couple of months or so, I'll go to my playlist to play song #1, and it will skip all the way to song #20, then after that it will skip to #30, ect....... So I get maybe 5 songs out of a playlist of a 100. Its maddening.

Sometimes it happens on just one of the playlist, and sometimes on all including my library. And if I try to go into artist and play a song from the artist list, the play button will be showing, but its like its frozen, no music actually comes out. Usually if I hook it up to the computer, it goes back to normal but only for a few moments, then it starts acting up again.

I also have the problem a lot of others are having with there ipod saying that its out of batteries, even if its been charging all day and all night, or on a charger already.

I hope someone comes up with a fix, or another software update soon. I used to love my mini untill it started having all of these problems. Now I'm about ready to give up the whole ipod brand.

Windows XP

Ok. I used to (knock on wood) have the problem with the songs being cut in half. Try updating the iPod's software and see if it helps.
iPod Updater

As for the skipping songs, try these links:
Songs That Skip On iPod
5Rs
5Rs Tutorials
iPod Tutorials

I hope this helps!