My ipod nano won't stop talking.

I think I may have been able to fix it!!!

I plugged the iPod nano up to iTunes and restored it, reloading all of the iTunes content (songs and audiobooks). At first, I had the same issue with the voiceover playing endlessly. After I restored it, I turned off the voiceover in all of the locations:

1. Settings, General, Accessibility, Voiceover - turn to off. Also, turn off "speak hints".

2. Fitness>spoken feedback>off

3. iTunes - there is a place you can turn off the voiceover.

4. For grins and giggles, I also turned off the "shake to shuffle" feature on the iPod (it shakes a lot during a workout, so that could contribute).

After I restored, the same problem happened until I turned off #2 above. When all of those locations were turned off after a "restore", it stopped. I had nothing but beautiful music. I've had two good workouts with music since then and it's still working normally.

If you're having this problem with the uncontrollable voiceover, I would suggest doing a restore (will require you to reload all of your iPod content). Then go through each of the above locations and verify that they are all still turned off. That seems to have worked for me. If it starts again, I'll let you know.

Try doing a Reset (restart) of the iPod, if it seems to be "stuck" on a setting.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1320

NOTE: VoiceOver has two places for set up. One is in iTunes, on the iPod's Summary screen. The other is in the iPod's onboard Settings screen. Take a look at Chapter 11 (Accessibility) of the full user manual, and check the settings in both places.

http://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1624/en_US/ipod_nano_user_guide.pdf

REALLY??? Who wants this feature under any circumstances???

It's not a "bug." If this is a 7th gen nano, I think you are describing the Accessibility feature for users with a vision disability (not able to read the iPod's screen).

Chapter 11 (starting on page 48) of the iPod nano (7th gen) manual describes the relevant settings in the iPod's onboard Settings screen

http://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1624/en_US/ipod_nano_user_guide.pdf

There are relevant settings in iTunes (on the iPod's Summary screen) and on the iPod nano's onboard settings. So, you should make sure the Accessibility settings are OFF in both places. The manual also says, "You can also set a preference that turns either VoiceOver or Invert Colors on or off with three clicks of the Home button" (see page 48), so that may be how it gets turned ON inadvertently; doing a settings "reset" works initially, but pressing the Home button three times quickly turns VoiceOver ON again.

I read all the comments/advice in answer to this problem.

Here is what I did to fix the problem (I did everything on this list at the same time, so I can't tell you which item is the one that actually worked:

1. I switched back to the egg-shaped earbuds that came with the iPod Nano (I had been using the old pancake flat ones that came with the old iPod Classic/video player as they are more comfortable to me)

2. I turned off the voiceover in all of the following locations:

a. Settings, General, Accessibility, Voiceover - turn to off. Also, turn off "speak hints".

b. Fitness > click the "i" icon > Run > Spoken Feedback > change to off (note: this was set to On on my player)

c. iTunes - bottom of Summary section, Accessibility, uncheck the Voice over checkbox

The problem could be your headphones. I encountered this on an iPod nano 6th gen after a few years with a set of Monster headphones with inline mic. Out of the blue, the iPod would start reading out song titles and artists. I noticed that coating on the headphone connector had started to crack, causing some wires to become exposed. The problem disappeared once I swapped headphones.

If your iPod nano is a recent purchase (less than one year), and there is a conveniently located Apple Store, take it there to the Genius Bar (you can make a reservation on the store's web page to avoid a long wait).

https://www.apple.com/retail/

Demonstrate the problem (that VoiceOver cannot be turned OFF) to the Apple tech support person at the Genius Bar. If there is no Apple Store nearby, contact the "real" Apple tech support using the Contact Us link at the bottom right corner of this web page. This forum is mainly for user discussion. If the Apple product is under warranty, Apple needs to help you directly.

This problem does not affect the vast majority of iPod nano users (and the current 7th gen nano design is more than two years old) so waiting for a software update at this point is probably "pointless."

I will not use it for I while starting from tomorrow!!

All that will do is make it no longer under warranty... NOTE: Even if it is already out of warranty, it does not cost anything to get help from the Genius Bar at an Apple Store, to figure out the cause.

Hi all, I may have found a work around (and maybe this will help Apple to identify and acknowledge the issue).

I have the same problem where the voice over randomly kicks in and the ipod skips through the songs every few seconds - iPod is completely unusable and it drives you to a strong case of Tourette's Syndrome within a couple of minutes, cursing in the middle of the street at your ipod.

Anyway, after some experimenting, I noticed that if you press and hold the middle of the volume button on the left hand side, the ipod stabilises and works as normal. I have now put a small cable tie around the ipod and that has "fixed" the issue. I guess a rubber band would work as well as long as it is strong enough to keep the middle of the volume button compressed. Only down side seems to be that you can't use the volume buttons but you can still change the volume using the slide control on the touch screen as usual.

Give it a go - keen to see if this works for others as well or whether it just works for my specific ipod's short circuit.

That's a good tip. And not so strange. Many iPod models can receive remote control signals through the headphones jack, from headphones with control buttons on the cord. Faulty headphones (with or without control buttons) may send false signals. Or (like you said) it could be debris in the headphones jack causing a short circuit. Or, if the headphones plug is not fully inserted, the connection points along the plug may not be properly aligned.

Among the things that you can control through the iPod's headphones jack is VoiceOver (including enabling VoiceOver) and skipping (like pressing Next) for songs. If the iPod is receiving false control signals from the headphones jack, that could explain "out of control" VoiceOver.

I turned on the voice over on in the settings of the I pod nano. Then, I plugged the I pod into the computer and access the settings I tunes. Voice over showed up as being on. I turned it off there. I unplugged the nano from the computer, went back into settings and turned the voice over off there too.......so far, no more problems.

This is going to sound really strange and also frustrating after all these suggestions and things we have tried.

I saw another post, where someone said that you should try different headphones or clean the headphone jack.

I had done all of the suggestions on here and was also thinking it was time for a new ipod.

I blew into my headphone jack, I will try and clean properly somehow later, but that bleeping woman has now shut up and my songs arent skipping anymore!!

It appears to be some kind of short.

Please, please, anyone that is having problems, give it a go. It takes a few seconds and for now at least, I have no more problems.

Hope it helps someone!

I had this problem too and it seemed to be my headphones.

My old headphones made the ipod talking and switching songs. When I used another wired headphones or bluetooth headphones the problem disappeared.

If it is recently purchased, take it to an Apple Store and demonstrate the problem (that VoiceOver cannot be turned OFF) to the Genius Bar. It is under warranty for one year from purchase date. If there is no conveniently located Apple Store, use the Contact Us link at the bottom left corner of this web page to contact Apple's "real" tech support. This forum, while often helpful, is a place of discussion for Apple's users.

While this problem does come up sometimes in this forum, it is not a general design issue with the iPod nano 7th gen. Since your nano is under warranty, it would be best to have Apple resolve your particular issue.

I visited an Apple Store in early April to try to resolve this problem. Apparently, the voice over can be activated by randomly sliding your finger around on ANY screen, regardless of whether the feature has been turned off in the Settings. This is a feature not a bug! (Is this documented anywhere?). That plus the absence of a lock that was available on previous generations means that if you carry your ipod anywhere that anything can brush up against whatever screen you have left on top (like in your pocket) the odds are that the voice over will be activated. The Genius suggested getting a case, which he said they don't sell at the Apple Store. In theory, a case would protect the accidental movement across a screen. I contacted a case vendor before purchasing one and asked if he thought his case (with a gatefold cover) would prevent this. He said no, so I saved the money. I have been resorting to desperate measures - I cut off the end of a sock, covered the ipod with it, and loosely wrapped the speaker cord around it to keep the sock in place. This is, needless to say, a real pain and not 100% successful. However, it has reduced the occurrence of the problem, depending on what's in my pocket, whether or not I bend over, etc. It occurs slightly less frequently if I carry it in my shirt pocket and not a pants pocket. The claim is that this is for enhanced Accessibility, but there should be some way to permanently disable this feature if you NEVER want it to turn on, and also to lock the screen, so that Voice Over does not turn on AND the selection you are playing, be it podcast or music, does not change randomly. I tried various solutions, including a reset. It was easy enough to reload all of my podcasts, but reloading any music that was NOT from iTunes was also problematic. I had switched to an iPod touch when my old Nano died, but this had problems of its own and so I switched to a new Nano.

Hi vend01

After trying everything possible I've tried your idea holding the middle of the volume control in with a rubber band and it works !!

my wife is internally grateful it has been driving her bonkers ...I urge everyone to try this !!

Thank you 🙂

YES, I HAVE HAD THE SAME PROBLEM FOR MONTHS!! Unfortunately, I an generally too busy to get on here and post something, but this morning I was once again sitting on my bike, listening to this ridiculous computerized female voice (off of my seventh generation Apple iPod Nano, with current software) repeat song titles, playlist titles, etc., which it did OVER AND OVER again. REALLY??? Who wants this feature under any circumstances??? I appreciate most Apple products, and I'm doing my best to appreciate this one, but PLEASE, APPLE, FIX THIS TOTALLY ABSURD BUG. I've never authorized any voiceover. And I've seen that people have had this problem for years. If there are people out there who want this absurd "feature," please create a way to permanently disable it for the rest of us! Honestly, the original Apple TV was a piece of junk. This feature on the Nano is worse. The iPod is a product Apple should have mastered by now. And we're talking about SEVENTH generation! It's simply ridiculous.

In the interest of full disclosure, the one work-around I've figured out is to rename the playlists with either funny or otherwise interesting titles. Then at least when the idiotic thing starts reading off song titles and the title of every single playlist on the device, you get a good laugh. Even doing that, however, does not make this problem more bearable when it's happening for the tenth time in a 5-minute span.

Hello, Apple, are you listening?!!!