Pause Causes Volume To Reset

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Level 5

5,722 points

Pause Causes Volume To Reset

I have a second generation shuffle and I've notice that if I leave the unit in pause mode for more than about two minutes the volume is reset to a low level. I suspect that the system is going into a low power mode after two minutes and that resets the shuffle to a default low volume level (and thus you lose your previous volume setting). The reason I suspect that this is the case is that I can hear a slight thump in the audio output when the shuffle exits these two minute plus pauses and this noise sounds exactly like what I hear when I turn the shuffle on from a cold power off state.

The shuffle is supposed to have a "deep sleep" mode that is entered after 30 minutes of inactivity but I think it may actually go into a partial power down mode after only two minutes. The problem is that I often place my shuffle in pause when I have a short conversation with another person and if this pause lasts more than two minutes I have to reset my volume level after I press the play button (resume from pause). It's a pretty big change in the volume level, very annoying and I think this timeout should be longer than two minutes, something on the order of ten to fifteen minutes would be okay but why don't they just use the 30 minute "deep sleep" timer. In fact, I wonder if this "deep sleep" timeout is really two minutes, not the 30 minutes that Apple has documented.

I'm using the latest 1.01 firmware and the Limit Maximum Volume option that can be set in the iTunes' shuffle settings is turned to OFF (not check marked).

Has anyone else noticed this behavior on their second generation shuffle?

Mac Pro 2.66GHz 2GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Nov 11, 2006 7:43 PM

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Answer 1

KoDor

Level 4

3,250 points

Nov 11, 2006 8:02 PM in response to Waymen

I also pause my second gen shuffle often to have short conversations.. ive had it paused for 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 20 minutes, and 40 minutes and everything inbetween.. no issue here.. Is it possible you have a black sheep of the bunch?

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Answer 2

0Ari0

Level 5

4,995 points

Nov 11, 2006 8:51 PM in response to Waymen

I'm using the latest 1.01 firmware and the Limit
Maximum Volume option that can be set in the iTunes'
shuffle settings is turned to OFF (not check
marked).

Has anyone else noticed this behavior on their second
generation shuffle?

I've had my 2nd Gen Shuffle in daily use since 11/1 and
have NOT noticed volume changes after pausing for an extended amount of time. I'm with KoDor on this...

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Answer 3

Nov 12, 2006 11:57 AM in response to Waymen

I agree with this complaint. I have also had this problem of pausing the new Shuffle for any length of time (5 seconds to 2 minutes) and the volume is almost always set to a much lower setting. Any ideas of what might be going on here?
Thanks
Craig

Power Book G4 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

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Answer 4

Nov 12, 2006 6:40 PM in response to Craig Shanklin

I do have the same issue. Interestingly at first on resume the volume was on a lower setting. This week it changed and now my volume on resume is on higher setting. I can't recall what changed this behavior, other than syncing a few times with iTunes.

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Answer 5

Waymen Author

Level 5

5,722 points

Nov 13, 2006 8:20 AM in response to Waymen

Just a quick further note, what I've noticed is that is the starting volume is set below a certain point then when you exit the pause mode the original volume is not reset. You have to have your shuffle set above a certain loudness before the reduction occurs. This is one reason I think it may be related to the Limit Maximum Volume setting (although on my shuffle that option is turned off).

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Answer 6

0Ari0

Level 5

4,995 points

Nov 13, 2006 8:25 AM in response to Waymen

Just a quick further note, what I've noticed is that
is the starting volume is set below a certain point
then when you exit the pause mode the original volume
is not reset. You have to have your shuffle
set above a certain loudness before the reduction
occurs. This is one reason I think it may be related
to the Limit Maximum Volume setting (although on my
shuffle that option is turned off).

That's interesting... I listen to spoken material, audiobooks, podcasts and old radio theater, thus possibly have mine at lower volume than music. I do NOT have Limit Maximum Volume option on. It does make some sense that the volume would be lowered on resuming from pause WHEN it had been high...

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Answer 7

0Ari0

Level 5

4,995 points

Nov 13, 2006 8:40 AM in response to 0Ari0

Just a quick further note, what I've noticed is

that

is the starting volume is set below a certain

point

then when you exit the pause mode the original

volume

is not reset. You have to have your shuffle
set above a certain loudness before the reduction
occurs. This is one reason I think it may be

related

to the Limit Maximum Volume setting (although on

my

shuffle that option is turned off).

That's interesting... I listen to spoken material,
audiobooks, podcasts and old radio theater, thus
possibly have mine at lower volume than music. I do
NOT have Limit Maximum Volume option on. It does
make some sense that the volume would be lowered on
resuming from pause WHEN it had been high...

Updating this... I just verified that HIGH volume level is reduced after 2 minutes in PAUSE but not closer to when the PAUSE mode LED stops blinking (1 minute). LOW volume level is NOT reduced (at least noticeabe to me...).

Interesting...

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Answer 8

Waymen Author

Level 5

5,722 points

Nov 13, 2006 9:47 AM in response to 0Ari0

As to whether you will notice this problem, I think it will also depend upon the type of headphones you use and the average volume level that your material is recorded. I typically use open-air style headphones, not sealed in-ear or sealed around the ear headphones. Thus, I may have to turn the volume up a little in comparison to other types of headphones. And, of course, if you are in a noisy environment you will typically turn the volume up so that you can hear the music over the background noise. That's really when I first noticed this problem, since when I came out of a long pause on the player I could no longer hear the music clearly since the volume had been reset to a much lower level.

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Answer 9

0Ari0

Level 5

4,995 points

Nov 13, 2006 10:00 AM in response to Waymen

As to whether you will notice this problem, I think
it will also depend upon the type of headphones you
use and the average volume level that your material
is recorded. I typically use open-air style
headphones, not sealed in-ear or sealed around the
ear headphones. Thus, I may have to turn the volume
up a little in comparison to other types of
headphones. And, of course, if you are in a noisy
environment you will typically turn the volume up so
that you can hear the music over the background
noise. That's really when I first noticed this
problem, since when I came out of a long pause on the
player I could no longer hear the music clearly since
the volume had been reset to a much lower level.

I use the headphones that came with the Shuffle.
So... is this a problem or just a Shuffle "behavior"?
My feeling is that it's a nice "feature" given that you
know it's NOT a problem.

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Answer 10

Waymen Author

Level 5

5,722 points

Nov 13, 2006 1:58 PM in response to 0Ari0

I use the headphones that came with the Shuffle.
So... is this a problem or just a Shuffle "behavior"?
My feeling is that it's a nice "feature" given that you
know it's NOT a problem.

I'd call it a definite problem (bug?) if you want to use the pause function. As far as I know, none of the other iPods do this (I have a second generation 15GB iPod and the first generation shuffle and neither have this behavior).

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Answer 11

A A P L

Level 7

21,764 points

Nov 13, 2006 2:19 PM in response to 0Ari0

I once had a car stereo that did this.
I think it's a safety feature of sorts - and I like it.
How many times have you turned on an appliance just to have the volume come on and almost render you deaf!

I think it must have a threshold that once over that dB level, an extended pause brings it to a baseline.

I like it - assuming it's on purpose, Apple should tell us.

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Answer 12

Waymen Author

Level 5

5,722 points

Nov 13, 2006 3:18 PM in response to Waymen

This would probably be okay if the timeout were longer than two minutes. Also, if it is being done as a safely measure then why don't they tie it to the Limit Maximum Volume option? That way, users could turn it off or on as they liked.

Frankly, I suspect that this is being caused by a power savings mode that activates after a two minute pause, they may just be forgetting to save and restore the volume setting. The reason I say this is because you can hear a soft "thump" when the shuffle is powered on (from a cold power off state or when you press play after a greater than two minute pause). In fact this noise (thumb) may be part of the "problem" since they may purposely reduce the volume level so that this noise isn't that noticeable. Better would be to start at a reduced volume (to avoid the noise) and then after a short delay restore the user's setting and then begin playback.

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Answer 13

A A P L

Level 7

21,764 points

Nov 13, 2006 3:46 PM in response to Waymen

I agree.
Go HERE and submit feedback.

Scott

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Answer 14

Nov 13, 2006 5:59 PM in response to Waymen

I would agree with your assumption. At home I usually use in-ear headphones and listen to audiobooks on a very low volume. As I mentioned earlier, in my case when I resume after a two minutes pause the volume will be significant higher.

It's almost like it is restarting at a factory setting and not memorizing the last volume setting.

Reinhard

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Answer 15

Waymen Author

Level 5

5,722 points

Nov 13, 2006 9:46 PM in response to Waymen

Okay, here is an interesting development. I did a "forced" restore on my shuffle's firmware to v1.01 (even though iTunes said it was up to date and running 1.01) and on a new playlist I'm seeing some different behavior. Now after it reaches the 2 minute pause point and I resume the play I hear a quick fade UP in the playback volume and I suspect that the volume is now being restored to the proper setting. So now after a lengthy pause it starts low and then fades back up to what is probably the correct setting (before the 2 minute point restarting the playback does NOT fade up, it just starts immediately at my previous volume setting). In addition to the restore I also toggled the "Limit Maximum Volume" setting in iTunes and then set the volume slider to maximum and locked the max volume option to OFF.

Thus, either the firmware restore changed something or my locking of the maximum volume fixed the problem or the volume behavior is intermittent or somewhat random. I'll do some more testing tomorrow to see if the problem is gone or whether it comes back with further use.

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