Popping in playback

It seems that no one can explain or even dare to fix the problem. I am experiencing the same annoying clicking and buzzing noise. I noticed several other posting with the same problem; the result: well, there is no answers! I guess we must figure out the solution.

I noticed this in my vehicle (just yesterday) when I was playing an item using my Griffin Smartdeck tape adapter that hooks into the dock.

I unplugged the Smartdeck tape adapter and plugged in a different tape adapter that hooked into the headphone plug. The same item did NOT create the popping sound there.

I don't know if this is repeatable with other items or with other's systems. I haven't had the same issue arise since yesterday to try to see if the same "solution" would "fix" it again.

Maybe it has something to do with the dock connector audio transfer???

Accidental User, is the disc in question copy controlled? This might be a stretch, but if it is, it would explain why the encoded files play back with audible defects. Lots of CDS-protected discs contain intentional audio corruption that will get picked up when you try to rip and encode the discs, while in general, playback of the discs themselves on your Mac will sound just fine.

I did a search of the CD in question, and I can't verify that any releases of that title would be copy controlled. If it is, there should be some reference to this in the way of logos and/or text on the CD packaging or even on the disc itself.

Optical drive ripping accuracy and performance is probably the next thing to consider here. When clicking and popping occur on ripped tracks, and the source CD is undamaged, it is usually the case that the problems occur on the latter stages of the album in question (as the tracking becomes more difficult for the drive), and tends to suggest that the optical drive being used is malfunctioning.

Before taking any other steps, I would try to rip the same CD using cdparanoia, such as Max (with the paranoia ripper enabled) or xACT (perhaps easier to use right out of the box, and includes a detailed ripping log which you can and should read after extraction). If your optical drive is at all capable of reading the whole CD properly, even if multiple read attempts are required for certain portions of the CD, then you should get perfect or near-perfect results with cdparanoia. If you still get popping and clicking, it would be an almost sure sign that your optical drive is malfunctioning.

Final note: If you determine that your drive has failed, I would definitely suggest NOT replacing the internal drive if at all possible, since it would cost far less to use an external drive enclosure and you could have basically unlimited choice in the optical drive you put in the case. For less than about $30, you can get a new drive with superior ripping performance, such as a Plextor PX-130A or a 52x Lite-On CD-RW drive.

Ooh, an important edit to my prior post.

I most definitely meant PX-230A (not PX-130A). This is, in my opinion (I'm sure I'm not alone in saying this), the very best drive in terms of audio CD reading performance on the market, and what I use for nearly all of my digital audio extraction. I paid about €30 for it a year or so ago.

I have been having this same problem, but it doesn't seem to be the optical drive. When I play CDs in iTunes, they play fine, but upon importing, I get pops and such on certain tracks, usually well into the CD, which I would indeed think would be because of optical drive problems, but, as I said, the same CDs play just fine; it's only when I import them that I get digital artifacts. Also, when I import, I make sure that I'm not running any other programs. It is indeed a peculiar problem.

I have the same problem with CD's burned from iTunes playlists that I bought from iTunes store. Listening the CD's on an audio CD player has slight pauses that are anoying especially for classical music. Could this be related to your problem caused when importing from a CD ?

MacBook Pro 17'' Mac OS X (10.4.8)