My iPod skips the ends of some songs

October 29, 2005 11:53 AM

iPodFilter: Some songs on my iPod are not being played until the end. I did an extensive Google search and found lots of relevant solutions, but I already did half of them and some others seem strange. I'm now looking at the things I haven't tried yet, and have some specific questions.

Possible solutions on which I could use some specific help:
1) The most helpful site I found was this one, which suggests defragmenting the iPod's hard drive. Yes, I think I want to do that, that sounds good. But how?
I'm on a PC with XP. To defragment my laptop hard drive I just go to the disk defragmenter thing in the menu. How can I defragment my iPod? Same place? This other site suggests Norton System works, but I don't have that. Can I defragment with something I already have?

2) Headphones. The headphones are kind of almost broken, but I refuse to believe that this is in any way related to skipping songs. On the other hand, I'm not a computer expert, and stranger things have happened. Can the headphones (which only regulate the output) have an effect on songs not being played entirely? It's not that I don't hear the rest of the song, it just goes to the next song before the previous song is done.

3) Send iPod to Apple.
The first site I linked above says that Apple doesn't see the problem, which makes me hesistant to send it. Also, I still have three months left of the warranty. I hope. I bought the iPod in January, and I'm sure I registered it but don't have a receipt anymore. Can "they" find my warranty? My iPod and I must exist in the system somewhere, right?

Before you suggest one of the things below, keep in mind that I already did this:
-restore entire iPod
-reboot iPod
-update iPod software
-update iTunes
-yell at iPod
-try "good" songs (it happens with newly bought iTunes songs that worked fine last week)

I also keep seeing suggestions on checking file types, but (a)I am not going through 10G of music one by one and (b) as I said it happens with definite "good" files too.

Oh, this is what I have:
-4th generation 20G iPod (with the click wheel, the last monochrome before they all got colour)
-formatted for PC and manual updating
-I have files and notes on the iPod as well as songs and (this might be important) when I didn't have this for a while right after restoring the iPod, I did not have this music problem. On the other hand, I had everything full of files and music for a long time BEFORE restoring when everything was going smoothly. It's not as full of stuff now as it was then. I can restore it again, and get rid of my files, but I need this backup option right now!
-Windows, XP, recent version of iTunes, USB 2.0 to connect iPod to laptop, what else do you need to know?

posted by easternblot to Technology (13 answers total)

Best answer: I had this problem (spontaneous skipping to the next song) with a 3G 30 gig iPod, and it turned out to be the first signs of a failing hard drive. After taking it into the nearest Apple store, I had to fill out a service request on their website and send the iPod in to be replaced. I had no problems with the new unit.

I'd send it in before your warranty expires. Worst case scenario: they can't duplicate the problem and you pay for the return shipping...
posted by flod at 12:02 PM on October 29, 2005

Response by poster: Do I need the receipt for the warranty? I have lots of time before the warranty expires, and there's an Apple store on the subway line, so I'm not too worried about that, it's just the fact that I don't have the receipt anymore.
And if they replace the iPod, do they also replace the engraving (which was free when I got it, but I think that's probably only free the first time...)?
posted by easternblot at 12:12 PM on October 29, 2005

Do I need the receipt for the warranty?

No, the warranty is in their records.

And if they replace the iPod, do they also replace the engraving

Not that I'm aware of. They'll give you a refurbished unit that someone else brought in as defective.
posted by dobbs at 12:21 PM on October 29, 2005

It may very well be a hardware issue, but I've always had this problem with VBR-encoded songs on my 1G iPod.
posted by mkultra at 12:29 PM on October 29, 2005

My iPod kicked the can, all you have to do is bring it in and they give you one that plays and looks new. I don't know what they mean by refurbished, what parts exactly are used -- I'd guess the hard drive and maybe the battery.
posted by geoff. at 12:31 PM on October 29, 2005

Also, have you run a check on your hard drive?

One other thing, and it's a stretch, but iTunes allows you to tell it to only play X amount of a song. On a mac you'd control click on the song in Itunes and click "get info" and in there you click Options. Make sure the Start and Stop times are correct (ie, zero, and the length of the song). I doubt this is your problem but it's worth a check.

If that's not how you can check info on a song on a Windows machine, you could also play the song on your computer and see if it kacks out at the same time it does on the iPod.
posted by dobbs at 12:50 PM on October 29, 2005

Response by poster: After I asked this question, my iPod took a turn for the worst. It's giving me the folder with exclamation mark OR the sad ipod icon instead of anything else. I can't even turn it on or off properly, and can't recharge it. So I guess it will have to be option number 3 no matter what. Blech. I can't go to the store until Tuesday, but I'll follow up with what they'll say.
posted by easternblot at 3:21 PM on October 29, 2005

My iPod is two months old and it plays everything flawlessly except for one particular Eminem mashup that skips as you described. I'm assuming the MP3 file's length attribute is corrupted, if such a thing exists.
posted by tut21 at 4:07 PM on October 29, 2005

Best answer: To get your iPod service request going the quick way, use the site we used at the Apple Center I worked at:

http://depot.info.apple.com

Step by step form, no dealing with an idiot on the phone. Lovely.
posted by armoured-ant at 3:07 AM on October 30, 2005

I bought a song from iTunes and it played in a strange way. Garbled. I played it on more than one computer. Still the same. I wrote them and they allowed me to download another copy which was fine.
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 4:40 AM on October 30, 2005

I just bought an iPod nano and the same problem has begun to happen to me - the song skips to the next track about 27 seconds before it ends. I am using a Powerbook to synch the iPod to my iTunes tracks... not Windows!

Maybe this happens to more people than those with scratched iPod nanos. I will continue to investigate. Luckily I'm still under warranty, so I'm not too fussed about it -- yet.
posted by jasminetea at 10:45 AM on October 31, 2005

Best answer: And if they replace the iPod, do they also replace the engraving.

They say they do replace the engraving, as long as the engraving was ordered through Apple at the time of the original purchase.
posted by nobody at 1:36 PM on October 31, 2005

Best answer: Update:
I took it to the Apple store, and yes, it's a failing hard drive. I only had the regular warranty, and not Apple care, so I couldn't replace it in store. I could have bought the Apple car there and done that, though, but I chose to send it in though the website. I'm paying for shipping costs because my ipod is over 6 months old, but otherwise that would have also been covered by warranty.
Engraving is not kept if you exchange it in store, but you do get it on your replacement ipod if you exchange it online and the engraving was part of the original purchase.
I'm now waiting for Apple to process my service request. It should take a week overall, without engraving, and a bit longer with engraving.

Best answers marked accordingly.
posted by easternblot at 10:35 AM on November 2, 2005