Firmware 2.0.1 is out.

w000000tah!

haha i updated my ipod... what exactly improved on it :)

The documentation is very very generic.

What?s New in iPod Software Update 2.0.1:
Better support for Asian languages
Enhanced On-The-Go playlist functionality
Improved playback performance
Improved handling of mp3 VBR songs
Fixed artist sorting
Improved backlight
Improved alarm clock
Fixed left/right channel swapping

New in Windows Update:
USB 2.0 synchronization
Support for Audible.com
Support for multiple iPods on one computer
Shorter connection times
Better overall performance

Anyone try it yet? Curious how improved it is. I'm very excited.

Better OTG support means: when you add a song to a currently playing OTG playlist, you no longer have to reload the OTG play list :) However the list is still cleared when you connect to your computer, and there seems to be no way to save it.

I dont hear the click between tracks anymore ... im trying real hard to locate it, its just not there.

Improved alarm clock - haven't figure this one out yet

Improved backlight - ditto

Improved playback performance - again...

It connects much quicker now, no more 20 second mount. However, a step backward was the annoying popup message that iPod manager gives you when you unmount the ipod.

No clicking...
thanks for the info on the backlight... it still turns off thebacklight if the ipod is idle.

I cant load play lists for the ipod to play as the alarm, but i think thats because you need to create the play lists a special way.

What was the problem with VBR songs and what is the fix?

Kudos to Apple for addressing these complaints, but frankly, a lot of these issues should have been ironed out prior to release. The most important issue for me is stability/reliability. Hopefully it's improved.

What are asian languages? I'm Asian, but there was no my language in iPod list. Can it be there now?

Originally posted by Spectracide
Skipping was fixed on SOME of my songs

in order to fix skipping, get Ashampoo MP3 check & convert to check for mp3 file data integrity It's not iPod's fault, it's the files/

Can't say enough how cool it was of them to release both versions at the same time. Finally they've come to their senses! :D :D

Adam

I was hitting up ipodding.com and i noticed that the recording function in the diagnostic menu was gone... hrmph whyd they do that

pingin it will turn off if the ipod is idle, but if you have the ipods automatic backlight option set to off, and you manually turn it on through the menu option it will stay on for the duration of your navigating the menu's. The only way to have the backlight always on is thru the settings menu... but it will waste the battery.

Well, it's good to see a lot of the quirks in the new iPods were fixed up! I believe someone asked what the improved playback meant? That's gotta be the clicking. I'm still unsure as to why Apple won't allow you to save the OTG playlist. Hmm...

Interesting...the 32 meg setup file is uncompressed. I rar'd it to transfer it onto my usb mem key, and the compressed file is only 11.7 megs.

Gone for me :) and i think its gone for everyone?

Originally posted by Offline69
Interesting...the 32 meg setup file is uncompressed. I rar'd it to transfer it onto my usb mem key, and the compressed file is only 11.7 megs.
Hmmmm, that would explain why it is so freakin' huge!

I was going to ask if any one else had noticed how big this Updater was. On my Mac, the *.dmg file is a whopping 30.2 MB, compared to only 5.2 MB for the *.dmg file for the 1.2.6 Updater. I couldn't believe how big it was when the download began!

As for the "click fix" - definitely there for me like apparently everyone else. Good news! This wasn't a huge deal to me, but I did want to see it fixed.

As for the backlight, I'm experiencing the same thing as pingin - even though my Backlight is set to "Off" in Settings, it still goes off on its own after about 15 seconds even though I am continuously browsing through the menus. I even tried reseting my iPod and selecting "Off" again for the Backlight Setting.

Not a big deal, as I hardly ever use the backlight, and I'd rather the "click" between songs be fixed as opposed to this if I had to pick one.

pingin, I'm curious - do you have a Mac iPod? And do you others whose backlight is "fixed" have a Windows iPod?

Tom

I haven't got the new update but I never had this experiece of the backlight turning off. I set it to off in the settings, then pressed and held "menu" and it stays on and I have left the room and it is still on when I come back. I use windows, so I am not sure if this is on mac ipods or if it just seems that you have teh problem where I don't.

I'm at school now I guess I shall see when I get home what this update has to prove itself, although 30MB downloading on dialup. Sigh.

Has anyone had problems running the update utility? Mine is just sitting there, I pressed the update button but it says it was restored... and I can't do anything cause it says it still hasn't finished the updating process, but its been sitting in one spot for like 5 minutes. If this thing ruins my iPod im gonna be ####ed...

This isnt really platform specific, but is anyone noticing long song titles that need to scroll sort of chugging across the screen and not being all that smooth? Or is it just me?

Isnt the OS that comes installed with the iPod over 200 megs? I think I read it somewhere... and when my iPod was empty, it said that out of the total space, 200 is used up...

Are there any more in depth details on what is changed? It says backlight is improved... Does this mean that the clarity, or brightness is improved, or that the function of it is? By reading the posts, it doens't seem like the function is improved atall...

Apple acknowledged that the sides switched after resuming from standby, but are any of the other bugs that they didn't acknowledge fixed? maybe they were too proud to admit to one of the flaws

Originally posted by Impulse29
<snip>
Apple acknowledged that the sides switched after resuming from standby, but are any of the other bugs that they didn't acknowledge fixed? maybe they were too proud to admit to one of the flaws
Well, they didn't specifically admit to the "click" between songs, but that was definitely fixed.

I can't speak to anything else myself, as the "click" was the only problem I was having on my 30 GB.

Tom

haha i didnt even know that was a bug, but indeed it is fixed. The ui shows up after sliding the hold to off.

User Interface

So far the things I've had problems with in the past have been fixed, like the iPod choosing the track after the one I chose and the sound between tracks. I'm very happy the channels have been repaired too.

GREAT JOB Apple!

*edit*
I change my mind about choosing the track after the one I chose. instead of 50% of the time it worked, now its good 95% of the time. The only time it doesn't work for me is when I'm switching between very large files (Extracted at 320 and a long song). Other than that, I still stress it is very accurate!

There is a bug that no-one has addressed here - does the iPod still sometimes fail to play music after going to sleep (even though it shows it playing on the screen).

Also, it says the alarm has been improved. Before I was unable to select a playlist for an alarm (when I select one it just goes back to alarm). Was this a common prob before and has it been fixed? (I cant update till I get home this evening:()

Something no one has mentioned is that I'm sure I used to be able to rewind (cue) tracks back into the previous track. Now it will rewind as far as the beginning of the current track but no further. Or am I just imagining that it used to do that?!

Also, it still doesn't go loud enough.

On The Go Playlists works now as you the added tracks play with out haveing to resstart the playlist. Although the update was stated to have fixed the backlight, when set to off and by holding the menu button to turn it on manualy it still goes off after around 20 seconds, but if it is set to allways on in the settings it stays on and on and on, when menu is held down, maybe that is what is ment to happen maybe apple want the back light to turn off after 20 seconds when it selected as off. I can't see any other changes thus far, oh the channel swaping between left and right is now fixed. never really noticed it before but two of my songs start in different speakers now so there must be a change. See what else I can find.

It works just the same as it did before AFAIK. The first skip-back will send you to the start of the current track (as it did before). Press again relatively soon (within 1-2s) and you'll be at the start of the previous track. HTH

Originally posted by TKS
Wait.. does that mean people without a dock can't get it??:(

*still waiting for my ipod to arrive.. sigh..:(*

All new iPods have a dock connector (the one on the bottom of the unit). However, only the 15 and 30gig models come with a dock.

No, you just plug the lead into the bottom of the iPod.

Don't worry :).

Originally posted by TKS
Wait.. does that mean people without a dock can't get it

NO!! Read the quotation you made... it says dock connector!

Originally posted by IlIlIlIlIl
in order to fix skipping, get Ashampoo MP3 check & convert to check for mp3 file data integrity It's not iPod's fault, it's the files/
Anyone know of a Mac equivalent of this software?

Has anyone tried to get this on an old model ipod yet?

Even though it probably wouldn't work correctly...

Originally posted by WESC_pod
Has anyone tried to get this on an old model ipod yet?

Even though it probably wouldn't work correctly...

as has been said countless times...2.0 or 2.0.1 DO NOT WORK on the old iPods.

The new update work great ! I love the OTG playlist, as it works now ! However since I installed the 2.0.1 update I have gotten a lot more frezzes then before (where i had 0).

Great work Apple

The whole UI seems much faster after the update. Looking at all songs, contacts, really long playlists etc. seems much faster as does skipping through songs.

Unfortuantely, the clicking between tracks is not fixed for. I've only had the ipod for a few days, but this has really started to bug me. I might even return it if there isn't a solution. That's why I got rather excited when several posters mentioned 2.01 had fixed this. And before anyone asks, yes my "about" screen on the ipod now says 2.01.

clicking is gone for me, and the gap is reduced as well... I wil do some more specific tests to find the percentage reduction in gap.

how come clicking is fixed for everyone except u sorka?

The interesting thing is that I'm comparing this to a 1g right now. We have about 30 people at my company that have ipods.

The 1g doesn't have this problem at all. I'll bet this is possibly an indicator that they are now using the MW8731L audio processor after all.

No clicking for me, that seems to be gone, now just need ephpod playlists for alarms.

Originally posted by Gonzo Lagonda
Something no one has mentioned is that I'm sure I used to be able to rewind (cue) tracks back into the previous track. Now it will rewind as far as the beginning of the current track but no further. Or am I just imagining that it used to do that?!

Also, it still doesn't go loud enough.

I'm pretty sure it weren't able to do that before!

Originally posted by Fundex
No clicking for me, that seems to be gone, now just need ephpod playlists for alarms.

I have created playlists in ephpod and I am able to set them as alarms. When I am in the extras->clock->alarm clock->sound menu and I select a playlist it still says beep next to sound but it does play the playlist.

you guys should just set your cell phones to wake you up
the ringing sound triggers a psychological reflex in that you want to go over and pick it up
not to mention if its on vibrate and its dancing around your table its really irritating :)

It also seems that Apple has taken out the recording feature in this new firmware version. Though it was virturally useless, this is still a step back from what I hoped for them to make: a recording feature for the iPod. Examining the hardware, this is entirely possible, as the PortalPlayer audio processor that the iPod uses supports both encoding and decoding of audio.

Originally posted by sinster
Billysardar,

Could you explain the process in a little more detail? I refuse to use MMJB to get music on my alarm..but it appears you hv a solution using Ephpod..

I am mucho interested..Thanks!

Well sinister... I can get the iPod to play a playlist as an alarm by the following method... I am using v2.0.1 of the firmware.

1. Load up ephpod with the iPod plugged in.
2. Create a new playlist and add some tracks to it with the insert key.
3. The playlists now appear in the playlist menu on the iPod after it has been unmounted.
4. Go to the main menu -> extras -> clock -> alarm clock.
5. There are 3 items here... alarm on/off, alarm time and sound setting.
6. Next to 'Sound' it says 'Beep>'. Select this option and you are presented with a list of all the playlists including 'Beep' at the top (but not including the on-the-go playlist).
7. Select a playlist.
8. The iPod will now return to the 'Alarm Clock' screen. Next to 'Sound' it will still say 'Beep', however the playlist has in fact been selected.
9. When the alarm time is reached, the plalist will begin.

Notes:
If you do not have the list of playlists in the 'sound' menu then I'm not sure what your problem is.
When I had v2.0.0 of the software, I seem to remember getting to step 8 but then when the alarm time was reached, it beeped and no plalist played. However, I am not sure about this.

I hope this has helped :cool:

I notice the clicking between songs is gone for me too. I also notice the faster switching between tracks. I'm guessing the pod now caches the songs differently. Can this possibly improve battery life? I'm curious.

One problem I did have was that certain songs were cutting off and the pod was just skipping to the next track. Reloading them didn't work. Now the pod just plays a 'cd-style' skip and keeps playing the track to the end. This at least lets me know I need to re-rip these particular mp3's and it's not the iPod's fault.

I also notice the backlight stays on while I'm using it and doesn't shut off while I'm browsing the lists. Overall a good update.

Overall, Im VERY satisfied with the update, althoughm, with my dial up conenction, it took me considerable more time than others here im sure.

Just one question, has anyone noticed any improved battery performance coz of the update? I dont know if Im just imagining things, but My Full Bar Batt seems to last longer now than before. Could be just my imaginatiuon though. I dont know about you guys, but after a month of hearing those clicks between tracks, I kinda miss em now. NOT!!!! hehe....

Another query, anyone know if any of the other bugs like wont wake from sleep, has been fixed yet?

Great job addressing the Gen 3 Ipods, Apple. Cheers.

austin, it did that before... but yes.. I can see why it would be very annoying, but I dont use ratings.

once again...it is NOT compatible with the older iPods. the older iPods is at v1.3 update

how i wish i had my firewire cord at work with me! i guess i'll have to wait until tomorrow.

just to clarify, will this remove any of my music or change any of my settings? i'm a first time ipod owner, so my apologies if this is a stupid questions.

If you choose Restore it will wipe everything and restore your iPod to factory settings. If you choose Update it'll just update the firmware without touching your songs. Most of the settings are preserved too.

I applied the update and the clicking between tracks is gone, but I am now getting a clicking in only the left ear. You can only hear it when the song has a low melody in it. Anyone else see hear it?

Well after updating my iPod, I am very pleased. I am thrilled that the clicking between tracks is gone (complete silence now!) and the OTG bug being fixed is great. These two things are really the only things I have noticed about the update; but I am very happy.

P.S. My backlight looks pretty much the same, maby a hint bluer (but this may be the placebo effect ;) )

heAdphoneBoy - My backlight also still turns off while browsing.

michaelbeno - If you have powered firewire ports, plug the iPod into it so the iPod can get power and install the firmware.

so has anyone figured out what the improvements to the backlight actually are.

i would have loved for them to implement the timer to start after you finished browsing. hopefully that shows up sometime in the future.

Originally posted by sraphim
It also seems that Apple has taken out the recording feature in this new firmware version. Though it was virturally useless, this is still a step back from what I hoped for them to make: a recording feature for the iPod. Examining the hardware, this is entirely possible, as the PortalPlayer audio processor that the iPod uses supports both encoding and decoding of audio.

I would imagine that they took it out because the feature that existed was just a test function in the debug mode. Not exactly up to snuff with Apple's standards on UI and never meant to be public. It's quite likely that the feature is still there, and can only be accessed by an external device which uses the appropriate API's. Of course, such a device doesn't exist yet but it seems inevitable that they will come out with one.

Originally posted by michaelbeno
The only backlight improvements I noticed is that my screen is now completely white, while before it did have a slightly bluish tint.

That just sounds like a different contrast setting. I don't think the firmware can do much to change the hard-wired LED's color.

Originally posted by Caution
Which feature is this?

Chris M

I think he meant the fix for the hold switch problem.

Originally posted by docevi1
has no-one else noticed the slower scroll wheel? Why is everyone so bothered about a backlight? I have never used mine... Tell a lie, I think I used it twice in the car one time.

Stefan

i have noticed no such problem with the scroll wheel.

ha, never knew it did that.

Mine is defintely slower to tiddle down the list. Much Much slower - I can read the text as it scrolls down now rather than it being a blur.

Stefan

does anyone know if this has fixed the distortion that the equalizer gives to tracks - in other words is the equalizer worth using now with this new update?
cheers.

I just got my 3G IPod for Father's Day, so it was right before the firmware update.

I don't get the clicking when changing tracks, which sounds like the most annoying of the 3G 1st version's software .

Is there any compelling reason to do the firmware update otherwise? (Sounds like mixed bag to do so otherwise, from the comments here)

Originally posted by avwh
I just got my 3G IPod for Father's Day, so it was right before the firmware update.

I don't get the clicking when changing tracks, which sounds like the most annoying of the 3G 1st version's software .

Is there any compelling reason to do the firmware update otherwise? (Sounds like mixed bag to do so otherwise, from the comments here)

I'm not sure what you mean by mixed bag. The only possible negative I have heard about 2.0.1 is the slower scrolling which no one but docevi1 seems to have noticed. On the other hand, you have much better On-The-Fly playlist ability, new alarm functionality, new games, fixed song sorting, etc. Sounds like a full bag to me! This one is a no-brainer.

There are no new features; just bug fixes (on the go, channel swapping, clicking etc...)

Originally posted by mongoos150
There are no new features; just bug fixes (on the go, channel swapping, clicking etc...)

Yeah, that's about what you can expect from a sub-minor version release - bug fixes, really nothing new. I see that most people believe that it is a good idea to always have the latest firmware, however, I believe that I shouldn't upgrade unless it's absolutely necessary, which in this case, it is not.

The click between tracks dosn't bother me at all, and I don't notice channel swapping either. I never really had to queue songs, so the playlist dosen't matter, and I don't need USB support either. I'll upgrade when it turns 2.1.0

Hammer: I have never experienced that problem... There has never been a delay with my iPod (except when the hdd spins up, and all of them do that)

i just got my 15gb two days ago. does it already have 2.0.1? how would i check?

got it. i got 2.0. thanks i'll go update now.