Beware: iPod Classic stutters

That's really weird, mine doesn't do that at all. Hopefully this isn't a bug...

Nice blog, btw!

This was a problem with the original release of the 5G..it was sluggish but eventually a firmware update fixed this.

It does seem kinda strange that he would register today (or sometime in September), come on iPod forums where he knows that many people who support the iPod are, and advertise for his blog. Seems a little suspicious to me in that he just wanted to get some hits on his website. I don't know though, let's see if they reply back.

It does seem kinda strange that he would register today (or sometime in September), come on iPod forums where he knows that many people who support the iPod are, and advertise for his blog. Seems a little suspicious to me in that he just wanted to get some hits on his website. I don't know though, let's see if they reply back.

I understand why you question my motives. Let me tell you why I posted here: I didn't see anyone else discussing this flaw.

This is the iPod community, right? You guys are supposedly interested in these products, no? This is the iPod Classic forum, right?

The responses to this thread are typical of Apple fan boy forums: we can't dispute the message, so lets tar the messenger.

Hello and welcome to iLounge. I guess a big chunk of it depends on the type of music that they use on the demo iPods. I knew one store where they put Apple Lossless songs on the unit. That would cause stuttering more so than putting normal mp3 or AAC files. High bitrate files might also contribute to processor load thus making those other functions load as they did (and the music play as it did).

Woah, if the device is advertised as saying apple lossless files work, well then it should work. Likewise high bitrate files, they should work fine too.

I recall there was some serious problems with variable bitrate MP3 files on the iPod mini, but these were all solved for the nano (they SHOULD'VE been solved for the mini via a firmware upgrade, but Apple never bothered).

My guess is this was a one off dud unit, with maybe a faulty hard disc. I strongly doubt this is a serious issue with all classics.

Well, we should wait until more than one person with a blog trolling for hits confirms this before jumping to conclusions, don't you think? ;)

I was replying to KornChild who seemd to imply that large files can cause iPods to skip. I was simply proposing that this shouldn't happen, if the device says it can play the files, then the bitrate shouldn't matter. There were never serious problems with VBR mp3s on minis, there were a few people who experienced weirdness and complained loudly, but you can't fix what you can't replicate. In my mini days I was using mostly APExtreme LAME mp3s and they worked 100% of the time flawlessly, they worked 100% flawlessly on my wife's mini, and they worked 100% flawlessly on my friend's mini. ALAC also worked fine on my mini.
There's lots of threads on Hydrogen Audio with people who had problems. It was a known issue that Apple never addressed.

There's lots of threads on Hydrogen Audio with people who had problems. It was a known issue that Apple never addressed.And there were lots of threads on here, that still doesn't make it a known issue in the sense of one that Apple could have addressed. If only a tiny percentage of all the VBR mp3s cause a problem on a tiny percentage of the tens of millions of minis, and nobody ever determined what the cause was, what would Apple (or any manufacturer) do to address the "problem"? To address an IT problem you first have to be able to replicate it, that couldn't be done. I myself downloaded and played without problem some of the mp3s that people said were causing problems on their iPods. Then, assuming you can replicate it, which you couldn't, you've got to be able to find the root of the problem, and if you can do that, you then have to determine if it can be fixed and if it's worth doing so. Since the VBR mp3 issue never got past whining on web forums, that's where it stayed. Apple can't address a problem that was most likely either simply some circuitry based flaw in a handful of iPods, or even something related to the precise encoding options used to create the files in the first place.

Also, stuttering with large files was merely conjecture. iPod minis had problems with files that went longer than four hours, but it wasn't skipping in the sense described here, rather they would just suddenly jump to the end of the file. A 4 hour mp3 is significantly longer than your typical lossless track. In my experience, lossless files play back just as smoothly on old iPods as they *should* on the new ones, however, with only one person reporting what you'd think would be all over the forums by now if true, I am skeptical.

Woah, if the device is advertised as saying apple lossless files work, well then it should work. Likewise high bitrate files, they should work fine too.

I recall there was some serious problems with variable bitrate MP3 files on the iPod mini, but these were all solved for the nano (they SHOULD'VE been solved for the mini via a firmware upgrade, but Apple never bothered).

My guess is this was a one off dud unit, with maybe a faulty hard disc. I strongly doubt this is a serious issue with all classics.

I agree. I am simply stating that maybe the demo unit was playing Apple lossless files which would make the iPod stutter more. It is still playing them but, due to all the fast movement and clicking along with the high bitrate combination of ALAC, it caused the iPod to stutter for a little bit. As I said earlier, I can get my 5G iPod to freeze for a little bit if I push buttons fast enough while I am playing a video or lossless file. But how often do you find yourself pushing buttons that quickly (ie it seems like the OP was pushing the center button quickly just to push it without reading what came up on the screen)?

I have done a search on this and found a review that may just back up this claim:

the site states:

"Unfortunately, the iPod Classic was extremely disappointing. I wouldnt recommend it to anyone.

Its most significant problem is the sluggishness of simple actions."

"The iPod Classic stutters through every operation, including:

Adjusting the volume
Opening menus
Browsing lists
Changing tracks
Seeking within tracks"

"Not only does the interface lag and stutter, but the music skips. Its so bad that I assumed that the iPod I was testing was defective, so I tried others in the store and got identical results.

The worst offender is the new Cover Flow view in the Nano and Classic. Neither of them devote enough memory to caching the album art images, so scrolling through them isnt seamless youre just shown massive sections of question-mark art as it loads. On the Classic, the music skips like crazy"

I will link to this site I don't own it so it isnt self advertising...

http://www.marco.org/259

Seems that this may be a problem with the new classics... perhaps they will release an update that wil fix this ?

For what it's worth, I experienced the exact same painful experience with the 80GB classics in the store. However, my 160GB classic with almost 100GB of music has seen no stuttering issues at all. It's doubtful that the tracks on the in-store devices are lossless since Apple doesn't sell lossless files. I would guess that those tracks are 128kbps standard iTunes store tracks. I'm definitely curious to know whether the hardware is different from the 80GB to the 160GB... I was really worried that it would be worse on an iPod with lots more tracks, but so far I haven't seen any issues. The clickwheel is far more responsive at home than it was in the store, and the menus are also more responsive.

As for the blanks in Cover Flow, despite the fact that all my art work is present and correct, Cover Flow on both my mac mini and PC (1800mhz Athlon, half a gig off ram - not great but I'm guessing quite a lot better than an iPod) has never worked properly - and if I scroll quickly through it, it may as well not be there - just a bunch of musical notes until the scrolling stops and the buffer can work out what's supposed to be where.
Anyone buying an iPod for cover flow should think about going for the Touch, that, as far as the press goes, can at least manage it - though I'll only believe it when I see it in person.

My 160 gb classic is on its way and I really doubt, beyond the first hour or two, that Cover Flow will ever get turned on. It's a pointless and time consuming way to search through a hundred gigs plus of albums.

BTW - As lossless codecs are LESS compressed than lossy ones, they take up less processor time than more highly compressed codecs. Any performance difference will more likely due to reduced buffer space (lossless tracks taking up more space.)

No iPod to date has the get info (Ctrl-I) option. I wish it did.

I'm hoping that the Touch will have it. Does anyone know?

Does the iPhone have a get info option for songs?

I'm confused with the term stuttering here. It seems to be used in two different ways in the two "articles", or am I wrong? To me stuttering means the audio skips or stutters. But if the menus are sluggish perhaps another word should be used. In any case, I bought the 160 this morning and have not had these issues and I have filled it to capacity with predominantly high quality vbr mp3 files and iTunes store purchases - ranging from 6 to 20 mb a song. I did have sluggish response to the click wheel - but that was caused by the iSkin.

The audio stutter when browsing cover flow is real (and severe), but it goes away on a restart of the iPod. The interface also seems to restore some snappiness after a restart as well. My uneducated bet is that there is a memory leak in the version 1.0 software, and I hope it'll be fixed soon. For now a periodic restart seems to be all you need.

I have both the Nano III 8gb and the Classic 160 and they both have a low sensitivity while scrolling.

From what I've read "It's caused by software not hardware" and that "Apple is aware and working on it."

Again thats after hours of trying to restore sync 78gb of audiobooks, podcast, music and 40+gb of movies 7gb photos more than 4 - 6 times.

The solution that seems to be a quick fix is to "disable album art" option.

I'm trying that next.

(Apple should send a check to all of us for the arduous task of troubleshooting)

I agree with what someone mentioned here about stuttering Cover Flow on the computer. My mac mini never catches up with album art until I stop scrolling. I always assumed it was a hard drive issue. Not sure how annoying it would be on my ipod, but I had just got used to it on my desktop.