MP3 Will not play on iPod until played in iTunes
Please choose the appropriate forum for this topic. Thank you. This is bizarre: I have put some MP3 files on my iPod (4th Gen./40GB) only to find that they do not play (iPod keeps skipping tracks in the album until it gets to one it can play).
Out of curiosity, I decided to try to play the songs on the iPod from within iTunes (i manually sync and play my collection from the iPod on my laptop). Strangely, the songs play fine from within iTunes. What's even weirder, is now the songs play fine on the iPod all by itself.
So, after I play the tracks ON THE IPOD FORM WITHIN ITUNES, everything is fine, but I don't want to have to do that for every album that has this problem (I have had 3 so far that have done it).
I imagine it has something to do with the ID3 tags as that is the only thing I can think of that could be modified when a file is played that could cause the iPod to barf on it.
Anyone else have this problem?
# 1 Re: MP3 Will not play on iPod until played in iTunes
-Where did you get the songs from?
-How did you import them into the iTunes library before the transfer to the iPod?
-songs imported from a CD or
-transfered into iTunes from another app
It makes a differece how you import the songs and whether they are from a CD or downloaded from some website and just transfered into iTunes.
When I transfered songs I had downloaded from the old mp3.com site I had a lot of problems when I just transfered the songs to the iTunes library. When I got the CD's I had burned the songs to and imported them from a CD it solved the problems and iTunes recognized the songs.
# 2 Re: MP3 Will not play on iPod until played in iTunes
-I got the songs form various sources. 1 album that would not play was ripped with Windows Media Player 9 into MP3 format and another album was ripped with CDex using Lame.
-I transfer all my songs the same way: I open iTunes and I drag the folders containing the MP3 files onto the iTunes window (with the iPod library showing)
Just to be clear, these songs transfer just fine. The just don't play on the iPod alone until I play them with iTunes first (remember, I only use my iPod to play music, I do not keep the files mirrored on my laptop). In other words, they are ON the iPod and I can clearly see the album in the "artist" view, but when I try to play the first song, the iPod just starts skipping through the songs. I then MOUNT my iPod in iTunes on my laptop and the entire album plays fine. From that moment on, the song plays fine (even playing it straight from the iPod). It's as though the act of playing the file in iTunes makes a change to file that makes itr playable on the iPod alone. Wierd, eh?
# 3 Re: MP3 Will not play on iPod until played in iTunes
Oh, by the way, thanks for the suggestion of using iTunes to rip my CDs, but I prefer using the Lame codec, which iTunes does not seem to support.
# 4 Re: MP3 Will not play on iPod until played in iTunes
I manage my iPod on manual also. Try using iTunes to do the importing instead of CDex or WMP and see if that solves the problem.
The songs file location my be the problem. When you rip with another app the songs are not going into the iTunes folder where the music is kept so it will not recognize the songs until you play them. That puts the song file into the itunes folder where itunes can find the file. Open itunes after you rip and use the File>Add folder to library to import the songs to the iTunes library.
# 5 Re: MP3 Will not play on iPod until played in iTunes
I don't keep anything in my iTunes folder. Zero. The only files in my iTunes folder are "iTunes 4 Music Library.itl" and "iTunes Music Library.xml". The only thing I use iTunes for is managing my iPod (it works well for that).
I keep all my MP3s on an external Firewire/USB hard drive, so it's a little inconvenent to have to attach the external HD and iPod all the time (which I would have to do to allow iTunes to manage my library).
I'm not sure why the song's location on the computer would keep it from playing on the iPod.
# 6 Re: MP3 Will not play on iPod until played in iTunes
iTunes has to be pointing toware the external HD where the music is to be able to locate it. You can either connect or when adding new music add it to iTunes first then to the iPod before you transfer it to the ext HD. The song must be in iTunes before transfering to the iPod or use some other app to transfer to the iPod.
See if this app helps YamiPod (http://www.yamipod.com/yam_main.html) It goes on the iPod HD and you can transfer songs to and from the iPod with it.
# 7 Re: MP3 Will not play on iPod until played in iTunes
The song must be in iTunes before transfering to the iPod
Actually, it does not. I never add songs to the library. EVER. Here's what i do:
1. I rip the CD using CDdex on my laptop. (CDex allows me to use the Paranoia ripping library and LAME to encode my MP3s. I am not willing to change this. iTunes cannot hold a candle to CDex as far as ripping and encoding. It is faster, it NEVER messes up, and the encoded files are PERFECT, every time. iTunes may be great as well, but I have been using CDex and LAME for a long time and they work VERY well. I have looked at iTunes encoding options and they do not offer anyhting close to the flexability of the Cdex/LAME combo as far as VBR/CBR settings, jitter correction, etc...)
2. I open iTunes with my iPod attached. iTunes sees iPod. I click on iPod icon on left side. The library pane is now showing the contents of my iPod (not my library, which does not exist, it is showing MY IPOD. I can see ratings that I made while I was away from my computer, I can see playcounts, etc). To reiterate: until my iPod is connected, iTunes shows NO SONGS.
3. I open the folder I ripped the MP3 files to. I drag the folder onto the iTunes window. iTunes preps the files for a second and begins the transfer.
4. Now, MOST OF THE TIME I can disconnect my iPod, pop on my earphones, and go for a walk listening to the music I just put on my iPod. However, ONCE IN A WHILE when I go to play the album, the ipod will try to load the first song on the album and it will barf and try to load song 2 on the album. Sometimes it will get to track 9 or 10 and THAT song will play, but most of the time, it simply skips thru all the songs.
5. I reconnect my iPod to the computer. I load iTunes. I mount my iPod in iTunes. Everything I do from this point on is ON THE IPOD. I click on the first song in the album (ON MY IPOD, NOT in the library which has NO FILES). The song plays fine. So does the rest of the album. I have done NO TRANSFERRING during this iTunes session, just playing. I UNMOUNT the ipod. I disconnect the IPod from the computer.
6. Magically, now the entire album that wouldnt play on my ipod just a moment before (while I was on my walk) will now play just fine.
