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[dbett]

I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing periodic freezes on their 3G iPod.

My 40gb will simply stop responding to inputs everyone once in a while.  Usually it happens when playing a long playlist (500 songs).  Most of the time if I wait for 5-20 seconds, the inputs will be processed - eg it will fast forward to the next song, or go to the menu.

I'm not sure if this is an iPod hardware issue, or if it could be related to formatting the iPod for MC.

Anyone?

[SteveG]

dbett,

Hopefully others will chime in, but I do not think this is a MC issue.  The format for MC involves the database but not the hardware. If others report similar results I will chase it further, but I have not heard of this issue before.

Steve

[dbett]

Thanks Steve.

I'm wondering if it could be an issue involving the MC database on the iPod that is used to store rating information.  The more I think about when the problem occurs, it seems to happen after I've rated a bunch of songs on the iPod (I'm slowly going through 4,000 songs and rating them).  

Once I upload that data the problem seems to go away - or at least I didn't have an issue this morning after uploading the ratings over the weekend.

A thought maybe (and a light at the end of the tunnel for me since I won't be doing a lot of rating for that much longer).

Thanks for the response.

[SteveG]

dbett,

When rating songs on iPod, iPod writes the information into a file which MC then reads to get the information into MC. If you have the problem when iPod is disconnected, MC is not involved with the writing of that file or how iPod interacts with it.

As an aside, have you considered the possibility of rating the songs in MC and then synching the files/ratings to iPod rather than going through song by song on iPod?

Steve

[dbett]

dbett,

When rating songs on iPod, iPod writes the information into a file which MC then reads to get the information into MC. If you have the problem when iPod is disconnected, MC is not involved with the writing of that file or how iPod interacts with it.

Is that a default iPod file, or does the MC "formatting" of the iPod modify it in some way, or modify how the iPod interacts with it?

Just fishing here.  :)

As an aside, have you considered the possibility of rating the songs in MC and then synching the files/ratings to iPod rather than going through song by song on iPod?

Steve

That wouldn't work for me.  My system is to create a 250 song playlist that is a random set of songs from selected albums, and that (1) have no rating yet and (2) haven't been listened to in over a week.  Then when I'm in the car (which is where I do 90% of my iPod listening), I listen to that Playlist and songs I like are rated between 3 and 5.    Songs that have encoding errors get 1 star so I know I need to rerip them.  2 Stars are reserved for stuff I really hate.  If I don't like the song, I just fast forward without rating it.

Every time I synch, that Playlist is recreated so I constantly have a new set of songs to rate.

Then when I upload the ratings, I update my "3+ Star" and "4+ Star" Playlists.  5 stars are reserved for stuff I want to add to a mix CD - after I make the mix CD, I reset the 5 Star songs back to 3 or 4 as appropriate.   So then the 3+ and 4+ Playlists are what I listen to when I don't feel like rating songs - just the stuff I like.

Here's my car setup that makes this very easy:




Thanks again for the help.

[Streaker]

I also have the same sporadically unresponsive UI problem with my 3G iPod, and I have found no answer as to why it is happening.  I haven't found any correlation with large playlists or ratings.  The unresponsiveness often occurs when I fast forward to a new song then a few seconds later fast forward to the next song.

My iPod is also formatted with MC though I've never tried it any other way, so I can't say if MC is the culprit - I have pretty much been assuming it was a hardware/firmware issue.  I'd been meaning to reformat it and experiment with syncing with itunes to see if the problem still exists, but in the last two months I moved cross-country (to J River land - Minneapolis, MN) and had a baby, so my audio geekery has taken a back-burner for a while.

Anyone else seeing or heard of this problem?

[dbett]

I also have the same sporadically unresponsive UI problem with my 3G iPod, and I have found no answer as to why it is happening.

Sounds similar to my problem - especially the fast forward delay.

Are you rating songs on the iPod at all?

Thanks.

[SteveG]

Is that a default iPod file, or does the MC "formatting" of the iPod modify it in some way, or modify how the iPod interacts with it?

Yes, it is a default file. MC reads it to get the information from it. If you change a rating on iPod while the iPod is disconnected, the file gets rewritten by iPod, so I think it is unlikely that MC is to blame. Perhaps try recreating the problem after using iTunes and if it appears to go away, I will chase it further. I have a theory on how it is possible that MC would cause the problem, but it is pretty far out.

Thanks for the explanation of how you do your ratings. All of that rating with a stick shift even!!!! Wow. Tell me you are doing city driving at the same time and I will be even more impressed. How do you have a hand free to flip off pedestrians

Streaker,

As with the above, if you could test with iTunes and see if the problem goes away, that would help me decide if I should continue to dig for a possible problem. Thanks and congrats on the new bundle of joy and welcome to the Twin Cities.

Steve

[dbett]

Thanks Steve.

Not sure I'll get the chance in the near future to switch over to iTunes, but if the problem persists (with frequent synchs to clear out the ratings file on the iPod), I probably will give it a try.  I'll post a follow up to this thread with any more information.

BTW, can I simply export/import the MC smart playlists from MC into iTunes?

And, I luckily do mostly highway driving.  So I can steer with my knees while rating songs and still have a free hand to communicate with other drivers.  

[SteveG]

dbett,

There is not a way to export the MC smartlists into iTunes. I will test some on this as well and see if I can replicate it. I have never noticed this before. Thanks for any additional info you can provide. BTW, we here at JRiver fully support good road etiquette so all the best to you.

Steve

[dbett]

dbett,

There is not a way to export the MC smartlists into iTunes.

That's what I figured.  At least I will still have the ratings so I can recreate the "static" 3+ and 4+ playlists.

Thanks yet again.

[rvdbrand]

"The unresponsiveness often occurs when I fast forward to a new song then a few seconds later fast forward to the next song."

I have this problem with my 3G ipod, it happened as i was getting on the tube to work on tuesday (4th of jan 2005). I have tried resetting and holding down various buttons. the problem is only apparent when i try to play music; i can access the calendar and play games and other stuff, but the moment i try to play music, it sticks.
I don't use MC, only itunes.

Please Help! I don't want my ipod to be simply an expensive, solitaire playing paperweight!

Thanks,

r