My iPod froze

Gentle Giant · October-10th-2006, 09:43 AM

HELP!!!! It's stuck on, and I can't get it to do anything. Tried connecting it to my iBook to see if that jarred it loose, but it doesn't show up in my iTunes (I'm getting iPissed!!!!). Has this happened to anyone before? What can I do? I'm afraid if I take it to an Apple Store I'll lose all the content and a buttload of money to boot.

FYI, it's stuck at the end of Rosalie, by Thin Lizzy.

moneyp · October-10th-2006, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gentle Giant

FYI, it's stuck at the end of Rosalie, by Thin Lizzy.

Well there's your problem.

Have you tried this?

Gentle Giant · October-10th-2006, 10:24 AM

YOU'RE A FREAKIN' GENIUS. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chris D · October-10th-2006, 10:25 AM

So you're back in "Fighting" shape?

Jazzooo · October-10th-2006, 10:44 AM

I have to say, as much as I love my iPod, it is hardly a sturdy appliance. Mine freezes on a single album at least once a week. I have to go through the reset procedure, often several times over a 24 hour period in order to get it back in shape. My Apple Care ran out last month--I'm going to call them and see if I can get them to send me a new one anyway.

Gentle Giant · October-10th-2006, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris D

So you're back in "Fighting" shape?

I'm Fighting My Way Back, am no longer contemplating Suicide, and my Spirit Slips Away no more! Furthermore, I've saved a Silver Dollar!

There's a movie about Phil Lynott in the works. I remember years ago there was word he was going to play Jimi Hendrix in a movie.

I'm hip about the suspect reliability and lifespan of the iPod, and it bums me out. I have a 30G video and I'm having to delete videos in order to fit new songs on it. I think I need one for rock and folk, one for jazz and classical, and one for videos and photos.

Clay Fink · October-10th-2006, 11:58 AM

I've had mine for 2 years and it's been trouble free. That is, until it froze-up about a week ago. I rebooted and it was fine.

patricia · October-10th-2006, 12:24 PM

Happened to me a while ago and I too thought all was lost. My daughter performed the "operation" described in the link and my I-Pod is once again up and running. WHEW!!

Scott Dolan · October-10th-2006, 12:43 PM

Couldn't you just yank the battery? Or does it still freeze once you put the battery back in?

I have an old and badly beaten Creative MuVo. It only holds about 4-5 hours worth(256mb?), but that little sucker has been rock solid from day one.

Borat Pri Hagafen · October-10th-2006, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gentle Giant

I'm hip about the suspect reliability and lifespan of the iPod, and it bums me out. I have a 30G video and I'm having to delete videos in order to fit new songs on it. I think I need one for rock and folk, one for jazz and classical, and one for videos and photos.

I've had my 2nd generation Ipod for at least 3 years now, with the only major problem due to my own lack of knowledge about how it works differently with a Mac than with a PC. My battery life isn't great, and there have been some minor issues along the way, but it's never stopped working.

There's no question that the biggest weakness of the ipod is reliability and durability, but if you put it in a case, update the software when itunes tells you to, and generally take good care of it, I think in most cases you'll be fine. Plus, there's a ton of good troubleshooting info available on the web, and you can usually find someone who has the exact same model as yours, with the exact same problem.

Jazzooo · October-10th-2006, 03:57 PM

"There's no question that the biggest weakness of the ipod is reliability and durability, but if you put it in a case, update the software when itunes tells you to, and generally take good care of it, I think in most cases you'll be fine."

i do all of this. The 'help' boards are filled with people who do everything right.

" Plus, there's a ton of good troubleshooting info available on the web.."

That's what i always thought, but last week i dug pretty deep and you know? The only actual advice ever offered, by Apple or anyone else is as follows:

Try re-set

if that doesn't work, try to update the software

If that doesn't work, call Apple for service options.

I didn't see one single bit of advice for people with frozen or skipping iPods that didn't fall into the ritual above.

Borat Pri Hagafen · October-10th-2006, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jazzooo

i do all of this. The 'help' boards are filled with people who do everything right.

last week i dug pretty deep and you know? The only actual advice ever offered, by Apple or anyone else is as follows:

Try re-set

if that doesn't work, try to update the software

If that doesn't work, call Apple for service options.

I didn't see one single bit of advice for people with frozen or skipping iPods that didn't fall into the ritual above.

Actually, the help boards are about 90% people who don't have the first clue about how to do anything, and about 10% who have legitimately difficult problems, as it sounds like you have.

If you've found no other advice besides reset, update and call, then you're not looking on the right help sites. In fact, if instead of giving me a hard time when I'm trying to help, you mentioned what generation ipod you have, what operating system you use, what itunes you use, and the specifics of the problem, I probably could've found some helpful info.

The fact that you may have a legitimate problem doesn't mean that "in most cases you'll be fine" if you take good care of it is a falsehood.

Gary Sisco · October-11th-2006, 08:19 PM

Well, this thread illustrates at least one reason why I'll never give up the tangible, physical-object formats for my music collection.

Paul B · October-11th-2006, 08:28 PM

Nor will I. Just had my turntable repaired, and my reel-to-reel deck. They'll still be working when the iPods are extinct and the next new thing has replaced them.

That said, I finally sprung for an iPod, mainly because anything that gets me listening to more music these days is good. The 2 gig Nano--the cheapest available except for the iPod Shuffle--holds more than anybody needs on any given day, and the flash chip beats the hard drives of the bigger pods which are, as Doug and GG found out, bound to give out eventually.

Bye-ya

Borat Pri Hagafen · October-11th-2006, 08:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul B

That said, I finally sprung for an iPod, mainly because anything that gets me listening to more music these days is good.

I have 6,697 tracks on my 30 GB. In the last 365 days, i've listened to 5,938 of them at least once. in the last 18 months, it jumps to 6,494.

I've said it many times, i'll say it again. It's all about the Smart Playlist. Best feature ever. I currently have 52 of them.

Jon Abbey · October-11th-2006, 08:54 PM

I was a late convert to the iPod (last fall), but it came in incredibly handy to DJ between sets of my festival at Tonic last weekend. I just ripped everything I wanted lossless, set up playlists, and the sound person just started one between each set. so much easier than toting a whole bunch of CDs there, not to mention last year I lost one OOP disc in the process.

Vince Kargatis · October-11th-2006, 08:59 PM

I've been seeing a number of freezes recently too. It could be the drive tanking, but I'm wondering if the latest ipod update isn't so backwards compatible with older rips. Seems to me (though I haven't verified) that the hangs are on older tracks, ones I ripped long ago with older software (some at least the crappy Xing). I also am having the very common 'restore' failure that iTunes 7 customers are having (and yes, I've searched plenty on the forums, no one has working answers).

John P. Cooper · October-11th-2006, 10:26 PM

New technology is evil!!!!

My records still play.....

My Heart Stood Still...

Still the Bluebird Sings....

chuckyd4 · October-12th-2006, 02:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Borat Pri Hagafen

I've said it many times, i'll say it again. It's all about the Smart Playlist. Best feature ever. I currently have 52 of them.

In the interest of my laziness, could you link me to some kind of tutorial about Smart Playlists? Though I've been a devoted iPod/iTunes user for a couple of years now, it's just one thing I've never really played around with. I'm curious as to what kind of options are available, and how it can enhance your listening experience.

Or you can tell me I'm a lazy fuckwit, and to go look it up myself.

Borat Pri Hagafen · October-12th-2006, 03:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuckyd4

In the interest of my laziness, could you link me to some kind of tutorial about Smart Playlists?

This should be helpful...
http://mp3.about.com/gi/dynamic/offs...ists/index.php

Smartplaylists.com also has some useful information.

Basically, they allow you to select songs by using whatever information you've provided. All of my tracks, for example, can be sorted by genre, rating (1 to 5 stars), artist, last played, # of times played, length, etc.

It's pretty confusing at first, but once you figure out how to combine 2 or more smart playlists, you'll be hooked. The "smart" refers to the fact that they update by themselves when you connect the Ipod to your computer. So, if you have a smart playlist of 'not played in the last month', and you listen to some of it, and then connect the Ipod to your computer, those songs you just heard will be removed from the list, and replaced by whatever else meets that criteria.

Anyway, let me know if you have any questions that i can help out with.

chuckyd4 · October-12th-2006, 03:29 AM

Borat, thanks. That link is incredibly helpful. I'm already getting excited thinking about when I'll finally be back in the States in two weeks, with access to my two 250 GB hard drives. I've been without them for 4 months, and the ~18 GB on my iPod is getting a bit tired.

Borat Pri Hagafen · October-12th-2006, 03:46 AM

Cool, glad to help. If you want any specific tips on building the smart playlists when you get back and get around to doing it, drop a post on here or feel free to send me a PM.

Another helpful tip is that you can rate songs while they're playing on your ipod. I have an older generation so it's probably different, but i just hit the enter button a couple of times, and after it gives you the option of lowering or raising the volume, it shows you the number of stars you've rated the song (or 5 little dots if you haven't rated it). Rating the songs well is the best way to make sure the smart playlists give you what you want. Anyway, if you have any questions when you get to it, let me know.

Gary Sisco · October-12th-2006, 07:21 AM

Paul B -- I'm with you, man. I like my little gizmo for when I'm working or driving but for real listening, it's the tangible objects, rekkids or CDs. I wish I still had my reel-to-reel, but I gave it away years ago to a tinkerer when I couldn't buy a spare capstan wheel for it anywhere locally. (pre-web)

The turntable lives!

Mostly thanks to those dreaded hip hoppers.

Jazzooo · October-12th-2006, 10:52 AM

"Actually, the help boards are about 90% people who don't have the first clue about how to do anything, and about 10% who have legitimately difficult problems, as it sounds like you have.

If you've found no other advice besides reset, update and call, then you're not looking on the right help sites."

I guess the Apple iPod help site isn't a good one?

" In fact, if instead of giving me a hard time when I'm trying to help, you mentioned what generation ipod you have, what operating system you use, what itunes you use, and the specifics of the problem, I probably could've found some helpful info.

The fact that you may have a legitimate problem doesn't mean that "in most cases you'll be fine" if you take good care of it is a falsehood."

I think it is.

I find it odd that you think me telling the truth about my own experience is 'giving you a hard time.' But I suppose with your attitude about people having problems ("they just don't have a clue") other peoples' problems can easily be attributed to them having a bad attitude or being stupid.

If think if you had had some legitmate problems with your own unit, you'd be a little mellower.

I keep my thing in a case. I follow the procedures--and yes, there really are only three things on the Apple site--re-set, reinstall, and call Apple for service--and they don't always work. If re-setting is supposed to be the big thing, why do I have to re-set 6, 7 10, 20 times to get it to work? I'm really not the only one.

I've owned my 60gig for just over a year. If my 'hard drive' is failing, then why? Seems pretty pathetic--365 days use of a drive.

Still, a great tool that has enhanced my life mightily.

Jazzooo · October-12th-2006, 10:56 AM

"In fact, if instead of giving me a hard time when I'm trying to help, you mentioned what generation ipod you have, what operating system you use, what itunes you use, and the specifics of the problem, I probably could've found some helpful info. "

What would you tell me, Borat? I have an iPod from Sept of 2005, a 60 gig, I had iTunes 6 and recently updated it to iTunes 7. I've described the symptoms--it freezes up and I have to reset it, at least once a week. And when I reset it, it almost never works the first through 10th time. I usually have to wait till the next day, then re-set it 5 or 6 times, and then it finally works.

What are you going to tell me to do, other than to re-set it, re-install iTunes, or call Apple?

Jon Abbey · October-12th-2006, 10:59 AM

the latest iTunes (not 7, but either 7.1 or 7.0.1) was glitchy, I believe, although I'm sure a search would reveal much more than I know.

Robert de St. Loup · October-12th-2006, 12:17 PM

iTunes 7 was notoriously buggy but 7.0.1 is supposed to be more stable. There is also a firmware update for the iPod itself, 1.2, which some have had problems with. I haven't had any problems but it's still early. Gapless playback is now available, but there is sometimes a very minor tick between cuts.

Noj · October-12th-2006, 12:38 PM

If I decide to upgrade my iPod to a 60gb model, is there any way to transfer the 4,000+ songs from my 20gb model so I don't have to import all of it over again? I don't store anything on my hard drive, and I haven't backed up any of the files digitally. It would be great if I didn't have to go through my whole collection again.

Borat Pri Hagafen · October-12th-2006, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noj

If I decide to upgrade my iPod to a 60gb model, is there any way to transfer the 4,000+ songs from my 20gb model so I don't have to import all of it over again? I don't store anything on my hard drive, and I haven't backed up any of the files digitally. It would be great if I didn't have to go through my whole collection again.

There's a free program you can download called ipodrip (or maybe ipod ripper) that allows you to copy tracks from your ipod into itunes. Once you've done that, you can import them into your new ipod.

chuckyd4 · October-12th-2006, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noj

If I decide to upgrade my iPod to a 60gb model, is there any way to transfer the 4,000+ songs from my 20gb model so I don't have to import all of it over again? I don't store anything on my hard drive, and I haven't backed up any of the files digitally. It would be great if I didn't have to go through my whole collection again.

This works pretty well for the kind of thing you're talking about.

Basically, you can transfer all (or bit by bit) the files off your iPod onto your computer or any external harddrive, then reload them onto the new one once you get it installed. That's the quickest fix I can think of.