Ipod Problems... (1 Viewer)

[MarkusP]

Its the headphones. I replaced mine with Sennheiser headphones and the difference in sound was immediate. I find the sound on the standard headphones to be tinny and thin as well.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I doubt you'll find many places that let you try earbuds (sanitary issues), but this site does have a 30 day return policy, less a restocking fee. Also, www.headfi.org is a forum dedicated to headphones. You'll find lots of suggestions and reviews on different models there.

 

[CraigL]

Markus,

which set do you have?

 

[Dan.AE]

You could always build/buy a little headphone amp. Here's a link to a do-it-yourself Chu Moy amp: www[DOT]dansdata.com/cmoy.htm (not enough posts yet to link... ug)
dansdata also reviewed a few other little amps of various quality, if you just do a quick search of his site.
I've got a 2nd generation ipod myself(one step over the click wheel), the battery on it is still going very well, and after having to replace a couple (I tend to have very bad luck) of bad HDs when I first bought it, it's been wonderfully reliable, even through a few drops onto not-so-soft surfaces. I personally find the headphone output to be rather weak. It drives my earbuds well, but anything larger just sounds terrible. Although your ipod SHOULD last more than a day on standby, if you want to make your battery last, make sure you turn it off (hold the play/pause button for 3 seconds). It has a fairly large ram buffer and when you just pause a song and let it turn off, it keeps that buffer in ram, which puts a bit of a drain on the battery. I found out fairly quickly that if I left it on standby all day/overnight, the battery'd be dead when I needed it the next morning.

But apparently the new ipods have even better battery capacity than the old ones, so ymmv.

 

[CraigL]

Well, my new one is working perfectly and actually lasted 5 days without recharging it so all is well.

Now if I could just get a fuller sound from it, I'd be thrilled. It's still much too weak for my ears. I bought a pair of more expensive sony headphones so we'll see how that works out.

 

[CraigL]

OK. I officially FUCKING HATE MY IPOD.

You may recall the problems i was having with the first Ipod I had. Well, today I was at the gym and the goddamn thing just died. It froze. Wouldn't play anything. Nothing would move. It wouldn't go on hold. Wouldn't do anything. eventually it finally cycled through a few things when I wasn't touching anything. I heard some clicking inside the thing...and then it just froze. Wouldn't move at all. Nothing.

I got home and tried to plug it in to the charger. Nothing.

I plugged it into my computer...and eventually it reset itself and everything seemed ok. About 3 hours later, I looked at it again and it was dead. same problem I had with the first one. Same "error" icon. Wouldn't move at all. I hooked it up to my computer...had to get my mp3 files off of it via windows explorer since itunes wouldn't do it for me. And now I just reset it. The apple screen came on...along with the backlight. It made the same clicking noise. And now the backlight is on...frozen...with a faint apple logo in the background...not moving.

I am so COMPLETELY fed up with these goddamn machines it's not even funny. I bought a case for it. I NEVER drop it. Never get it wet. Take complete care of it. And now this will be the second one I've been through in a month and a half. I want to just return it and get my money back at this point but Best Buy probably won't accept it as the 30 day policy is done. I'm going to try to go to an Apple store tomorrow and see what they can do. I'm just so fucking frustrated right now. :frowning: :frowning: :frowning:

 

[Wayde_R]

Hey Craig. Maybe they have a bad run of them at the BestBuy you went to. When you exchange it get one with a much higher serial number or something.

I used to have a Nomad Jukebox, loved it. Upgraded to iPod 20G and love it even more now.

I tested many headphones with it and have a real love for the Grado SR60, full sized geeky looking headphones I know, but I love 'em. Here's my review of the headphones.
http://www.hometheaterfocus.com/blog...05/27/200.aspx
Trust me, best sound headphones in the

 

[Randy C Sr]

It is not the IPOD being the problem with the sound. It is the headphones you are using. I went through the same thing. I tried a top of the line set of Sony earphones and did not like the sound from them either. It cost me but I finally found a set to do the sound justice. They are not cheap, but try Shure E3C Earphones. They have them @ Bestbuy. They are $179.99, but worth every cent. You'll hear things in the songs you did not know were there. The Bass is strong and undistorted, high's clear and clean too. Of course it will make a difference if you are ripping your music @ 128 or 192. The 192 takes more space on your IPOD but is closer to the sound of CD.

 

[CraigL]

I was actually ripping my music at at least 256. So that's not an issue. And I actually bought a pair of Sony headphones that helped A LOT...while it was still working.

But no...now we're officially screwed. I'm back to the same problem I had with my other one. Battery. The fuckin thing is dying after an hour of use. I had it charged ALL last night and woke up this morning to it still saying "charging." Then, when i unplugged it, it went from charging to charged. And then i pushed a button and it totally died. Said "no charge." Now, it won't do anything.

I fucking hate Apple and the Ipod. Now I have to go all the way downtown on my lunch break to the Apple store. I don't know what the hell to do any more. :frowning:

And yeah, a friend of mine said the same thing...maybe it was a bad run of them that Best Buy got.

 

[CraigL]

The other line of thinking is that maybe it got damaged while I was working out. I was doing cardio so it's possible that maybe all the shaking around messed it up. No?

 

[CraigL]

Well...I just returned from my apple store. Oy. I thought this couldn't get any worse.

A guy helped me as soon as I walked in and I told him what the problem was. He reformatted the disc drive and I asked him if that would help if it were a battery problem. I was told that 90% of battery problems are fixed by this. Usually it's just a big problem within the Ipod and this clears everything. Then I asked him about working out and he said that you should always wear it around your arm if you're going to work out. He didn't say that it definitely could have contributed but I could tell by his tone that it could have.

He rebooted it and gave me instructions on what to do when I got home. Then, the fun began. He couldn't get it disconnected. It had the "do not remove" screen on and was just hanging there. Wouldn't move even though he was done with the re-boot. Then he started listening to the machine, putting his ear right up to it. That's when i remembered something and was like "oh yeah, when it froze, it started clicking. And when I reset it manually, myself, it clicked like crazy again." That worried him. So it finally cleared and then he plugged it back in. The computer wouldn't even recognize it.

So he said, "you know what? why don't you come upstairs and have one of our people take a look at it." So i went up to their "nerd bar" or whatever it's called and they squeezed me in. One guy asked me what the problem was...and took my ipod and showed it to someone else. Although I didn't hear what they said, i saw the other guys reaction when he was told the problem...and when he looked at the machine. Not good.
Long story short...i waited for 50 minutes (30 minutes later than my lunch break allowed) and NEVER SAW ANYONE. When I left, there was still 4 people in front of me. They're completely booked for the rest of the day and god knows how long tomorow. I don't know WHEN I'm going to get this thing fixed. Maybe this weekend if i'm lucky. And if they tell me they have to send it away to fix it, i'm going to go apeshit on their asses.

I'm COMPLETELY fed up with Apple and their fucking Ipod.

 

[CraigL]

Oh...tonight it won't even charge. if you put your ear up to it, it keeps making a whirring noise that sounds like a cat meow-ing. its fast and then slow...fast and then slow. the screen is flickering and won't stay on. if i unplug it, it goes right to the "charge battery" screen.

And I spoke to a friend tonight who I haven't talked to in a while.

He's on his FOURTH ipod since March. Same problems as i described...just little differences. Had the same problem one of the times while at the gym. *sigh*

 

[CraigL]

an update:

Still broken. Can't access the ipod through my pc. And it's not charging.

I'm not going to the Apple store today because i don't feel like being on the news tonight.

I just want a new unit at this point...i'm completely fed up.

 

[Jonathan_Clarke]

Sounds like a rash of bad luck. A lot of iPods are defective out of the box but when you get one that works, it will usually work for a couple of years.

Just curious, have you tried charging it with the wall adapter? That will tell you if there's a software or hardware problem.

I've noticed lately that if you leave your iPod charging at the computer and your PC goes on standby, the iPod will stop charging and actually start USING its battery to stay alive. Silly but true. I tend to walk by and wake my PC up when it's charging. It's possible that your iPod charged then used its charge sitting at the PC.

And the hold option is VERY important. I can usually get four days of life from my iPod by putting it on hold every time I'm not listening to it.

 

[CraigL]

I always use the "hold" option. That's the problem. The battery dies just sitting on my desk...on hold. It will be gone in a matter of hours. :frowning:

I always charge the Ipod via the wall adapter.

 

[Peter Kim]

Stay the course. I'm a recent convert to iPod (40 gb iPod Photo) and mp3's in general. When I first bought my iPod, I immediately changed to an existing pair of Bang & Olufsen cans. I rip my cds @ alt preset extreme (256 VBR) using EAC & Lame.

I never tried canal phones, so I ordered the Sony MDR-EX81LP. I've been using them for about a month now and just felt so many of my songs were thin and/or tinny. The iPod's onboard presets were useless - introduced even more distortion. So I kept it flat. And vaguely dissatisfied.

After reading this thread tonight, I went back to the B&O's for the first time...and I was stunned to hear that what came out pleased me so much more. More full, more bass, less tinny. It was the earphones all this while.

So I've spent the last hour reading countless reviews on the Grados. I've given up on improving sound from the B&O's by going inner ear. There is nearly unanimous, resounding praise for the Grado line, particularly the SR 60. Plus the price is right too, at $69 many places.

Hopefully, Apple will replace your unit with one that works flawlessly. I had a few growing pains getting adjusted to the quirks of the iPod. Unfortunately there are others that have had much more significant problems.

Apple to offer $50 credit in iPod suit

 

[EricN]

Wow CraigL..... Man you have had a tough time of it. I have the ipod U2 version. It is about 6 months old. Never had a problem. I even have it in my car connected to the Alpine system via Alpines adapter and it is rocking great. Goodbye 6 CD magazine, hello ALL my cd's.

I do think that your Bass issues are due to your being used to the heavy Bass of the old CD players. I have a panasonic CD player somewhere around here that had the Bass Boost. Great Bass but not normal listening. Headphones are the secret. I have the Sennheiser 250's (noise canceling) and I like them very much. Even at 128 they have nice detail and plenty of Bass when necessary.

The only time the battery has gone out on me is when I have the ipod in a bag or a coat pocket where the wheel can be bumped intermittantly. This keeps it active. I soon learned to use the Hold button on top when I am not using it. Turn it off via the wheel and then set the hold button to the red side. No more burned out batteries.

I had an Archos MP3 for years and liked it, but this thing is so thoughtfully laid out via its software that I would never go back.

I hope you get hold of a good one.

Cheers!

 

[Michael Young]

I've had some of the problems you listed Craig.

the 1st Day I bought my 4th Gen 20GB iPod I dropped it in the car between my passanger seat, when I reached and pulled it out it left a nice scratch on the front of it. I didn't buy a case after that. Anyhow 3 months later I had issue's with the iPod. I couldn't plug it into any PC to update the music. If I wanted to update my playlist I had to do the reset trick then reflash. and add all the music through itunes.
When I sent it to apple, they took one glance said sorry cracked LCD and shipped it back to me. It had no such problem, it was just scratched. Anyhow I wanted a larger one anyway, so I went to Bestbuy and bought the 60GB photo, and THEIR 3 year Protection Plan, so I wouldn't have to deal with iPod.

After that I called a Apple tech, and begged him to look at it. I was able to ship it to him, and he took 2 weeks to look at it. after my repeatitive calling I think he mayor may not have looked at it, and shipped me a brand new one factory sealed. I sold that brand new one and now I have the 60GB Photo with the PSP from bestbuy. Which I bought w/ a case and have never removed it.

Basically you have to stay on them. Unfortunately if your only warranty is from Apple it won't be easy, they are always backed up, I see many iPod problems. They are tiny Computers and seems to be many Lemons out there. Consider yourself lucky though, There are no Apple stores here. Next time your in there don't mention any reason something could go wrong like cardio workout etc. Don't give them any reason to blame you for their hardware/software problem. They blamed me for their problem because of a scratch.

If anyone is considering buying an iPod. I highly suggest you buy it from any place that has a in store no questions asked type of Warranty. Like bestbuy 3 year PSP, if you have a problem they give you a new one in store, I know other stores have these as well. Also buy a Case right away, these will save your iPod from a drop, but most of all it keeps it unscratched so if Something does go wrong, you won't be blamed.

 

[CraigL]

FYI...just an update.

It failed the battery test and I got a new one on Saturday. No problems thus far.

To add insult to injury (if that's even possible at this point), they told me it would take a day. It turned out to be two...and I had to call them THREE times to get a status on it. No one even bothered to call me to tell me what happened or if it was available to be picked up or replaced.

 

[DaveF]

(Resurrecting this ancient thread rather than making a new one.)

Any suggestions for an iPod repair service that's cheaper than Apple?

I spilled coffee on my nano! I thought I was safe, since it still plays fine. But when I got home, I found that it won't connect to my Mac and no longer syncs. Not sure if it charges yet. Assuming it doesn't resurrect itself after drying out over night, any other suggestions?