**** you, ipodFollow

So I know these things are all the rage, and I won't deny how handy they are, but my ipod is driving me nuts. We use my ipod with the little speaker attachment to play a mix during parties and such at our house (the speaker attachment is surprisingly powerful). It works great, up until my ipod inevitably freezes up, from overheating, I'd wager. It literally happens about 1/3 of the time. After mine freezes, we usually fall back on one of my friend's ipods, but sometimes they freeze up as well. It's very irritating and awkward when you're hosting a big party, then all of a sudden the music just dies.

I have one of the earlier versions of the ipod, and I feel like maybe they were rushed to market a bit too quick to avoid these kinds bugs. The fact that this thing doesn't even have a power/reset button is absurdly stupid, and just exacerbates any problem.

So has anyone had any similar problems with them? Or has the technology improved a bit as far as reliability goes since their release? I'm also curious if anyone uses an alternative to the ipod, and if they're any better or worse.


+10 points for using the word "exacerbate"

Grats?

What an odd thing to point out...

The nano doesn't quite cut it as far as space goes for my purposes. I keep a lot of my friends' music on my ipod, since they like to hear their stuff come on during parties, too. So I've got a pretty large amount of music on mine.



Yeah I might break out my dad's old vinyl stuff. It was reliable, at least. I'm at verge of contemplating thinking about perhaps considering maybe writing an angry letter to Apple about this damned thing. I'm quick to take action like that.

I still use a stereo. But I want an iPod for my own use when I go walking or I'm at work.

I have a Creative Zen Micro and I just love it!

I have the 5GB version and I have no complaints about it. Like Pandorra said - it's got a built in FM radio and it also has a voice recorder. It can also be used as a removeable storage device and it can sync with Outlook.

It can also be used with various subscription music services - if you are so inclined.

One of the best things about it though is that it has a removeable, replaceable battery.

I like it so much better than an Ipod.

Yeah ^-^ other then songs not legally avaliable within the US or through import - I use yahoo music unlimited which works like a dream!

The replaceable battery is awesome! I use it for classes when our professor decides to drone on and at work when I have to roll like, a ton of silverware (waitress) so I tend to run through them fast enough (the battery life is actually not to shabby but all my professors drone on a lot =P lol - though like most Mp3 players, the backlight cuts the life down quite a bit =/ but you can normally see the screen pretty easily even in low lighting so it's not really needed all to often)

Edited, Sun Nov 27 18:28:15 2005 by Pandorra

I have the click wheel 20GB iPod. (no color)

Every once in awhile my iPod starts acting up, freezing in the middle of the songs, etc, and when I try to restart it, it just gives me the folder symbol, and my computer refuses to recognize it, even if the iPod is in disc mode.

Awhile ago, I could not get it out of this, and got it replaced (warranty could not cover it), but not before the tech gave me grief about the tiny indentations on the back, saying that they damaged the hard drive and that it would take one hell of an impact to cause that. Fortunately, they still replaced it. I also got the AppleCare plan to extend my warranty, as I had only had the old one for six months before it became unusable.

So, about a month ago, with my replaced iPod, I got the same problem. Songs started freezing in the middle, skipping, and when resetted, I got the ugly, ugly, folder symbol. And, of course, my computer refused to recognize it, so I couldn't restore it.

I called up tech support (it was a ***** finding the number to call, believe me, after scouring the website for about 10 minutes, I gave up, spent another 15 mins digging out my AppleCare box, which had the number printed on it) and after some debate with the tech guy, describing of issues, attempts to reset my iPod, etc., I told him that I have USB 1.0 instead of 2.0 in my comp, and the guy told me that that was what caused the problem.

Bulls[b][/b]hit. I had used the iPod with 1.0 the entire time, and the USB itself never caused any problems whatsoever. And, if I remember correctly, the only difference from 1.0 to 2.0 is that there is a speed increase. (correct me if I'm wrong) I sighed, hung up the phone, and proceeded to reset my iPod continuously for about 20 mins, which eventually got it to work just fine again. Don't ask me why, I have no idea.

Just a random rant to get off my chest, glad to see I'm not the only one having problems with iPod.

You could pick up a $5 desktop fan and point it at the ipod when you're letting it run for extended periods. Also do not leave it on a soft surface like a couch as that tends to hold the heat in.

I have a 2nd Gen iPod mini (silver, if you care). It has never overheated or locked up. There used to be a bug involving fast-forwarding but they fixed that in one of the updates. As a matter of fact, the ipod is always cold to the touch. I've run it for 8-10 hours non-stop before with no issues. I do leave it on a hard surface and not a surface that will hold heat, so that could help. Only once have I had a problem with the computer not recognizing the iPod. I just unplugged it and plugged it back in and the problem went away.

I highly recomend the mini. I have the 4GB version and put a few days worth of audio books on it at a time. Sucks that you guys have ahd problems with them though.

Good fu[b][/b]cking find mi amigo! I will probably order it some time today. You know of any success/failure stories using this product? Any tips or tricks?

I have a 3'rd generation click wheel Ipod (10GB that isn't made anymore). I had a bunch of problems with mine for a while. The battery would drain REALLLLLY fast, I am talking an hour of playtime with no backlight on. The only option I was using was the EQ (which apparently uses a lot of battery).

One of the solutions I found to the battery problem was a little factoid I dug up on the Apple site. According to them you really should make sure all the songs on your Ipod are encoded at 128kbps size. They claim that this is the target size for the buffering scheme they use. If the files are encoded at a larger rate, the Ipod needs to buffer more and eats more battery.

The problem is, people encode things at all kinds of different rates. I used to rip my own stuff to 192kbps. There was no way I was gonna re-encode my entire library just to put it on my Ipod. Then I came across this nifty program

http://www.redchairsoftware.com/anapod/

Anapod Explorer functions just like windows explorer does. It shows you all the folders and subfolders within your Ipod. The other useful function was one they call Audiomorph. With Audiomorph you can set it up so that when you transfer files, no matter what KBPS they are encoded at it will (if it needs to) re-encode them on the fly to 128kbps. Needless to say this helped my battery life a bit.

As for the freeze ups you are having... this might play a part in the problem. You can always install your own hard drive in them yourself. www.ipodlounge.com has plenty of posts on how to do it. You can also change the battery yourself. It is very easy. I did my own in 10 minutes. The whole thing about the battery not being replaceable is a LIE. Anyone who can use a screwdriver can do it.