Apple Lossless Errors on Ipod & MinIpod

[vranswer]

Here's another odd symptom of the Apple Lossless format. Ripped the new Skinny Puppy CD to WAV (using CDeX) then converted to Apple Lossless in Itunes. Sound quality is superior indeed, but a strange hiccup occurs during playback. On my Ipod, when it starts playing track 3 it skips the entire track and goes to track 4. I recently exchanged my first Ipod for this current one because the first one had some freezing problems which I deem unacceptable. The interesting thing here is both Ipods behaved exactly the same way - skipping track 3 after playing it for just a few seconds and playing track 4.

Software or firmware problem you say? Perhaps, but the plot thickens. The same CD on my minIpod plays straight through with no problem at all. Same music files loaded onto the device. I've already settled for the fact that I get occasional audio skips within songs with Apple's lossless codec..it in fact doesn't really faze me because I'm so enamored with the SQ. I just thought this wierd discrepency between the two Ipods to be of interest.

 

[psychogentoo]

According to Apple Care, the hiccups maybe due to disk fragmentation. They suggest restoring the iPod to the factory settings and reloading the music.

If it is a disk fragmentation issue then the AIFF and WAV users would have noticed before....

Anyone listening to AIFF or WAV come across the Apple Lossless "hiccup"?

 

[Phil Ramsay]

I've had a lot of 'hiccups' when using the Apple Lossless codec too... Enough to keep me from using the format as much as I'd like to.

I've listened to some .wav files, but didn't keep them on my 3 gen iPod long enough to notice any similar problems. I mostly used .wav earlier, before Lossless was available (and maybe before my iPod got so fragmented?)

I do like the sound quality of Apple Lossless - It would be great to have it less buggy...

I think I'll try the defrag strategy to see if it helps.

 

[vranswer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil Ramsay I've had a lot of 'hiccups' when using the Apple Lossless codec too... Enough to keep me from using the format as much as I'd like to. I've listened to some .wav files, but didn't keep them on my 3 gen iPod long enough to notice any similar problems. I mostly used .wav earlier, before Lossless was available (and maybe before my iPod got so fragmented?) I do like the sound quality of Apple Lossless - It would be great to have it less buggy... I think I'll try the defrag strategy to see if it helps.

Whoaa, hold up!

The problem I noted at the beginning of this thread came on the very first play ever of the above-mentioned Ipod. It was brand new and loaded for the first time with my library and then played. Should have been no fragmentation IMHO.

 

[Spankypoo]

I've encountered the track skipping problem, but never with ALAC - only on LAME-encoded files. (All VBR.) Odd.

I encode long classical works as one file (for several reasons - gapless being one, but also to preserve it as a work and not just a collection of 'songs' - kind of an artistic preference), and occasionally on the longer pieces (>20 minutes) I get pauses as the buffer empties. (3G iPod.) Could this also be due to fragmentation, or is the iPod Maxi's decoder just barely fast enough to cope and has occasional hiccups?

Wonder if it'd happen on the Mini...

 

[vranswer]

No, my Ipod Mini doesn't skip tracks (see above). It does have the occasional skip within a song.

 

[psychogentoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vranswer Whoaa, hold up! The problem I noted at the beginning of this thread came on the very first play ever of the above-mentioned Ipod. It was brand new and loaded for the first time with my library and then played. Should have been no fragmentation IMHO.

If it is a brand new iPod, then you're right. There shouldn't have been any fragmentation.

I'm still not sure if the fragmentation is the cause of the "hiccups" as Apple suggests. I did notice one hiccup today after reloading the music. I'm going to re-rip some of my music into AIFF and WAV tonight to test to see if the "hiccups" exist.