[PodMan]

Quote:

Originally posted by minya This is bad, bad, bad bad BAD news. CRAP!!!! I just bid on an auction for an iPod and now I read this! Argh. I hope I hope I hope this doesn't happen to me and/or Apple fixes it. Please let me know if this problem persists. - Chris

95% of the mp3s on my ipod are encoded via LAME from my cds. Until this specific sample, I've never heard any popping or crackling artifacts from the iPod decoder. Don't worry, the ipod is an excellent machine overall.

 

[shaun3000]

Quote:

Originally posted by aos What's wrong with --r3_mix? It sounds very good to me and seems like a good balance of bitrate. Isn't standard preset even LESS bitrate than already somewhat low average of 168-192 that r3_mix generates? I don't want to end up with 128kbit/s mp3's, and also if these settings (including r3_mix) are chosen by majority vote, most people are not audiophiles.

--r3mix proces an average around 160

--alt-preset standard produces an average around 180

I just did a comparison, last night, and the --alt-preset standard came out in a higher bitrate than teh same song encoded with --r3mix. (The --alt-preset was also .6 mb larger. haha)

 

[Pat]

Just got a 10 gig iPod (PC). No pops, no clicks, no artifacts. I'm using lame 3.90.2 (Dibrom's compile) with --alt-preset standard.

 

[PianoBlack]

...I have a similar problem with my 20 gig ipod, using lame 3.92 and a setting I looked up here... something like --b something. ...I changed it recently to the --alt setting but haven't encoded any mp3s yet.

The songs sound very harsh, like the singer's in bitter-tasting water. Shrillish and tinny...these are for all the songs I ripped with Exact Audio Copy and lame 3.92: from A Tribe Called Quest to John Mayer to Saint-Saens.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Could be your setting was bad...

 

[Ken Takahashi]

Using the "High Quality" setting in iTunes, which says "96kbps (mono)/192 kbps (stereo), normal stereo, using Velocity, using MP.", I haven't had any of the problems described above. Previously I had noticed some distortion but it disappeared when I turned off Sound Check.

 

[leon]

Not saying this IS my opinion, but I was ripping CDs today and I was thinking.. could this be a joint stereo versus normal stereo case?

 

[Taphil]

-alt-standard settings use JS. So it could be JS that's causing the popping sounds, but it's still the iPod that's having problems decoding it.

 

[leon]

I'm back... and I seriously hope it's just fatigue kicking in, it's 1am now.

I ripped a number of AIFF files and moved them to the iPod - wanted to try out the battery life with uncompressed files. Quite a few of them (3/4 of those heard so far) have pops literally sprinkled on throughout playback, especially obvious with the piano solos.

Thought I'd share, and I kinda hope noone has the same experience

 

[FrostyMMB]

I have a hard time believing that all of this is the fault of the iPod. Naturally because everything is well and good with the playback on mine. If you get pops and clicks with AIFF rips, I could believe it being an error during the ripping with the speed of the rip or a blemish on the CD.

If you think you have a problem with your iPod, type up your problem to Apple with the link below. If you're still under warranty, you'll get free repairs/service/replacement.

http://customer.apple.com/productser...erviceType.jsp

I haven't read of it in this thread yet, but I can see it coming—I'd hope that people wouldn't just turn on a company because something isn't perfect FOR THEM when it is for most others. I especially enjoy when people read of an uncommon problem and proceed to flip out and speak of coming disaster for their own purchase. Enough.

All I had to do to get a replacement iPod case was tell them that mine was broke. Got a new one at my doorstep five days later, cost me not a single penny. I can imagine anyone else's experience would be just as smooth.

 

[leon]

Frosty,
How can I put this politely?

If it was about the iPod not being perfect for ME, I would have naturally used a very different tone (the Ralph Nader tone, perhaps?). It is not my intention to push people away from this thing, if anything I want as many people to embrace it as possible. I do like this thing a lot.

Just because you haven't perceived it with your senses, doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't exist. That's like suggesting a 60-year old with not-so-good ears has the right to say no sound exists beyond the highest frequency that his ears could perceive.

I don't see the iPod as a means of serving my ego, and I hope it doesn't serve anyone's. Yours.

To round off what I started: I did start hearing pops and crackles with the other files, which means I'll spend a lot of time experimenting with my iPod. No further comments from me for now.

 

[Pat]

I'd like to hear these pops and clicks. So far, my iPod has been flawless. Tell me which CDs these problematic samples originated from and I'll rip and encode them myself (there are too many variables bypassed if I just download premade samples). If I hear artifacts, maybe then I'll join your camp.

I've had ZERO problems:
-Ripping with EAC v0.9 beta 4
-Encoding with LAME v3.90.2 (--alt-preset standard)
-Transferring with ephPod
-Using iPod firmware version 1.2




Why am I up during this ungodly hour? Waiting for Santa, of course.

 

[Apollo]

Hi,
I use EAC and LAME 3.93, and I'm Getting exellent sound quality on my iPod...

It's brand new anv version 1.2 I think...

I've noticed that the 1. CD I rip after starting my computer gets up to about 8x, but the speed quickly goes down if I try to rip more CD's...

 

[ehlfg]

I've also noticed clicks and pops that occur during playback on my iPod but not on my computer. In my case, the MP3 was encoded by MusicMatch (Fraunhofer FastEnc) rather than LAME.

One track showing this problem is "Dimming Of The Day" on Linda Thompson's "Dreams Fly Away" album. There are a number of annoying clicks and pops about three minutes into the song.

My setup:
- Ripper: Plextor Audio Capture with error correction on maximum
- Encoder: MusicMatch 7.5.1026 (Fraunhofer FastEnc)
- 256kbps CBR (Joint Stereo according to EncSpot)
- iPod firmware 1.2.1

Plextor Audio Capture is a high-quality ripper that is supposed to take special advantage of Plextor features for error correction. I prefer to use it over EAC, as I suspect it takes better advantage of my Plextor.

The resulting MP3 sounds fine when played by MusicMatch on my computer, but it has pops and clicks on the iPod. That looks like an iPod problem to me.

As another test, I encoded the same track using the LAME 3.92 plugin for Media Jukebox 8. That sounded fine on both my computer and iPod.

 

[ehlfg]

Hmm -- upon more careful listening, the LAME 3.92 CBR version also clicks and pops quite a bit on the iPod.

Based on my experience, the iPod 1.2.1 decoder does seem to have problems with some MP3s.