iPod problems

ICE, Equipment, Options
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fat controller
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Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2015 7:22 pm

Post by fat controller »

I have an iPod Classic which I have pressed back into service rather than going for a larger USB stick, firstly because it holds a hell of a lot more than a stick would, and because I already have it so there is no cost involved.

Pre-Christmas, I used it a few times in the car and it worked quite well - if anything the sound quality was a bit better than it was from USB, however there was the odd hiccup where it would seem to hang/stop working; over Christmas, I spent quite a lot of time sorting out our iTunes Library (it had gotten into a bit of a mess, as I kinda fell out with iTunes a while back) which then meant that the iPod was essentially formatted and started again from scratch.

I have tried the iPod in the car yesterday, and again today, and both times it has hung - it gets to the end of a track and then hangs there with the time not counting; if I then press skip it clears the screen as if it is going to skip, but then sits there with a blank screen. I can flick back to radio, which works, but plugging and unplugging the iPod or switching the Connect unit off makes no difference; I even tried switching the engine off and opening the driver's door today whilst at the traffic lights, but it still wouldn't talk to the iPod. The other thing I have noticed is that it never seems to fully load the index before it hangs (think it got to about 21% yesterday, and 49% today).

The iPod plays fine when not connected to the car, and Mrs C has an identical iPod with the identical iTunes library which also plays just fine (haven't tried it in the car yet).

Is there any known issues with the Connect and iPods?
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fat controller
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Post by fat controller »

Well, it transpires that it may indeed be the iPod that is poorly, as it threw a wobbler twice whilst at work today - as I type, I am restoring it to factory settings and will try again.
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Bpirie1000
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Post by Bpirie1000 »

I tunes latest softwAre did this to my iPod,
Spent hours putting every cd on my massicve iPod classic..

Now won't let me access it due to iTunes software....

Lost the plot after it deleted all my cd collection......
Apple said... Your mistake.. Nothing they would look at.....

Thanks apple...... After all I have spent with you........
fat controller
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Post by fat controller »

I had a hell of a time with the iPod on Friday - it was skipping songs, freezing and rebooting even when it was sat totally still on my desk. Things were no better in the car when it was up to the same antics as well as disconnecting completely a few times (as though I had hauled the plug out); it was so bad that it caused the Connect unit to reboot at one point.

When I got it back indoors, I connected it to the PC whilst having a File explorer window open - the iPod would momentarily appear, then disappear. I disabled Auto Sync, and tried again - same thing. Even managed to right click and select properties, and the properties window came up; however, when I tried to do anything else I got an error message stating that the drive was not connected. Long story short, I spent quite a lot of time on Friday evening getting the thing to work, and the process is quite convoluted

First step is to check to see if the hard drive is healthy - I won't go into chapter and verse here, but I am happy to give more detail if it is needed.

Then:
- Make sure you have all your media backed up and/or saved on your PC hard drive
- Make sure auto sync has been disabled
- Make sure your anti-virus software is not set to scan external drives every time they are connected
- Restore the iPod from within iTunes
- Enable disc use
- Eject and unplug iPod, and close iTunes
- Reconnect iPod and open a File Explorer window
- Right click the iPod which will be showing as an external drive, and select Format
- Click on the button that says 'Restore Device Defaults'
- Click format
- Eject and disconnect the iPod, and close the File Explorer window
- Reconnect the iPod and iTunes should start, and it is likely to chuck up a warning that the iPod is corrupt
- Restore the iPod from within iTunes

Then you are ready to start re-syncing your media - however, do not do it all at once, but rather in 10Gb chunks checking that all is working between chunks (this is done with a smart playlist - again, if you need me to expand on this, please ask); apparently, transferring an entire iTunes library all at once can cause problems with iPod Classics.

I haven't tried mine in the car yet, but I have had it playing for hours and hours on headphones and it hasn't missed a beat so far (touch wood);

I'll try it in the car over the next few days and will post back
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fat controller
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Post by fat controller »

Thought I would bring this one up to date, in case anyone ever follows in my footsteps.

After a further week of faffing around with the iPod, I arrived at the conclusion that there was a fair chance that the hard drive was on its last knockings, so I bought an iFlash conversion bundle to change it over to SDXC card, and added fitted it with a 128gb SD card. Whilst I was at it, I popped a new battery in as well.

The card and bundle work fine, however the fault remains with the iPod, thus meaning that the only thing left to replace is the motherboard - £70 if you can get one, and they are like hobby-horse dung on Mars. Besides, I am already £70 out of pocket on the other bits, so it was starting to look expensive.

So, I have changed tack - I had a very old laptop (long since dead) lying around, so I whipped the 250gb drive out of that and popped it into a caddy that cost all of £5 from Amazon. Formatted to FAT32 (AOMEI Partition Tools helps with this, as Windows 10 doesn't offer the option for FAT32), and then put the nearly 90gb of music onto it.

I have tried it in the car today, as well as in my office, and it works a treat - much faster than the iPod ever was. My only concern now is that I have a hard drive with spinning discs in a car going over all sorts of road surfaces.... so, my plan is to get a USB SDXC card reader and use the 128gb card (already FAT32) from the iPod and use that in the car, and the hard drive can live in my office attached to my PC for music there.
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Deleted User 2899

Post by Deleted User 2899 »

Thanks for the follow up. Its always nice to know what does and doesn't work :)

I currently use an old iPod Touch 32GB in mine. I have deleted all the apps off it to maximise the space for music. The good thing is that because I left WiFi on I can sync it with iTunes without removing it from the car :)

If I ever need more space I will probably go the same route as you with the 128GB flash drive plugged in directly. I assume the cover art and steering controls still work with it ?
fat controller
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Post by fat controller »

The SD card into the adaptor doesn't work, but the 250gb hard drive does, and a USB memory stick does (in both cases, they need to be formatted as FAT32) - - I think the problem is that I am trying to plug in card reader rather than a straight storage device.

Folder art and steering wheel controls work just fine, and in fact everything is faster than it is with an iPod connected. I am now on the look out for some of that sponge that has an egg box style top surface to give the hard drive that wee bit more comfort in the armrest, and I will then use the USB reader in my office.
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mkpete
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Post by mkpete »

There have been several post regarding problems with iPods and in some cases it has been suggested that the fault is with the iPod. This may be true in some cases but I feel that the Nissan system is also at fault. Having just bought a Qashqai Tekna, I was pleased to see that the controls over my iPod Classic (connected with USB) were better than my last car, a VW Tiguan, in that it offered better control and displayed the album covers.
However, it continually froze after playing a number of tracks. Having done some research I checked whether there was an issue with an iPhone 6s also being connected by Bluetooth but the same problem arose even when Bluetooth was switched off.
I then tested the system using an iPhone 6s connected by USB and this worked fine. I have now resorted to buying my own iPhone 7 as I need a larger memory capacity to come anywhere near to the amount on my iPod Classic and so far I have not had any problems.

I am disappointed that Nissan have not addressed this problem, since I am sure their advertising material suggested that it would work with the iPod Classic. There has been a lot of media attention to the distractions posed by people using mobile phones when driving and I am sure that this poses its own dangers if people are trying to restart their iPod Classics by unplugging and plugging it in again. Come on Nissan, there seems to be an attitude that once software has been developed it can be forgotten about. If this was a mechanical issue it might have prompted a recall.
2016 Tekna 1.2 DiG-T Xtronic with sunroof
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