iPod freezes during jogging

[Phil St. Romain]

My son saved up for months and just bought a 15 G iPod. He's an avid jogger, so he was delighted to replace his old Rio, which only played about 5 songs. Problem is, the iPod doesn't seem to do any better; after 4 or 5 songs, it just won't play any more while he's jogging. We returned the first one he bought but the second one does the same.

Any other joggers out there who use iPod? Do you have similar troubles? Have we just maybe gotten two consecutive lemons?

[tlarkin]

Does your son run like the flash? I have a few users who jog with their ipod and love it. I would contact apple and see what they say. The ipod is an actual HD, so it does have a moving platter and a magnetic needle hovering over it. So it is possible the jiggle it gets from jogging may trigger some kind of fail safe that would stop potential damage, or causing the platter to skip, or something of the sort. I would assume however apple probably took this into consideration, since the ipod would be ideal for a jogger who runs a fair distance and wants to listen to a wide variety of songs. I for one have accidently dropped and ipod from about 6 ft off the ground onto a hard tile floor and it worked fine afterwards. Or perhaps you just have bad luck and have bought and exchanged 2 defective ipods. Contacting apple is what I would suggest see what they tell you directly.

[yellow]

I echo what Tom said, and it's also possible that the location your son wears/carries the iPod could be effecting it's performance. Being far too lazy to jog, I don't have any experience in the matter. But I can tell you that it works very well when I walk and in my car! :)

[schwartze]

I had to look up jogging in the dictionary. Seems it's some form of exercise, and I was to lazy to look that one up - but I did find these:

http://www.welovemacs.com/ipcaca.html
http://www.marware.com/Convertible.html

[Phil St. Romain]

Thanks guys. Sounds like the next step is a call to Apple.

[petey]

you might want to ask him when it freezes - whether it's consistently between songs, or during the middle of songs.

the iPod reads entire songs into memory, and then spins down the hard drive, so it would be interesting to know when the problem happens. (i'm not sure how helpful that info would be tho...)

[AKcrab]

Originally posted by petey
the iPod reads entire songs into memory, and then spins down the hard drive, so it would be interesting to know when the problem happens. (i'm not sure how helpful that info would be tho...)
Good question.

"Up to 25 minutes of skip protection."
http://www.apple.com/ipod/specs.html

If it skips before 25 minutes, something seems fishy.

[bgrhm]

I jog with the 10 gig version...and I found that if I hold the ipod in my hand while jogging it is fine. If I put it in my pocket where it will get jostled, it will freeze....:D

[beno]

The answer is to get a sports "suit" for the iPod that will enable your son to strap it to his arm. There are several versions of these available. I've found when I attach my iPod to my waist when jogging, it will skip. The arm strap provides much less "jog" and therefore smoother play.

[ppmax]

i had this same prob with my new 15 gig. after short testing, jogging with ipod in hand works; jogging with ipod on belt freezes.

curiously my previous 5gig model didnt skip when on belt. could it be that the larger disks arent as fault tolerant?

methinks the "slapping" motion (a rotation around the "belt" axis at the pivot point) is the behavior the ipod has some probs with.

and for those of you wondering why i needed to buy the 15 gig: i left my 5gig ipod on the plane one day.

:(

[tlarkin]

I think I am going to pull our ipod out and test it. Granted, I drink and smoke, so jogging well thats out of the question. However, I'll shake the crap outta it and see what happens. I think ours is the 5gig model but I cannot remember. I'll see if I can create any certain motions that make it skip or freeze.

[yellow]

Originally posted by tlarkin
I'll see if I can create any certain motions that make it skip or freeze.
Good luck trying to get it to skip doing the 1 pint curl :)

[tlarkin]

I'll just make my co-worker do the truffle shuffle with it. If it survives that, then there's nothing that can make it skip :)

[yellow]

Is that like the walk of shame?

[tlarkin]

ever see that 80's movie Goonies? The truffle shuffle is from that movie. It would really shake an ipod up as well, however my co-worker is unconvinced and didn't really do it. I swung the ipod around in large and in small circular motions. It did not skip. I shook it real hard from side to side, and it started to freeze for a second but then kicked right back on. Last, I shook it up and down pretty hard in long and in short shakes. For the most part it seemed to work fine except when I shook it from side to side that one time. Even though it did not completely lock, or skip, there was a definate pause for about 2 maybe 3 seconds. I don't think this proves anything though.


...but at least I got some exercise hahahaha

[yellow]

Originally posted by tlarkin
ever see that 80's movie Goonies? The truffle shuffle is from that movie.

I was in my teenage years when it was released, and it was kind a of a kid's movie, so I never saw it. Caught snippets of it on TNT over the years but all I came away with was that The Coreys suck.

[tlarkin]

ah i was in elementary school when it came out so i thought it was awesome. still makes me laugh to this day. I think spielberg directed it heh

[mervTormel]

directed by Richard Donner, written by Spielberg.

[tlarkin]

Geez Merv is there anything you don't know?

[mervTormel]

Originally posted by tlarkin
Geez Merv is there anything you don't know?
i don't know a lot of things, but useless trivia doth stick in my craw.


________________
the more i know, the more i realize how little i know.

[tlarkin]

you should go on jepordy or better yet press your luck so you get to yell no wammy no wammy

[darkpaw]

I know pi to 100 decimal places!

Will that ever come in handy? Well yes, actually it did. I was asked it in a job interview... I subsequently got the job, but I doubt it was based on that little snippet of numerical memory mastery!

[yellow]

Originally posted by darkpaw
I know pi to 100 decimal places!

The only thing I learned in college: my social security number

[mervTormel]

Originally posted by yellow
The only thing I learned in college: my social security number
yer micturation number.

man, this thread has veered off into the ditch.

[darkpaw]

I never had a problem with my 20GB iPod. I used to go cycling and jogging with it all the time. I don't know how the third-generation models are though.

[yellow]

Originally posted by mervTormel
yer micturation number.
LOL!! MICTURITION! LOL!
or should I say..
LOL!! MICTURITION! LOL!

[darkpaw]

Eeeeeewwwwwwww.

[PimpDaddy]

Heat is also an issue with the iPod. Per Apple's technical specifications, maximum operating temperature of the iPod is 95 degrees fahrenheit. Where I live, that precludes using the thing outside in the summer. Something to keep in mind. Heat could definitely cause strange operation, including freezing.

[mervTormel]

freezing would, indeed, be a strange operation in the heat.

:D

[rgmichel]

OK. I can echo some of the things others have said about iPod freezing while jogging. I wear my 20Gb iPod at least four times a week while jogging about five miles each time. These are my experiences:
1. It absolutely will freeze if I wear it on my waist, and after about 25-35 minutes of jogging. I figured this is because it is at this time that the iPod accesses its hard drive. Clearly the bumping around sitting on my hip jogs the hard drive during the read. It is possible to reset the iPod and be on your way, but it takes a while, say a minute, before it can be reset.
2. So, after this happened a couple of times, I started to wear it on my upper arm. I use the Marware sports suit, by the way, and I bought both the waist and arm bands. On my arm, I sort of cradle it in the crook of my arm while running. Now, I would lilke to say that it never freezes this way, but it did freeze once, but basically it goes fine 99% of the time. I have got a bit jumpy about this, so when about 30 minutes has gone by, while running, I sort of pay attention to how much bumping I am giving my iPod. However, this approach, on the arm, works fine as far as I am concerned. The iPod is just the greatest device I ever owned for running, and I never leave home without it.
3. Of course, if you use the next track button, the time before the iPod accesses its hard drive is shortened.
Good luck with running with the iPod. In my view it works great, but if this is happening to you, there is nothing wrong with your particular iPod. It is, after all, a hard drive. :) :)

[yellow]

I feel guity now for being a smoking drinker. A pox on you joggers! :)

[mervTormel]

The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get.

[anthlover]

Those non excerciser testers will fail unless you can sustain them for long enough to defeat the "claimed 25 minutes of Skip protection"

-----------------------------------

As most of you are aware when one Jogs (I do not, bad ankles) Great impact Forces are Generated in the Feet and Legs Thousonds of Pounds per Square Inch, not sure about Gs.....
----------------------------------------------------
Uppper Body aka Chest and Arms not hitting the ground (not counting falling for 25 minutes) should be much safer for the Ipod... Anway:)

[yellow]

Originally posted by anthlover
not sure about Gs.....


Gs? LOL, you must run like the wind!!

[afro_puff]

After winter was over I had no place to really put my ipod (it would stay in my breast pocket) so I began to put it in my left back pocket. I should note that I wear my pants very low, and therefore my ipod would constantly whack against my butt/upper leg. On top of that I tend to listen to long DJ sets that are upwards of 70megs in length when I walk around, and I doubt that the skip protection counts in that case. Almost immediately the ipod would freeze up, forcing me to restart it. I realized this only happened when it was in my back pocket.

So... to hopefully end this long debate I would say that if you want to be completely skip free hold it in your hand while running. If that doesn't work for you then invest in the arm thing. Booyah.

[darkpaw]

Link to arm thing, someone? Thanks.

[afro_puff]

Read the first few posts to find the links.

[darkpaw]

Found it, cheers.

[Rebo]

Hey, new guy here.

Im having the same problem, only mine wont reset. It wont really do anything. I updated it, I restored it: the only thing that works is the hold switch, the wheel or buttons wont work though......any ideas?

[funkycfunkydo]

it was weird reading some of these old posts from soon after the 3rd gen was realeaced. i didn't join till like oct or nov of that year and the tone has gotten a lot more serioussince then. i guess so many people have iPods now that the goofiness that comes with a slick select community is gone. oh well:rolleyes: