Is this a dead iPod?

[CAlvarez]

It's three days old. Took it off the sync/charge cable this morning and turned it off. Put it in the car dock/charger, and it would not turn on. No activity at all on the screen no matter what I do. No charge indicator, and it won't power on. I checked and it was definitely at full charge before I shut it down.

Anything else to try before taking it in?

[MBHockey]

hold down the center button and menu button for a few seconds to reset the iPod. Hopefully that'll bring it back to life.

[CAlvarez]

Well, that was stupid on my part. I tried that "for a few seconds," but apparently that's defined as around 15 seconds. Took it to the Apple store and he did that, holding it long enough that it reset. The file system was corrupt. Had to reformat/reinstall it.

Ah well, I made up for it by dropping $1400 on Final Cut Studio. I need to get my impulse buying under control.

[MBHockey]

That's odd...my 4th gen iPod resets in like 5 seconds

[Caius]

My 2G mini takes about 10/15 secs to reset. My mate robbed off with it today (shes annoying like that) then txt me saying it wouldn't reset.

[CAlvarez]

Sounds like these things are as reliable as Windows ME...how often do they have to be rebooted?

[MBHockey]

Maybe a few times a year here

[Caius]

My mini is dodgy, sometimes it just dies for no reason even though it has battery life. Resetting it makes it work fine.

This is my 4th iPod and I reset the other 2 (one is a shuffle) maybe 6 times in 8 months.

[CAlvarez]

Spontaneously rebooted twice today, but that appears to be a bad podcast file from Mac Radio. Had one more lockup for no apparent reason, had to reset it.

[MBHockey]

I'd return it. You've had more problems in the last 3 days than i've had with the four iPods i have ever owned!

[CAlvarez]

I may do that, or make an appointment at the Genius Bar at least to discuss it.

[xlax999999]

If your problem is with long Mono AAC (Podcast, Audiobook) files then you are in a boat with a lot of people. These cause the iPod to lockup.

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?13@754.zpPfaeqsSQf.1@.68a99bdf/17

I only get these problems with these types of files.

[CAlvarez]

Great. It's the only real use I have for the iPod.

[xlax999999]

Just convert them to Stereo and the problem is resolved. I wish apple would fix this as it is very annoying to have to do this all the time.

[CAlvarez]

I'm lazy and I like things automated. If I was willing to actually work for them, I'd have picked up one of the other brands of MP3 players and just downloaded the podcasts manually. I dislike the iPod wheel thing but was willing to put up with it for the automation.

[CAlvarez]

Well, it happened yesterday on a regular stereo music MP3 file. I must have bumped the play key, as I found it on my belt, running with the backlight on, locked up, and the battery near dead.

Guess I'll head to the Apple store and see what they can do. It's brand new, but engraved, so I don't know if they will do an over the counter exchange. I don't care if I lose the engraving, but don't know if they won't take it that way.

[xlax999999]

Yeah that happens to me sometimes with "normal" files too but only after recent listens of the mono Audiobooks. I eliminated these problem mono files and all is well for over a month with the iPod. I don't know what Apple can tell you but please post because converting all of these files seems like a big waste of my time.

I found this discussion in the Apple forums. We aren't the only blokes with this problem Carlos.

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?14@867.JB92aXIK00K.3@.68a99bdf

After putting all there eggs in the iPod's pretty white basket (IMO), you'd think that they would haved fixed this and other annoying issues BEFORE people started hoarding potentially troublesome Podcasts onto there iPods. Hopefully the presumed mass exodus will urge them to fix it soon.

[xlax999999]

Other annoying iPod issue:

http://forums.macosxhints.com/showthread.php?t=41726
http://forums.ipodlounge.com/showthread.php?threadid=104558&highlight=smart+playlist
http://discussions.info.apple.com/w...WGr.0@.68b36fa3


Apple's "solution":

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301910