'Pop' Between Tracks In New iPod

joesao writes "The new iPods released last week seem to have a problem that causes an audible 'electrostatic pop' between all tracks played on it. The effect is not imaginary, as it has been witnessed by many users over at the Apple discussion forums. Now, one user has actually published a sound sample recorded the iPod's playback and the verdict is in: it's real. I hope this is a firmware issue and that it's quickly fixed ..." I just ordered a new iPod. I wonder if I should cancel my order.

Comments

FINALLY

[Anonymous Coward]

I haven't done any research about this, but i'm glad i've seen somone else has this problem. Its friggen terrible. I was listening to a signfeld stand up today at work, and its INCREDIBLY noticeable with that.

I really hope something is done about this.

Re:I have a new iPod

[joesao]

If you can't hear the pops, it might be because you're not listening to quiet enough music, or your listening environment might have noise above the level of the electrostatic 'pop'.

Try a quieter location, or try listening to a sequence of classical music tracks.

Notice that the pop isn't only passive: it's active as well; when you press next/previous & play buttons, the pop is there too.

If you STILL can't hear the pops, then I'm stumped. I almost hope you can, because then it's more likely that it's a firmware issue.

Lets Not Forget the TiBooks

[peel]

The Titanium PowerBook G4s also had a huge probelm with chiping. The band around the center of the unit as well as the screen hinges would chip (paint ?), and as a result the machine began looking very ugly. Apple originaly discounted this in much the same way as the cube. Eventually they gave in to overwhelming negative feedback from users and have been replacing them for many people (don't let them know you wear a watch). I think this, along with very poor airport signal strength, is one of the main factors that drove them to switch to the new aluminum case. So it will be interesting to see if they address, it ignore it, or ignore it then address it. -peel

Power Management?

[FVK]

The new slim and trim iPod with smaller battery must have some very active power management to get the play times even close to the original iPod.
It probably can very rapidly power cycle the sound amplification circuitry in response to input/lack of. The electrical pop may be a blip from a momentary power cycle due to some defect in software or hardware. From what others have said you can only hear it intermittently and only when the music is quiet enough or pauses enough.
I hope Apple can fix it via a software update, or things may get messy with this one. They've already sold 100,000+ new iPods and a recall would be extremely... painful for them.

Note: It's not just iPods

[Anonymous Coward]

When I listened to that sample on the site, when the .mp3 finished, I also heard an almost identical click. The reason many people blame this on the iPod is that with most mp3's, they cut off without a pop, but poorly done ones, such as that test do. I don't know exactly what causes it, but i've seen that it's actually encoded into the mp3.

There's a couple ways to fix this. First, you could go into an mp3 editor and clip it off, or you could just be lazy. Most people won't hear it in iTunes because it fades from one song to the next, making the pop impossible to hear.

The other thing is that the Apple music store AAC's probably have this little pop at the end, and that's why they seem to have just started now.

I honestly don't know, that's just my crazy theory of the day.

I also have this problem

[illumin8]

I also have this problem with my new 30GB iPod. It is very annoying.

One thing I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed. Sometimes when I'm listening to my playlist and it goes from one song to the next, I get the click/pop, then when the music comes back on I the balance between left/right ears changes. The volume level of the left ear seems to decrease significantly. It is totally random when this happens.

I noticed this happening because I listen to a lot of DJ mix tapes and in between track changes, when the balance shifts dramatically this is a big deal. I can get it to shift back by stopping the iPod (hold down play for 2 seconds until it shuts off), then restarting playback, but only sometimes. Sometimes I have to stop it several times before it will do it.