That cracking/popping sound

[somecows]

I have a question about the cracking/popping sound people are hearing between tracks on the new ipods.

Do people think this is a problem that will be solved by a firmware update, or is there some possibility that the only way to solve it will involve re-importing CDs?

I guess what I mean is, when a solution is eventually (hopefully) announced, will we be able to apply it to existing MP3s on our ipods, or is there a chance we will have to go back and re-import CDs? If the answer is the latter, then I don't want to spend any more time importing my CD collection, I'd rather wait for the fix and THEN import them.

Thanks.

[robbieduncan]

The noise (on my iPod at least) is pretty faint, but is deffinitly not an import issue. I think a firmware update will probably be able to fix this.

[leif]

I have this problem with anything I rip in iTunes4 it seems. And I have an old 10GB iPod. And it's all through tracks, not just between them, and it's REALLY irritating. Only happens with the stuff I ripped in iTunes4, the rest of it was ripped in 3 or came from iTMS

[MacFan25]

I hear the popping ocassionally, but its really not much of a problem. i doubt that it has to do with how they were imported.

[somecows]

In case anyone is interested, I just called mac tech support to ask about the popping sound, and they had no idea what I was talking about. They seemed to think it was a problem with the earphones or the earphone port. Which doesn't make much sense to me, since everyone seems to be having this problem.

Also, they told me that once you put a file on the ipod you can't copy it back onto your computer again!!! Is this true? I had no idea, and excuse my language but that sucks so much. That means if I get a new ipod some day I will have to re-import all my CDs, which seriously might cause me to go insane. I havne't been keeping the MP3s on my computer once I put them on the ipod, because I don't have enough hard disk space left on my computer. Kill me.

Does anyone know of a way to get the files from one ipod onto another?

[MacFan25]

Originally posted by somecows
Also, they told me that once you put a file on the ipod you can't copy it back onto your computer again!!! Is this true?
hmmm....i havent really tried to put anything back on, because i keep my music on my computer, but I thought that you could copy things back onto your computer. :confused:

[somecows]

I made the same assumption. I thought once I was done importing all my CDs I'd never have to do it again. I will test this out when I get home from work, but I assume the apple care person knows what he is talking about.

If anyone out there knows a way around this, please let me know. I'm not trying to copy or steal music or anything like that, I just really don't want to have to re-import all my CDs someday.

[cwalton]

Try crockpod, http://www.kainjow.com/crockpod.html . great little app for coppying your mp3s off of your Ipod back onto your Mac.

[iwantanewmac]

I've got a new 30GB pod and I got that noise too. but....... I only get it when I rip with my external FW que drive. When I rip with my internal drive .....nothing.... very wierd.
I got a g4 pci 400 oc too 450.

[leif]

I tried changing encoding from AAC 128kb to MP3 160kb which is what most of my library is, and the problem persists. I am ripping with the internal CD-ROM on an 12" iBook 600(16MB VRAM). I'm thinking about trying to go back to iTunes 3, cause this is kind of making my iPod useless.

[somecows]

Could you let us know if using itunes 3 instead of 4 helps with the problem? Or what about people who have files on their ipods that they downloaded from the apple store or from somewhere else, as opposed to importing them themselves. Does the pop still appear?

[leif]

I will post what happens with iTunes 3. As far as tracks from iTMS goes, I have downloaded two, and they play perfectly on the iPod as do all of my other traks ripped in iTunes 3.

[leif]

Ok, so I deleted iTunes4, and installed 3 from my iPod software CD. After the required reboot my entire library except for my two iTMS tracks and the album I am trying to rip was gone. So I found this AppleScript called iPody and thus far have gotten 925/1200 tracks off my iPod. This also means I haven't yet tried ripping in 3. I will post the results when I do. I would like someone to explain why my library was almost entirely wiped out during this process though.

[Taft]

Originally posted by leif
Ok, so I deleted iTunes4, and installed 3 from my iPod software CD. After the required reboot my entire library except for my two iTMS tracks and the album I am trying to rip was gone. So I found this AppleScript called iPody and thus far have gotten 925/1200 tracks off my iPod. This also means I haven't yet tried ripping in 3. I will post the results when I do. I would like someone to explain why my library was almost entirely wiped out during this process though.

Your library wasn't wiped, its just that iTunes couldn't find it. You would have to locate the library on your harddrive then manually add the files to your iTunes 3 library (just drag and drop the folder all of your music is contained in to your Library icon on the left side of iTunes). Done.

Unless something really weird happened and the song files themselves were deleted. Then, I'd have no idea.

Taft

[CrackedButter]

I use an iPod with itunes4 and i get a little click sound but its nothing at all.

Anyway with regard to the music, if you manually copying your mp3 folder onto your ipod you can take it back.
For example i imported all my music with itunes and then i moved my mp3 folder onto the iPod then formatted the mac (for an update) and once that was done i copied my music folder back...its all there and the imported stuff is still on the ipod.

[somecows]

Last night I tried importing a CD as MP3s using itunes 3 in OS 9. Usually I import them as AACs using itunes 4 in OS X. Anyhow, i hear the clicking in both cases.

However, if I make a playlist of songs that I obtained on-line somewhere, I don't think I hear the sound. Or if I do, its really really quiet. So I have no idea what that means.

Also, it occurs to me that I hear the same sound when the ipod is asleep and I press one of the buttons to wake it up.

So this is kind of a mystery, none of the little tests I'm performing are telling me much.

FYI

[leif]

Initially I thought the same thing, I just needed to add the music to the iTunes 3 playlist and all would be well. Then I noticed that the 5 gigs the music took up was free, and then I looked in the iTunes folder, and it was gone.

[shadowfax]

i hope this is an iPod issue, 'cos i hate losing play counts from reimporting my stuff. i have noticed this noise on my new 30 GB iPod... i'll check with headphones for the pop from my laptop.

[jelloshotsrule]

Originally posted by Shadowfax
i hope this is an iPod issue, 'cos i hate losing play counts from reimporting my stuff. i have noticed this noise on my new 30 GB iPod... i'll check with headphones for the pop from my laptop.

you don't need to lose play counts if you reimport it and replace the previous files... though with album/band names, and disc x of x and all that, it can get a bit annoying.

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by jelloshotsrule
you don't need to lose play counts if you reimport it and replace the previous files... though with album/band names, and disc x of x and all that, it can get a bit annoying. how do you do that? would it allow me to reimport them as AAC and switch out?

[jelloshotsrule]

Originally posted by Shadowfax
how do you do that? would it allow me to reimport them as AAC and switch out?

yup. been doing that for a few days now. :)

just pop in the same cd, and import... if you know you have that cd already imported and it doesn't say "do you want to replace existing files?" then check the info for the already imported songs vs the cd.... things that need to be the same:

song name
band name
album name
disc #x of x (this one can be tricky cause it's relatively useless for most things, so it's tough to catch...)

and maybe others. but those are what i've noticed affect it seeing it as a match... also, be careful... occasionally one or two songs on the cd will have a slightly different name, or a typo... and you'll have to kinda weed those out.

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by jelloshotsrule
disc #x of x (this one can be tricky cause it's relatively useless for most things, so it's tough to catch...) say, thanks.

maybe i can help you with that one there though. what i do is select my entire library and set each value to blank, on the disk #. it's useless info for me, as even my 2 CD sets have (disc 1) or (disc 2) in the album title, and there are so few. then if you just set the value to new on all new (or re) imports, you don't have to check, just have to do it like that.

[jelloshotsrule]

yeah, that's true... BUT... when a cd i'm importing has a value in there, it's a hassle still.

but yeah, i'll probably take your suggestion on the whole

[leif]

Hey, just thought I'd let everyone know that the problem still exits with 3. I think it's not quite as bad, but still there. Any thoughts on what it could be? I am going to try running a lens cleaner through the iBook, and try a few more CDs to see if it happens with them too, and then I am about out of ideas.

[shadowfax]

this totally is the iPod. it does it every time i skip tracks and turn it on. the skips don't happen when i listen on my powerbook. it's very subtly annoying. i dunno if this will get fixed by a firmware update or not... i hope so. but it's definitely my iPod. it does it to every song.

[peterj1967]

I had problems with popping sounds in many of my MP3s in iTunes 3.

I was ripping tracks with a PB G3 500 to an external Lacie Fire Wire burner. An iBook 600 is in the same speed range.

I found that if I was using the machine for anything else while ripping, I would get the popping. If I just had iTunes up and no other apps, it was fine.

Upgrade to a Dual 1.25 and now I can rip and burn at the same time as well as web surf and e-mail and I have no pops.

Just a thought...

[MattG]

I've been having this problem as well with a new 15gb iPod and my TiBook 15". When listening through headphones, I don't notice the pop very much. I REALLY hear it when I connect the line-out (on the dock) to my stereo system. I actually won't use this feature anymore because I'm afraid it'll one day damage the tweeters in my speakers (the pop can be VERY loud). I wish Apple could correct this problem.

[clehara]

In every song i've imported on my iBook 500 CD/DVD drive, with other apps running in Jaguar 10.2.3, no popping noises at all on the mac or on my original 5 GB iPod.

[MacBandit]

Come on people. This is so obviously a feature not a problem. Apple wanted to give digital music a feel just like old LPs had. So they added a frew statip pops and cracks and you have an instant feeling of something material rather then a colletions of 1s and 0s on a hard drive.:D

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by clehara
In every song i've imported on my iBook 500 CD/DVD drive, with other apps running in Jaguar 10.2.3, no popping noises at all on the mac or on my original 5 GB iPod. yeah, this seems to be an issue with the april 28 iPods that apple just released--prolly only the 30 and 15 GB ones.

[Wardofsky]

I think this sometimes happens to me when I start the iPod up, as if it just discharges a little bit of electricity.

[shadowfax]

yeah, it does it when it starts up and stuff for me too, in addition to between tracks and stuff. it has to be the iPod's fault, IMO. i wonder if we'll get a firmware update anytime soon.

[leif]

Ok, I have done a bunch of things. I did the lens cleaner thing, didn't solve it, tried other cds, didn't solve it, tried copying aiff directly from cd, didn't go away, tried using a LAME encoder, didn't solve it. Popping happens on the iPod, and on my iBook as well. Took the same CD and ripped it this morning with CDex for Windows on a Windows box, and problem seems to be gone. CDex has jitter correction turned on by default, so I google for jitter correction and find this:

http://myhome.iolfree.ie/~mp3workshop/manual/jitter.html

That describes the exact problem I have. Now I just need to find an OSX app that has jitter correction. And people need to start begging Apple to add it to iTunes.

[MacBoyX]

I have not experienced any issues with this. I have both MP3's ripped in my pre-Mac days and MP3's and AAC's with iTunes 3 and 4.

As far as getting your music back off your iPod, you should still have your library on your Mac so u can always do a restore to your iPod. If for some reason you needed to get ur library off (LIKE WHEN MY FW HD died lol) then use iPod Retriever (check VersionTracker). Don't be irritated at Apple for this. They do this so you can't take ur entire library from one Mac to another and just copy it. They have to put in place protection to show they don't support stealing. Remember they were sued over the Rip Mix Burn ads...

I love my iPod 3G, as much as I loved my iPod 2G.

MacBoyX

[MacBandit]

About retrieving file off of the iPod. As I understand it they aren't encrypted or really protected in any manner. They are simply made invisible so that you can't see them and copy them. As I understand it you can use any program that can let you see invisible files including the system find function then copy them to your hard drive. You may then need to get a program to change there visibility.

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by leif
Ok, I have done a bunch of things. I did the lens cleaner thing, didn't solve it, tried other cds, didn't solve it, tried copying aiff directly from cd, didn't go away, tried using a LAME encoder, didn't solve it. Popping happens on the iPod, and on my iBook as well. Took the same CD and ripped it this morning with CDex for Windows on a Windows box, and problem seems to be gone. CDex has jitter correction turned on by default, so I google for jitter correction and find this:

http://myhome.iolfree.ie/~mp3workshop/manual/jitter.html

That describes the exact problem I have. Now I just need to find an OSX app that has jitter correction. And people need to start begging Apple to add it to iTunes. i can just about promise you this iPod issue isn't jitter. it may be an Apple problem on your iBook as well, but really, this thing makes the popping noise when i press the "next track" button on it. this is not something on the tracks, it's a technical problem with the ipod like shorting the headphone circuit or something.

[leif]

I would buy that if it happened with all of the tracks, but it doesn't. Only with things I rip on this iBook. iTMS tracks play fine, and so does the stuff I have had on the iPod for months.

[MattG]

Ok, I have done a bunch of things. I did the lens cleaner thing, didn't solve it, tried other cds, didn't solve it, tried copying aiff directly from cd, didn't go away, tried using a LAME encoder, didn't solve it. Popping happens on the iPod, and on my iBook as well. Took the same CD and ripped it this morning with CDex for Windows on a Windows box, and problem seems to be gone. CDex has jitter correction turned on by default, so I google for jitter correction and find this:

That blows.

So as it stands right now, I'd have to rip the tunes on my PC, transfer them over to the Mac, then sync with my iPod? This popping sound is annoying the crap out of me. I would REALLY love to be able to connect my Pod right to my stereo system and shuffle 3000 (or whatever) songs, but not if I'm going to hear this loud, annoying ***CRACK*** come out of my tweeters after each song.

I guess I'll try doing the PC thing. Hopefully it'll be faster than my Mac; ripping CDs on a 667mhz TiBook is painfully slow.

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by leif
I would buy that if it happened with all of the tracks, but it doesn't. Only with things I rip on this iBook. iTMS tracks play fine, and so does the stuff I have had on the iPod for months. weird man. it does it to pretty much everything of mine. for instance, the stuff i DLed off the internet, the stuff i ripped in iTunes 3 months ago... everything. either way, though, it has to be the iPod just because it can't be on the track. i can flip to the next track while in the middle of a song and have it crackle or whatever. it makes the skipping noise before it plays the song.

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by MattG
That blows.

So as it stands right now, I'd have to rip the tunes on my PC, transfer them over to the Mac, then sync with my iPod? This popping sound is annoying the crap out of me. I would REALLY love to be able to connect my Pod right to my stereo system and shuffle 3000 (or whatever) songs, but not if I'm going to hear this loud, annoying ***CRACK*** come out of my tweeters after each song.

I guess I'll try doing the PC thing. Hopefully it'll be faster than my Mac; ripping CDs on a 667mhz TiBook is painfully slow. try it with just one CD and see if it doesn't still crackle.

[MattG]

Originally posted by Shadowfax
try it with just one CD and see if it doesn't still crackle.

So you guys are saying that when you take the songs you've ripped with iTunes and play them back, they crackle on both the iPod as well as when you play them back on the computer, right?

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by MattG
So you guys are saying that when you take the songs you've ripped with iTunes and play them back, they crackle on both the iPod as well as when you play them back on the computer, right? some have said this. my laptop does no such thing, though. there is no crackle on my TiBook. just the iPod.

[MacBandit]

If peopler are getting crackling sounds out of there computer the first thing I would do is try a different set of speakers. Also if you are using USB for output try the headphone output.

[Wardofsky]

If you turn on your speaker to the full (When nothing is playing) you can always hear noise, I have yet to find a pair that doesn't.

But never test this with live music.

[MacBandit]

Originally posted by Wardofsky
If you turn on your speaker to the full (When nothing is playing) you can always hear noise, I have yet to find a pair that doesn't.

But never test this with live music.

That's just the quality of amplifier. Some cheap amps now are cutting the power when there's no input as to mimic more expensive amplifiers with clean circuitry. My Integra 7.2 theater receiver doesn't make any noise when the volume is cranked even with input if it's between songs. That's just good clean decoding and circuitry.

[job]

The cracking sound appears to be hardware based. Check out the forums at ipodlounge.com

It seems that the built in amp turns off and on, resulting in the clicking/popping everyone is talking about. I don't think such a hardware issue can be resolved via a firmware update.

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by job
The cracking sound appears to be hardware based. Check out the forums at ipodlounge.com

It seems that the built in amp turns off and on, resulting in the clicking/popping everyone is talking about. I don't think such a hardware issue can be resolved via a firmware update. unless the firmware update set the iPod NOT to turn on and off between tracks. that is a really stupid idea, and needs to be fixed by a firmware update.

[Catt]

I have the popping problem but only between tracks when its connected to the dock, so I can live with it. But on certain tracks I get severe crackling sounds when bass levels are slightly higher than non-existant! It isn't my headphones or the original MP3 and it doesn't seem to be the line out as it doesn't crackle when played through the dock onto my stereo. It must be the headphone amp, what should I do?

[shadowfax]

i dunno about that problem. but i tried without my iPod being docked and it still crackles just as bad it seems.

[WinterMute]

Is this something that happens only on the new iPods? My old 10gig doesn't suffer from any kind of clicking, except when I turn it on or un-pause it, there's nothing between the tracks at all.

Shadowfax was right about jitter, it's definately not that, has anyone tried it without the soundcheck function on, I turned that off as it bothers me to have any level of automatic gain control on recordings, I'd rather just turn it up a bit. It may be a peak checking algorithm resettiing the amp levels.

Anyone tried that?

How about turning the EQ off/on?

I get no problems on the eMac and only the usual popping from the energy saving stuff on the PowerBook.