I can't open albums recently synced to my iPod Classic 160GB 5th Gen.

Question

My approximately 2.5 year old ipod Classic Gen. 5  recently developed a problem consisting of the inability to open and play recent albums that had been importged into iTunes and then synced to the iPod. The software version on my iPod is 2.0.4 and it had been updated to this level after I activated the iPod shortly after purchasing it in 2010.  The version of iTunes on my computer is Version 10.5.3.3 which I installed on  01-25-2012. My Dell Computer XPS Gen 5 has Windows XP SP 3 installed on it as of 05-2009.
The "opening albums" problem has developed since the latest version of iTunes , 10.5.3.3 was installed. My iPod is about 75% full of it's stated capacity of 40, 000 tracks.I have nothing but music on my iPod.
All of my music iwithin iTunes is fully populated with the respective meta data including appropriate album art.
I have attempted several workarounds for this problem, including using the iPod reset routine (moving the HOLD button to the lock position for about 5-10 seconds, moving the Hold button back to the open position, then simultaneously holding the Menu and the Select buttons down until the Apple lkogo appears on the LED). The iPod eventually resumes normal mode and comes back to the Main Menu. This does not solve the problem of specific tracks within an album or playlist not playing.
The second workaround was having the iPod docked rto my computer and to right click the iPod graphc within iTunes which displays the panel which provides iPod identification and capacity statistics, etc. By clicking on the Restore button on this panel a procedure is launched to clear out the existing firmware on the iPod and reset it to that level on the iPod when it came from the factory; my iPod was reset to version.2.0.4. There is eventually a choice to make as to clearing off the existing music and I chose to do so.
One thing I do notice about the tracks that will not play is that they invariably show in the Get Info Summary tab as ID3tag  v2.4 and Encoded by LAME3.98.
The bulk of my music reflects ID3Tag v2.3. I read somewhere that ID3Tag type v2.4 has some negative impact on iTunes and subsequently the iPod.. The ID3tag v2.4 offers the opportunity to preload album art within the ID3 tag at a prescribed area of the ID3 tag prior to importing the music tracks into iTunes.
I also read at one of the User Commumnity sites that iTunes began the iCloud concept in the latest version or versions in January 2012. Within the Menu bar at the top of the screen you can left click on the VIEW item and get a drop down list of options. If you left click on the VIEW OPTIONS you will get a panel which provides you a selection of fields to be displayed on your listing.among them being iCLOUD DOWNLOAD and iCLOUD STATUS. I have not subscribed
to the new iCloud service so all my tracks show as WAITING with a clear cloud graphic. Aparently these iCLOUD status indicators must be stored somewhere on the ID3 tag. I hope that the music that I have been impoting to iTunes is not being corrupted by the utilization of the same area for 2 different purpsoses.

Answer 1

Hey you dont need our help, you can help most of us here.
But can you clarify that the problematic Albums does play in iTunes and not in iPod?
I agree with you, it is most likely the ID3Tag v2.4, which may not be implemented correctly, missing  iPod software codec,  especially the album art tag.
I can only suggest, deleting the Album Art for the album and see if it works.
Have a nice day!