IPod Touch skips, stutters, glitches through songs since software upgrade!

Question

Hi everyone,
*Since I upgraded my iPod Touch* to the latest available software update +(for the 1st Gen is 3.1.3)+, it has become *unable to properly play any music encoded above 128kbps*. Before the upgrade, my iPod could play music encoded in any higher bitrates like a champ! All the way to 320kbps, variable, even Apple Lossless format used to play flawlessly.
Suddenly after the last *firmware update*, most of the songs in my iPod Touch would *skip, glitch and garble, making electronic glitches and annoying noises* for no apparent reason. On occasion, the iPod would even *add several second of silence in the middle of random songs*. It's bizarre!
It definitely took me a while to figure it out, and spent weeks testing and researching what could be the problem. It was truly driving me nuts! The result of all these tests was clear: the *iPod Touch now CHOKES on any music file encoded higher than 128 kbps ACC*. Truly pathetic for such an expensive little jukebox. Even the early MP3 players I owned 10 years ago were able to play variable rate MP3 files without a glitch. *_This is a major bug that needs to be solved_*.
For those interested, I did the following tests through my weeks of research to find out the culprit to this problem:
- - - Reinstalled the device software
- - - Reformatted the device, then updated the software
- - - Uninstalled all apps, reinstalled and tested my music after reinstalling each app
- - - Disabled Wi-Fi (no difference)
- - - Copied over my music library from scratch, several times (it was painful)
- - - Reformatted a few albums in different bitrates, from 96kbps, all the way to 320kbps, both in constant and variable rates, and tested them one by one. This took days.
In the end, there is one thing that was consistently clear: *any songs encoded over 128kbps would skip, glitch and sound corrupted. Time after time*. All those music files I had encoded at higher rates +(192 kbps, variable 240 kbps and beyond)+ would make the iPod choke.
There is one temporary solution to this mess, but it involves reducing the quality of your music files: The only way I can now play my music collection in my iPod Touch without skips and glitches is by downconverting my files to the now *obsolete 128kbps*. Only when I converted my music to 128kbps, the annoying skips and glitches stopped. For an audiophile like myself, this was an absolutely painful decision, as I can tell the *obvious loss in quality and nuance in my music files since i had to downconvert them*.
Funny: this skipping problem *also affects any files purchased from iTunes* +(encoded at 240 kbps variable rate)+. Should I ask for my money back, Apple?
I find this irritating and painful, since *the ONE THING the iPod is supposed to do well* (aside from apps, games, and web browsing) *is to PLAY AUDIO AND MUSIC FILES*.
I spent a lot of money on this machine, and until recently it worked like magic; I just wished it played music again like it's supposed to. It's what the iPod was built to do. *Apple: Please fix the software!*
I wonder if there's a forum where I could post my detailed findings, so Apple engineers can take note of this *MAJOR BUG*.
PS: I have recently learned this is a very common bug, and tons of people are reaching out telling me they are experiencing the same annoying problems. Furthermore, *this seems to affect not just the 1st Gen, but ALL generations of the iPod Touch*. It's a *widespread software issue* that was not properly addressed in the latest software upgrade. I'm starting to worry about Apple's quality assurance process.

Answer 1

Hi everyone. Thanks to a tip in another forum, I think I had a breakthrough regarding this problem. I have the strong suspicion it's not the software for the iPod Touch, but instead, the problem comes from *iTunes and how it handles USB 2.0 transfers*.
To make a long story short, all your *music that's encoded above 128 kbps gets corrupted when you transfer it to your Touch from iTunes through your USB 2.0 connection*. That's where the problem is!
I performed this simple test:
*PART 1 - WIFI*
- I connected my iPod Touch via Wi-Fi to the iTunes Store. Bought an album encoded at a very high bitrate (Coldplay's "Viva la Vida", encoded at 256KBPS).
- Downloaded the Coldplay album directly to my iPod Touch via Wi-Fi.
- Tested every song in the album, and they all played flawlessly.
*PART 2 - USB 2.0*
- Now, I erased the Coldplay album from my iPod Touch.
- Connected my iPod Touch to my computer, and downloaded the album again via iTunes. I copied the very same album to my iPod Touch, this time using the USB 2.0 connection.
- I tested every song in the album. Guess what: most of them are corrupted, skipping, glitching, making garbled noises.
I think a reached a minor "eureka" moment. *It's not the iPod Touch software: It's iTunes, and how iTunes deals with your USB 2.0 connection*.
Now, I'm not an engineer, and I don't know how to fix this problem. I wonder if there's anyone out there there that knows why high bitrate files get corrupted during the file transfer. Hope anyone can shed some additional light on this issue, so we can find a solution.