Song corruption on 4G iPod (clickwheel)

Question

So, I've read through the forums and found that this issue is becoming more and more prevalent. The problem being that songs can become truncated for no reason.
Just last night I was listening to a new album and then this morning a song from that album cuts off half way through where it was fine the night before.
I've found that simply removing the song and then reloading it on the iPod will fix the song, however, there still seems to be no reasoning or resolution behind getting the behavior to stop. I've reset the iPod firmware / OS many times now in the hopes that it would solve itself but it never does.
Is this a hardware issue or software issue with the iPod. I have not yet tried to go backwards on iPod software so I can't say wether its the most recent iPod OS that's the problem or maybe some other failure in the device.
So, I guess what I'm after is if anybody has any insight as to what the root problem is and wether there is any hope for it being fixable?

Answer 1

hi Shawn!
I've found that simply removing the song and then reloading it on the iPod will fix the song, however, there still seems to be no reasoning or resolution behind getting the behavior to stop. I've reset the iPod firmware / OS many times now in the hopes that it would solve itself but it never does.
i can't help with explaining the cause of what's going on, but some versions of this seem to be an itunes/ipod sync thing.
there are two variations that i've seen with belladonna and attractive beast. attractive beast is set to automatically sync ... folks can see slightly different things happening if they have manual sync settings with their ipods.
both belladonna/attractive-beast variations
i plug attractive beast in and i see a song (or songs) transfer to attractive beast. i haven't adjusted that song in any way, so it shouldn't be updating.
Wilco, "Handshake drugs" variation
the song transfers to the ipod. i see that it has been updated. i check "Handshake drugs" on the ipod. i see the song length has been truncated. i go to the song in my itunes library. its length has been truncated by the same amount. i click on the song to select it. i watch the time spontaneously change back to the correct length. i reupdate "Handshake drugs" to attractive beast. the normal length version shows up there.
Modest Mouse, "Exit does not exist" variation
i'm on the lookout now for any other truncated songs on attractive beast. i think i spot one: "Exit does not exist". i make a note of the name of the song and the time. i go back to the itunes library and see that the song length there also seems to be truncated. hoping against hope, i click on the song. the song length stays stubbornly fixed at the apparently-truncated length. "bother" i think to myself (or words to that effect).
some days/weeks later i see a whole clump of songs (ten?)mysteriously update to attractive beast. i notice one of them is "Exit does not exist" i play it both on attractive beast and in the itunes library. it's not truncated anymore. i check the sticky i made the note on. the song length in both itunes and on belladonna is longer than the one i noted down when it seemed to be truncated. "woohoo! what the? woohoo! what the?" i think to myself.
a report about the manual synching variation
I saw three instances of the song reference changing time. I have found (so far) three songs on my mini that ended abruptly - before the normal conclusion of the song. The time via the iPod corresponded with the early end of the song.
I went back into iTunes and the times there were also shortened. Once I clicked on the song to play it, the time 'magically' reverted (right before my eyes) to the correct amount, and the song played completely through. The mini would still only have playback up to the shortened time.
Attaching the mini (in manual mode, as always), all I needed to do was click on the song reference and it also changed back to normal - no syncing was performed as far as I can tell. Just a time update and the song now plays through on the mini. I could not have had a smaller file on the mini as I had no additional room to fit in another 3:30 of song file. I can only assume that the total song file was on the mini, but the time length was incorrect and driving the early end of the playback.
other random observations
this has been happening to me since at least 6.0.0.18 ... i haven't seen it so much (if at all, apart from the weird "Exit" spontaneous multiple-re-update-de-truncation) with 6.0.2.23, 6.0.1.3 or 6.0.4.2.
there was a hint that it was most likely to happen with songs that i had been playing in itunes, and then stopped partway through (in some manner or another). it's not a universal correlation though (as far as i could tell).
love, b