When I play music, it seems to 'skip' at the beginning

Question

I listen to music a lot on my iphone.  I noticed this originally on my iPhone 4 and was assuming that it was due to the slow processor and limited memory of the '4'. I recently upgraded to an iPhone 6 with 128GB of memory and it still does has the issue. It's almost like what you hear when an old vinyl record would skip ahead. It seems fairly consistent in that the same song skips in the same way.
I play the exact same MP3 files on other players and I don't hear the same issue.  How can I troubleshoot/fix this problem??

Answer 1

Sorry that sounds like the file is damaged or recorded at a bit rate that is not compatible with the player.
I would also try creating new versions in iTunes on a computer, you can tweak the 'Import settings' to generate an MP3 or AAC audio file at various bit rates. Change the settings inside iTunes > Preferences > General tab, click the Import settings button.
Setup for MP3 at 192kbps or 128kbps.
Close the dialog, select the effected tracks and choose File > Create MP3 version (you can also use right click).
I'd rename the new copy to make it obvious whilst testing & then sync that to the device(s) and test playback.
Repeat with AAC at similar bit rates. Throw them into a playlist to make it easy to find them.
You can also look at the info for the troublesome files to see the bit rate & the format. AIFF/WAV are basically raw files from CD - these can cause buffering issues on some devices, they are huge too. It's generally better to use a compressed format (or try Apple Lossless).
If none of the above helps I'd throw the file into Fission to look at the waveform, if it has holes when zoomed in no amount of re-encoding will fix it, re-rip the file or re-download from the iTunes store (assuming it was a purchase).
http://rogueamoeba.com/fission/