New 4th gen ipod Shuffle doesn't do squat..........

[redgtxdi]

Well, I take that back. The little tiny light comes on and it'll tell you, "Sync with iTunes".

I've tried everything. New i Tunes. Switch on/off. Unplug, replug, reboot PC, etc.

About half the iPods we've had have these little problems.

Why can't Apple make the stuff just work??

iTunes sucks.
iPods suck (until they get to working & then they're ingenious)
Apple tech support sucks.

It really doesn't have to be this fubar'd!!!!

Any suggestions??

 

[TheStu]

Take it to the store and get it replaced.

 

[Kaido]

Well, I take that back. The little tiny light comes on and it'll tell you, "Sync with iTunes".

I've tried everything. New i Tunes. Switch on/off. Unplug, replug, reboot PC, etc.

About half the iPods we've had have these little problems.

Why can't Apple make the stuff just work??

iTunes sucks.
iPods suck (until they get to working & then they're ingenious)
Apple tech support sucks.

It really doesn't have to be this fubar'd!!!!

Any suggestions??

Have you tried plugging it into the rear port of your computer? Sometimes the front ports don't provide enough power.

Also, wee bit of an overreaction there :whiste:

 

[redgtxdi]

Have you tried plugging it into the rear port of your computer? Sometimes the front ports don't provide enough power.

Also, wee bit of an overreaction there :whiste:

I wish it were. Unfortunately, it's been like this with every other iPod in this house.

From classics, to video, to nanos to Touches & now this one. There's just never this sweet harmony.

& who hasn't had to "reset" their ipod at least once in their life?

Windows gets slaughtered for BSOD, but somebody needs to coin a term for these ipods & their B...errr....NSOD's.

 

[Kaido]

I wish it were. Unfortunately, it's been like this with every other iPod in this house.

From classics, to video, to nanos to Touches & now this one. There's just never this sweet harmony.

& who hasn't had to "reset" their ipod at least once in their life?

Windows gets slaughtered for BSOD, but somebody needs to coin a term for these ipods & their B...errr....NSOD's.

Maybe it's your computer? That sounds like a lot of equipment failures - perhaps something else is causing them, bad USB port, flakey power, etc.. I've been into Macs for about 5 years now and have only had one major failure - my second iPhone's SIM card fried upon activation - and they simply replaced the whole phone LOL. All for a 50-cent SIM card.

 

[redgtxdi]

Again, unfortunately, no. This is between a Dell 4600 desktop, a homebuilt desktop and a dell laptop (though rarely used for ipod stuff).

It just happens. I've got a buddy at work who is on ipod video # 3. First one was fine, it just died one day. 2nd one had some funky button action which was no biggie except the buttons reacted to the slightest touch & he simply got too frustrated with it. 3rd one now works ok, but now his car stereo hookup won't charge this one. He figures it's a small price to pay.

BTW, I did plug it into the back and it now is recognized. Best part of that is this is the smallest, least power hungry iPod in the family (my Touch & wife's 120GB video being USB port lightning rods) and it won't recognize from the front port of my 4600. Wow! Just wow!

 

[Kaido]

Again, unfortunately, no. This is between a Dell 4600 desktop, a homebuilt desktop and a dell laptop (though rarely used for ipod stuff).

It just happens. I've got a buddy at work who is on ipod video # 3. First one was fine, it just died one day. 2nd one had some funky button action which was no biggie except the buttons reacted to the slightest touch & he simply got too frustrated with it. 3rd one now works ok, but now his car stereo hookup won't charge this one. He figures it's a small price to pay.

BTW, I did plug it into the back and it now is recognized. Best part of that is this is the smallest, least power hungry iPod in the family (my Touch & wife's 120GB video being USB port lightning rods) and it won't recognize from the front port of my 4600. Wow! Just wow!

See, there's your problem - you need to buy a Mac

My father-in-law's Shuffle fried the front ports on his computer. My iPhone runs just fine off the front of mine. Go figure.

 

[redgtxdi]

BTW, definitely want to thank you for throwing the solution my way!!! I was really hoping to have it ready for my run tonight (got the Nike Aero headphones to go w/ it) and was pissed when i had to leave it. It'd been at least another day before I'd have thought to try back ports.

Got a few songs on & things are working well now. (Gonna see how it likes my laptop's usb ports next.) This thing is tiny. It's still a wee bit heavier than you might think but I clipped it on my sleeve & it ain't goin' anywhere unless you really yank on it. It's a little hard to clip if you don't have it off first as you'll definitely push all over the buttons due to the limited real estate.

And the voiceover thing works well. Having used a touch for 3 years now I definitely feel blind but one of the things that helps is how quickly this thing jumps between songs. If it were slow, it'd suck, but it's definitely quicker than expected. Only thing is you might need to be a little more conscious of what you put on the thing so you don't have to FF or REW thru too many unwanted songs.

Time will tell if I use it more than my touch.

 

[Kaido]

BTW, definitely want to thank you for throwing the solution my way!!! I was really hoping to have it ready for my run tonight (got the Nike Aero headphones to go w/ it) and was pissed when i had to leave it. It'd been at least another day before I'd have thought to try back ports.

Got a few songs on & things are working well now. (Gonna see how it likes my laptop's usb ports next.) This thing is tiny. It's still a wee bit heavier than you might think but I clipped it on my sleeve & it ain't goin' anywhere unless you really yank on it. It's a little hard to clip if you don't have it off first as you'll definitely push all over the buttons due to the limited real estate.

And the voiceover thing works well. Having used a touch for 3 years now I definitely feel blind but one of the things that helps is how quickly this thing jumps between songs. If it were slow, it'd suck, but it's definitely quicker than expected. Only thing is you might need to be a little more conscious of what you put on the thing so you don't have to FF or REW thru too many unwanted songs.

Time will tell if I use it more than my touch.

One tip with laptops - not all ports on all laptops get full USB power. For example, a bunch of our older Dell laptops at work have 2 USB ports on the right side - the bottom one gets full power, but the top one does not, so certain peripherals have to be plugged into the bottom port to get full power.

 

[redgtxdi]

Will definitely check that out & post back here. Actually stuck it into a port & loaded "CopyTransfer Manager" (iTunes substitute) and it looks like it's a great, lightweight program, except it will only do "read mode" w/ Gen4 Shuffle as it's not fully compatible yet. (Sounds like this program may be the best iTunes sub yet if they can afford to stay up to date w/ the latest ipods)

*****One new problem (sorta')...................

I notice that when charging this lil' sucker it blinks amber light. This means that it's either synching (not in this case) or that it's in "disk mode". (And indeed it is).

It's not a big deal, but it keeps you from knowing if your Shuffle's charged (solid amber means "charging". Solid green means "charged") but all it does is blink amber. Sooooo.......I look to see if I can take it out of disk mode but nope. The tick-box is even greyed out. Not that I've ever cared about disk mode cuz these things aren't heaps of storage anyway, but any input on that?? (I googled a ref to a Gen3 Shuffle that said you don't want to take it out of disk mode cuz it'll dedicate that ipod to *that* computer *only*???)

TIA

 

[TheStu]

Will definitely check that out & post back here. Actually stuck it into a port & loaded "CopyTransfer Manager" (iTunes substitute) and it looks like it's a great, lightweight program, except it will only do "read mode" w/ Gen4 Shuffle as it's not fully compatible yet. (Sounds like this program may be the best iTunes sub yet if they can afford to stay up to date w/ the latest ipods)

*****One new problem (sorta')...................

I notice that when charging this lil' sucker it blinks amber light. This means that it's either synching (not in this case) or that it's in "disk mode". (And indeed it is).

It's not a big deal, but it keeps you from knowing if your Shuffle's charged (solid amber means "charging". Solid green means "charged") but all it does is blink amber. Sooooo.......I look to see if I can take it out of disk mode but nope. The tick-box is even greyed out. Not that I've ever cared about disk mode cuz these things aren't heaps of storage anyway, but any input on that?? (I googled a ref to a Gen3 Shuffle that said you don't want to take it out of disk mode cuz it'll dedicate that ipod to *that* computer *only*???)

TIA

On your new issue. I do not own a shuffle, and the only one I could have put my hands on was a Gen2 (my sister's), but that got stolen out of her car a few weeks ago.

Soooo, have you tried restoring the shuffle to see if you that would fix the problem? And the iPod would never be permenantly locked to any given computer regardless. It might make things incredibly annoying if you want to plug it into another iTunes library, but if you ever get a new computer or give the shuffle to someone as a gift or sale, they will be able to use it, they will just have to restore it on their system.

Either way, I don't think that you can copy the files on/off it using Explorer regardless.

As I mentioned before, have you perchance replaced any of these iPods that you have had crazy problems with? I have had to, on occasion, reset (Menu+Select) my latest iPod, but all the earlier ones were rock solid.

 

[Anna3]

I got Ipod shuffle 4th generation as a gift quite a while back. Had not bothered with opening as was thinking about selling but never got around to it. Finally opened it the other day and it WILL NOT charge. Also, have a Dell computer which is how wound up on this thread. Tried the back ports, it just remains solid yellow/orange never turning green. No problem sync with itunes. PC recognizes the device but it will not fully charge. Plug in headphones to see if its partially charged but its dead, plays nothing. Any further suggestions?

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