15.3 Problems with Song Quality

The sound quality of your digital audio files is affected by a number of things. If you find that your MP3 files sound thin and tinny no matter what you play them on, check the bit rate you used to rip them from the original CDs (Section 3.3). Bit rates below 128 kilobits per second generally don't have CD-quality sound. If you've downloaded songs from Web sites, you're usually at the mercy of whoever encoded the songs in the first place.

15.3.1 Some Songs Skip

If the same songs always skip, the song files themselves may be damaged. Maybe a hiccup or power fluctuation while you were ripping the tune from a CD dinged up the file, or maybe you had several memory-hogging programs open and running while you were recording songs. Try deleting the song files from iTunes or MusicMatch Jukebox and then reripping and reimporting fresh copies.

Shaking or banging the iPod while it's playing can cause its hard drive to skip while playing a song. (Shaking and banging are two things you want to avoid with any hard drive.)

True, the iPod comes with a memory stash designed to prevent skipping for at least 20 minutes. But as noted on Section 3.2.2, enormous song files ”either hugely long pieces of music or files encoded in uncompressed formats like AIFF ”could be maxing out the iPod's RAM buffer. Here are your options:

• Rerip AIFF or WAV files into the smaller, compressed MP3 format. They may not sound as pure, but they're less likely to skip.

• Break down larger files into smaller ones. If you've used the Join Tracks feature of iTunes (Section 4.7.6) to create a sonic tapestry or simulate that live concert feeling, try re-encoding the songs in smaller chunks .

• Reset the iPod. Performing a reset or, as a last-ditch effort, running a restore with the latest version of the iPod Software Updater (Section 15.8) may also help stop the skipping.

15.3.2 Noise in Quiet Parts of Songs

Most people don't want to hear high-pitched squealing noises during quiet, emotional parts of songs. This was, unfortunately , what happened with some early versions of the iPod software. Updating the iPod software to version 1.1 or later, as well as lowering the volume a tad, usually helps this situation.

NOTE

Ever notice your iPod sometimes seems to skip the first song in a list? Long-time iPodders have been griping about this alleged bug in the iPod's software for years .

One popular workaround: Start your playlist or song by scrolling to it and pushing the Play button, rather than using the round Select button in the center of the scroll wheel.