Msuic Converter on Mac generates files that reboot my iPod

[apastuszak]

This is an odd one.

I have an iPod Video Enhanced (5.5 generation iPod). I used the command line ffmpeg on Linux to convert the FLAC files to AAC. This worked great, except it did not write any gapless playback information to the file.

So, I did some experimenting. I used XLD on my Mac to convert Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon from FLAC to AAC, and synced it up to my iPod. And it worked. I had gapless playback.

Then I took the same files, I used dBPowerAmp's music converter to convert to Apple AAC. I then synced these files over to the iPod Video and played them. The first track starts to play and just as it's about to end, the iPod just reboots.

I have the target type set to quality, and the quality setting slid up to 127, using LC-AAC.

[Spoon]

Re: Msuic Converter on Mac generates files that reboot my iPod

The iPod rebooting is a software bug in the ipod, no audio track should be able to reboot the ipod. Being so old I am guessing there are no updates for it either.

[apastuszak]

Re: Msuic Converter on Mac generates files that reboot my iPod

Ok, let me follow up with the testing I did. To be clear, I am not looking for a fix to make the app work with a 15 year old piece of tech. I just want to record this to see in case anyone else runs into this problem.

I used dBPowerAmp to convert a FLAC album that is 16/44.1 to AAC using the VBR setting and setting the slider all the way to the right to get the equivalent of 320 kbps. I did this to Dark Side of the Moon, because my previous solution would cause my iPod Video to reboot when the first track ended.

I copied this same album over to an iPod Classic and it did not reboot. The iPod Classic has more RAM, so I assumed that the issue may be related to that. I used dBPowerAmp to convert the same album to vbr AAC, but this time I set the slider to 256K AAC and synced those files over to the iPod Video, and again it rebooted. The same files DID NOT reboot the iPod Classic, and I did get gapless playback.

So, then I converted the same FLAC album using XLD to 320K VBR, by moving the vbr slider all the way to the right. I synced those files over to the iPod Video and they did not reboot the iPod and they played gaplessly.

So there is something about dBPowerAmp and the iPod Video that don't play nice together.

Like I said, I didn't buy dBPowerAmp to do batch conversion. I did it to do CD ripping. And I don't expect you to spend resources to try to solve a problem for a 15 year old device. Just wanted this noted to save someone a headache.

If you want me to send you fines, I can post them somewhere, if you're curious, but I don't think this is worth anyone's time.

[apastuszak]

Re: Msuic Converter on Mac generates files that reboot my iPod

Mess up in my text. This line:

I used dBPowerAmp to convert a FLAC album that is 16/44.1 to AAC using the VBR setting and setting the slider all the way to the right to get the equivalent of 320 kbps. I did this to Dark Side of the Moon, because my previous solution would cause my iPod Video to reboot when the first track ended.

Should read:

I used dBPowerAmp to convert a FLAC album that is 16/44.1 to AAC using the VBR setting and setting the slider all the way to the right to get the equivalent of 320 kbps. I did this to Dark Side of the Moon, because my previous solution would cause a gap in the audio my iPod Video when the first track ended.

[Spoon]

Re: Msuic Converter on Mac generates files that reboot my iPod

Try removing any album art from the file as a test.

[apastuszak]

Re: Msuic Converter on Mac generates files that reboot my iPod

Try removing any album art from the file as a test.

I'll try that later this afternoon.

[pommes]

Re: Msuic Converter on Mac generates files that reboot my iPod

Try removing any album art from the file as a test.

I got the same issue here, i thought my iPod is broken, glad somebody posted it here.
i removed album art, and that doesn't fix the issue.
when converting to apple aac 256 cbr, all works fine.
when converting to apple aac vbr, i get random reboots of iPod video, not iPod classic.
the reboot always takes place randomly at beginning of songs, although after reboot i can play that songs without issues until it reboots at a different song again.
Both my iPod classic and iPod video have the same amount of ram, 64 mbyte.
I removed all tags but title, still the iPod video reboots randomly.

[pommes]

Re: Msuic Converter on Mac generates files that reboot my iPod

Ok, let me follow up with the testing I did. To be clear, I am not looking for a fix to make the app work with a 15 year old piece of tech. I just want to record this to see in case anyone else runs into this problem.

I used dBPowerAmp to convert a FLAC album that is 16/44.1 to AAC using the VBR setting and setting the slider all the way to the right to get the equivalent of 320 kbps. I did this to Dark Side of the Moon, because my previous solution would cause my iPod Video to reboot when the first track ended.

I copied this same album over to an iPod Classic and it did not reboot. The iPod Classic has more RAM, so I assumed that the issue may be related to that. I used dBPowerAmp to convert the same album to vbr AAC, but this time I set the slider to 256K AAC and synced those files over to the iPod Video, and again it rebooted. The same files DID NOT reboot the iPod Classic, and I did get gapless playback.

So, then I converted the same FLAC album using XLD to 320K VBR, by moving the vbr slider all the way to the right. I synced those files over to the iPod Video and they did not reboot the iPod and they played gaplessly.

So there is something about dBPowerAmp and the iPod Video that don't play nice together.

Like I said, I didn't buy dBPowerAmp to do batch conversion. I did it to do CD ripping. And I don't expect you to spend resources to try to solve a problem for a 15 year old device. Just wanted this noted to save someone a headache.

If you want me to send you fines, I can post them somewhere, if you're curious, but I don't think this is worth anyone's time.

thanks for posting this, i got exactly the same issue. glad its an dbpoweramp issue, not an broken iPod:-)

[mville]

Re: Msuic Converter on Mac generates files that reboot my iPod

thanks for posting this, i got exactly the same issue. glad its an dbpoweramp issue, not an broken iPod:-)

This is probably NOT an issue with dBpoweramp, but rather an issue with the iPod Video firmware and unlikely to be fixed by Apple, so use the workaround suggested by apastuszak.