Anyone have their iPod lock up on them during a run? Mine froze up on me the other morning during a run and I needed to reset it later that day to get it working again. Kinda hesitant to run with it again since my 1-year warranty runs out this month. I think I’ll switch to the Shuffle - any opinions?
Yes. Had that problem. Don’t run with it anymore.
I have run with mine for a year…a lot of running and sweat…never a problem.
Happened to me last week. Had to wait for the battery to die, then recharged and it’s been fine since.
I run with my mini Ipod all the time, and it has never done anything like that (even after a 2 hour run). I have an armband so I don’t know if that makes a difference.
You should call the folks at Apple and see what they say.
I had repeated problems with freezing, skiping etc with a full size iPod, but after switching to a mini I’ve had no further problems. I run ALOT w/ the mini.
I have had mine lock up on me from running. Like someone else said, I just waited for the battery to die. Since the IPod had a hard drive, it can crash. I have a shuffle that I run with now, it doesn’t use a hard drive.
the shuffle has no moving parts, so it’s going to be more resilient to movement. A regular ipod is a little hard drive that has to spin and move like any other hard drive.
Now, I have run 100s of miles with an original ipod with no issue. I now use a shuffle b/c it’s smaller, lighter, etc
BUT - I have noticed every time I go running at the local trail that 90% of the people running with ipods are carrying them in their hands with no protection.
Sweating like pigs in Texas - middle of August - holding an electrical device that is IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM BUILT TO BE A “SPORTS PROOF” DEVICE
Sorry, but this takes me way back to the days when I did tech support - people would call in bitching and screaming b/c they poured gas on their computers, lit them on fire and then ran over them with a monster truck and then yell “IT WON’T COME ON!!! IT WON’T COME ON!! THIS THING IS A PIECE OF SH*T!!”
Sorry for the tirade - but if you are going to run with an ipod PUT IT IN A ZIPLOCK BAG! It’s waterproof and cheap.
Have never had that problem, but I also have the iShuffle and it’s better to run with.
Did you have your iPod in the “Locked” position? This locks the Hard Drive into position so that it is less apt to to skip and therefore lock up on you. It also saves the life of the HD and your iPod will last longer. This is not a fail proof way to keep your iPod from locking up but it does help. Make sure you strap the iPod to your arm snugly so it is lees prone to sway and bounce.
You don’t have to wait for the battery to run out on the iPod as it has a “Reset”. To accomplish this you push in the Play and Menu Buttons in at the same time for ten seconds and you will get the Apple Logo and then it should put you back in the Menu display.
In regards to the shuffle.
Pros: it is better for running in that it weighs close to nothing and it’s a flash based player and not and HD therefore no skipping or locking up.
Cons: It’s not quite as user friendly as a normal iPod but hey it’s tiny!
Thanks. I did have it in the locked position. I do have an iSkin for it that keeps grime and sweat off of it. I used to run with it alot in my hand but hated that so switched to a snug spot on my back…snug in that it won’t come out but not snug to me…and that’s where I think I have run into the problem. The iPod bounces a lot when I run and that’s the issue. I just knew that a lot of people run with their iPods and was trying to get a feel for what they do. I knew that I might run into this problem due to the moving parts, but wanted to chance it…now that it’s happened once, not really wanting to try again. Did a reset (menu and select on the click wheel version) and that solved my problems in that it now works again. I think I’m goign to pick up a Shuffle to solve my problems and still be able to use iTunes.
I’ve heard this is a problem with using your iPod in a car - the vibrations and bouncing cause it to lock up and are extremely hard on the device.
has anyone ever tired the dell one…i run with that but when i went pretty deep into the woods it seemed to lose the signal and all my songs locked up on me saying they needed to be docked again…its werid…but other then that i havent had any problems with dell…mabe you should try that
.
why would it lose a signal and then have playlist issues? does it have a built in FM transmitter or something. going deep into the woods shouldn’t be an issue with an mp3 player…that seems just kinda odd to me.
ya its one of those things where you have to pay montly just to keep your playlist…like yahoo music…so if you dont pay u get no songs…lol…
I sold my 20gig on ebay for $300 and bought a 1-gig shuffle - turned out to be an awesome decision. You don’t even know the shuffle is there, no more worrying about skipping, and with a clip like in the URL below, you can clip it to your shorts or even your HR monitor strap. I wear the shuffle all the time now. Plus 1-gig is plenty of songs at one pop. What good is having 40 gigs when you’ve got a computer harddrive?
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1366726&CatId=0
yup. mine used to freeze during all long runs. finally it never came back on and i swore off i anythings. the reason is because of the hard drive - it’s not meant to be shaken. the ishuffle eliminated that problem with a flash drive and should make a fine running companion.
Had a problem with my mini similar to this. Bought it a year ago and when I sent it to apple they reformatted my hard drive and now it is upgraded to the new mini with space for 1500 songs and a bunch of other stuff my original pod was lacking. Took about 10 days for it to return and now I am happy again!
What normally happens is that the ipod will play for about 20mins, which is the amount of music it keeps in the flash based buffer. After that time it has to load more from the hard disk. To do this it spins up the disc but if it’s being bounced around, it can’t access the disc as well and will lock up to prevent damage. You can reset it by holding down both the play and menu buttons, which should put everything right again.
Mine used to do this, but I now run with a shuffle on the back of my tribe running hat, which works a treat.
J.
I’ve worked in the computer industry for 15 years, and although I’ve never worked for a hard drive manufacturer, and although they’ve made tremendous strides in hard drive design in that time (not to mention capacity, cost, etc…), the thought of running with a hard drive based MP3 player seems crazy to me. Over time that the vibration has got to have some effect on durability. A flash based player just makes more sense (less moving parts, lighter, smaller, etc…) Now having said that, my first flash based player died after 2 years, so who knows.
The IPOD shuffle is great for running. I use one of the sports cases that hangs around the neck, and protects it from the elements. Although I usually have it inside my shirt, so it doesn’t move around so much. I also have an IRiver MP3 player, which I love, except for that fact that the joy stick can be a challenge when running.