Does anyone own a Nano besides ita and me? Anyone having playback problems with it? Mine occasionally does this weird thing where it pauses just for a fraction of a second. Usually when it does it it happens a few times a second for a second or two. I've just figured out that it always happens on the same songs, in the same places in those songs. (The songs play fine in iTunes and on my 3G iPod.) My current hypothesis is that it just is choking on too much data, as it only seems to happen on higher bitrate mp3s that are encoded VBR (variable bit rate) at points in the song where (I think) the bitrates are gonna be highest. (However, according to the specs, the Nano should be able to handle the songs without a problem.) I'll have to play the songs in question on WinAmp or some other player that displays instantaneous bitrate on VBR files to see if this is in fact the case.

Can someone who has a Nano do me a favor and play one of the songs in question if I email it to you? I'm just curious if another Nano will show the problem. The example song is "Cracked LCD" by Ladytron. 186 kbps VBR, downloaded from eMusic (eta 3.4 MB). The problem starts at approx. the 1:49 point, and is only happens when a certain distorted synth part kicks in. (Higher distortion in instruments seems to result in higher bitrate in VBR encodings.)

eta: Ah. I googled 'ipod nano stutter' and discovered that some folks have been having the problem on some VBR songs.

Daniel, I googled my issue first and got nothing. I figured the buffistas might have another recommendation.

Daniel, it's the support thread. People come here with questions all the time--are we really making rules before entry?

tommy, if you still want to try, you can send it to me.

ita, I just sent it to you via gmail, but I got an "unresponsive script" error after it went out. I think it went out OK. (I send to your profile addy)

I never said it was a rule, I just found several references when I googled, and rather than post what I found, I was lazy.

In no way did I mean it as a rebuke.

tommy, gimme a few minutes to do the copy over. Received intact.

Sorry-DCJ. I read it kinda like a RTFM. I apologise.

Thanks, ita.

Also, (and unrelated to the problem I posted) I'm curious if the album cover graphic came with it into iTunes (i.e. was "embedded" in the mp3) - if not, that means that mp3s have their artwork stored separatly in iTunes.

We're looking at wireless USB devices. The company that's building our computer sells a D-Link DWL-G132 USB 802.11g. The web site reviews we've been able to find talk about driver issues and incompatibilities, and overheating problems, so we're a little dubious. On the other hand, we haven't found any professional reviews. Anyone have experience with this brand, or recs for other brands?

I wonder if a useful gimick to use until there is a faster way to program in a URL would be to use tinyurl.com for a podcast URL? Would that relieve some of the pain? Would it even work?

tommy, it hiccoughs for me too at thepoint you mention, but not through every synth point. Maybe three? Also, the cover art was there.

Dana, I've had on and off luck with D-Link. I prefer Linksys. But I know nothing of your device in specific.