I’m having an issue with my iPod’s album art. You see, the art is loaded for every song in the album, but it disappears after playing the first song. It doesn’t matter which song from the album I start listening to either. I could pick track one or track five and the album art will display, but only when playing that song. As soon as the next track starts the album art is replaced with that damn annoying music note icon instead. WTF? The girl’s Nano does the same exact thing. Please tell me this isn’t by design because it’s seriously annoying. I like the visual aspect of the iPod classic so I should be able to see my album art all the time.
Oh and the girl’s Nano is really particular (it must be female) – it won’t load album art at all unless the music has been transferred through iTunes. Even if through Winamp I update the art directly to the songs already on her iPod, the files don’t update (even though you’re given the impression they have). I can do the same thing on my iPod without a problem. In fact, I haven’t used iTunes in at least two weeks. Frankly at this point I’m scared to because the last time I did most of the album mysteriously disappeared and I had to reload it. That was not fun!
Oh and I found out that Windows Media Player of all programs works quite well at identifying CDs, ripping them to MP3, and automatically populating the album art. So bye-bye Yahoo! Jukebox you piece of junk. I found out far too late in the game that it was ripping tracks at ridiculously crappy quality (their idea of high quality is 44kbps? seriously, what are those people smoking?) and had to re-rip lots of music. Pleased I was not.
I wonder, does anyone have the new iPod classic? I ask because I’m starting to wonder if the sound quality is up to par. I’m no audiophile by any means, or at least I never thought of myself as such, but I’m getting annoyed with the “static” I hear on some songs. Songs that were ripped at 320kbps, mind you. It’s more noticeable with guitar riffs. Also of note is that this is when I’m listening to my iPod via my car stereo, which is pretty much the only way I listen to my music (except on particularly stressful days at work when I listen via the headphones to drown everyone else out). I don’t think it’s the cassette I’m listening through because I used one for my XM radio and it was fine.
Speaking of that… I spent $21 for a cassette adapter for the iPod, made by Belkin, and the damn thing was squeaking up a storm. I would turn my music up higher and higher and I couldn’t drown it out. So then I got a Philips cassette for $10 and that made some funky noises too. At the same time I picked up a Griffin-brand cassette that Walmart was selling on clearance for $6. I didn’t end up opening that one because it finally dawned on me that I had a perfectly functioning cassette adapter from my XM radio, so I’ve been using that. It squeaks a bit too but nothing like that Belkin one.
Anyway, I am starting to wonder if my car speakers suck or if it’s the iPod. I need to buy a male to male plug so I can hook the iPod to our stereo system. That should be the ultimate test.