iPod and jogging - DON'T DO IT!!!

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alexmar

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i took my ipod with me to the gym because i HATE gym music, attached it to my shorts using its case/holder and proceeded to run on the treadmill. after about 20 minutes the music stopped and i checked the ipod and it was frozen... it stayed like that for almost 8 hours, i couldnt turn it off or do anything else until eventually it snapped out of it when the battery died.

i thought that was a freak occurence and a few days later (today) tried it again and after about twenty minutes, what do you know, it froze again!!!! (i know i should have trusted my instincts and left it at home)

after about 2 hours it turned off, but now i can't get it to turn back on, and it won't charge when i plug it in.... piece of crap...

anyone have similar reactions to jogging/intense movement/shaking of their ipods???
 

AndyH

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Yes, some searches will turn up LOTS of discussion on this topic. Some people have no trouble with the iPod while running, others experience problems such as you encountered. I'd suggest try holding the iPod in your hand while running, or strap it to your upper arm. I believe both of these locations will provide for a "smoother" ride for your iPod.
 

jpeter1093

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My experience with an armband (iCon) is that my 4g 40GB will skip if the armband is turned so it faces AWAY from my body. If I turn the armband so it faces front, it doesn't skip.

Probably has to do with how much side to side swinging it gets in the first position versus front to back swinging in the second.

If I assume the hard drive's platters are parallel to the iPod's case, this makes sense; since the arm that reads the platters would swing like a pendulum in the first position. In the second, the arm's momentum would just be towards the hard drive's disc.
 

thenerd

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alexmar said:
after about 20 minutes the music stopped and i checked the ipod and it was frozen... it stayed like that for almost 8 hours, i couldnt turn it off or do anything else until eventually it snapped out of it when the battery died.
movement/shaking of their ipods???
this happened when my mom borrowed my iPod for a jog. the battery was drained and had to be fully charged. It was about 35 degrees (f) so that might have had something to do with it
 

MattPaintballer

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I went skiing with my iPod and it was fine. I didn't even use a case. I have an inside pocket in my jacket with headphone holes so it's perfect for my iPod!
 

Kcrash5

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Why do you want to know? Are you a stalker?
Oh crap...I think that happened to mine today. I was just walking around with it in my pocket, maybe did a little running. Next thing I know, the screen is blank and it won't turn on or do anything. So I take it home and plug it in....nothing.....oh crap....this sucks....what should I do?!?!
 

undertool

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this is because the hard drive only has about 20-25 minuets of skip protection (it has to load the song of the disk and if you shake it too much it cant do that) its normal. the shuffle is just about the only solution apple has.
 

kloan

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There is actually another reason! I just noticed that the iPod photo only has "up to 17 minutes" skip protection, while the 4G regular has "up to 25 minutes".

This is most likely what is causing the problem. I'd like to know why there would be less skip protection. Maybe THAT'S how they squeeze "up to 15 hours" battery life out of it...
 

bluejacket

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kloan said:
There is actually another reason! I just noticed that the iPod photo only has "up to 17 minutes" skip protection, while the 4G regular has "up to 25 minutes".

This is most likely what is causing the problem. I'd like to know why there would be less skip protection. Maybe THAT'S how they squeeze "up to 15 hours" battery life out of it...
That theory doesn't hold water. Less skip protection = more hard drive spinning = more battery use.
 

thenerd

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not that this is new news but the shuffle is great for running

my mom ran a marathon yesterday and she listened to it the whole time. She said she couldn't even feel the shuffle.
 

G4Bruno

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On Saturday I ran the treadmill at my cousin's house and my 4G 20GB iPod worked completely fine using my Marware Sportsuit Covertible Armband.
 

jjjj

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ipods and jogging

I've always heard that you should never jostle a hard drive based player, because there are moving parts in the unit that can be damaged by the motion, and that it's a pretty risky thing to do. The standard to use is, 'Would I do this with a laptop computer'? For jogging, or other activity that has a lot of banging or jostling, you should always use a Flash based player, as they have no moving parts.

If you are going to use your ipod for the gym, I would never attach it to your belt clip, always either hold it in your hand, put it on the machine (like the drink holder), or an armband to minimize jostling. You can damage the hard drive by jostling it while it's trying to access the music files. That's why I always use my MUVO at the gym. Used to the flash players only could hold 64 megs or 128 megs, but now that they can hold upwards of 1 gig, they are much more useful. And it's safer...
 

oopl

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No problems running with my mini + apple armband. Mini is positioned facing the front.
 

hoffm11

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Buy a ipod Shuffle. I have a 20GB ipod but bought the ipod shuffle for rigorous activities like running, etc. It is a great little device.
 

ChrisMouse

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Got my mini before the shuffle came out and have never had a problem with it on an armband. I did a half marathon on Sunday...

Actually I do have one problem with it on the armband and that is the armband cutting into my arm but the iPod works fine!!
 

Smansmith

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iPod skips after the flash based "cache" is up (usually up to 25 minutes based on your bitrate of your tunes) if you are doing anything vigorous whether it be jogging or whatever. Mine did this when I went for a jog. Had to reset (or try to reset for 10 minutes until it did) as it froze in the middle of a song and wouldn't respond.

The armband has had some good response, but do you want to be "that guy with the armband"?? I use a Muvo 256mb for my runs and the iPod as my main player. Too bad as I guess I don't run smoothly enough to run with an iPod.....I wish I knew about the anti-skip length prior to buying, my fault anyway (I would have bought one regardless, but it sounds better this way!!!)

The mini apparently doesn't skip as easily, maybe the HDD is more stable as it is smaller or something. The shuffle would be the best option, but I hate the no screen thing (my life isn't always soo random as Apple wants it to be I guess...)

My iPod works fine now, so I don't know if the freezing up does any permanent damage. But overall I would not "recommend" jogging/running with it as it will eventually skip and freeze up and it can't be that good to have your iPod always freezing and skipping I would think.
 

Lizzard

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I have the U2 edition iPod and run with an armband. It usually stops at 25 minutes, but if I stop immediately and stand still for about five seconds, it will catch up and play again. Sometimes it stops a few times, but I can usually keep it going. I am going to try running with it facing forward and see if that makes any difference.
 

smerko

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i dont care what anyone says - exercising while using a hard drive based music player is not a good idea! its common sense that anything with moving parts is going to take huge strain in these activities - in this case a crashed drive or a reduced lifespan.

the ipod would be fine when taking music from its cache but as soon as it needs to fill it with more data i.e. the hard drive comes into use it is at big risk. its a personal thing but i recon if you want an ipod to run with or whatever buy a shuffle.
 
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