Play counts not updating

[GregMac1213]

I've been trying to figure out the pattern of why my 3G Nano will sometimes update play counts and sometimes not.

At first, I blamed it on the alarm. So I disabled it. Everything seemed fine until a few days later when I realized my play counts were not updating again.

I have now found what I believe is the culprit: games.

To test:
I played a song and synced.
The play count updated correctly.

I then ejected, played a song, played a game (Vortex), and synced.
The play count did not update.

I ejected, played that same song again and synced.
The play count updated correctly.

It seems that if a game is played between syncs, any song played either before or after playing the game will not have its play count updated.

I tested this on my 5.5G 80GB iPod (with Ms Pacman), and that game does not affect my play counts.

[Sancroff]

Good work! Everyone who can reproduce this needs to report it to Apple. I'll be getting my bug-tastic Nano in a day or two. FedEx says it just left Memphis. I can hardly wait.

[tonyclifton]

i am not that fussed on play counts, although i would prefer if it worked. The nano is not bugtastic, I am more than happy with my nano so far, no problems at all so far everything smooth.

[GregMac1213]

Actually, there are quite a few bugs in the new Nano. Don't get me wrong. I love the form factor, the new interface, and the video quality. And I'm happily using it. (I'll be even happier when Apple sorts these issues out.)

But here's a rundown of the biggest issues I've seen so far. At least these are the ones I've sent Apple feedback about.

Play count update problems. This was my biggest issue since I have a lot of smart playlists that rely on play count/last played data. So at least I now know how to get around that one: don't play the games.

No support for compilations.

Menu settings reset to factory defaults when the Nano is reset.

Alarms don't work properly.

Coverflow is by artist and not by album. Therefore, I don't use it. (Although I would like to.)

[Natsmura]

hi i noticed the same thing on playcounts and couldnt work out what did it. thanks for working out the game connection -- i will certainly stop playing games

also as per previous posts -- two other bugs are

1) the clock for UK is set at GMT+1 when it should be GMT -- this makes all other international times wrong

2) you cant correctly view playlists in Nike+ -- v. annoying

[surgeDC5]

yeah im having the same problem too but its with my classic, dont really care too much about play counts not updating

[JazzyMac]

Dang, what in the world did Apple do?????

[tonyclifton]

Some of those are bugs and some probably arent - they just arent how you would have designed it, I have not come across any of those problems because:-

I dont use playcounts or pay attention to them - but this is a bug! and it needs fixed.

Havent had the compilation problem either, but only because I never used it, I have always made my itunes fool proof in that regard by custom naming things..so I never got dependent on it organising for me. - But this should be changed.

I havent reset my ipod but surely reseting anything should reset it? which would involve putting everything back?

I dont use alarms - but if this is the case it is a bug

I use coverflow by artist, thats how I would want it, I would be disappointed if it was the other way around so I understand, but I dont think this is a bug its just a decision apple made that should probably be changed to a customisable option.

Originally Posted by GregMac1213

Actually, there are quite a few bugs in the new Nano. Don't get me wrong. I love the form factor, the new interface, and the video quality. And I'm happily using it. (I'll be even happier when Apple sorts these issues out.)

But here's a rundown of the biggest issues I've seen so far. At least these are the ones I've sent Apple feedback about.

Play count update problems. This was my biggest issue since I have a lot of smart playlists that rely on play count/last played data. So at least I now know how to get around that one: don't play the games.

No support for compilations.

Menu settings reset to factory defaults when the Nano is reset.

Alarms don't work properly.

Coverflow is by artist and not by album. Therefore, I don't use it. (Although I would like to.)

[tmhallam]

My nano problem relates to videos

I have found when a video comes to the end, the nano just stops, rather than reverting back to the menu as my 5g ipod did

Problem is, when synching, it doesnt record the show as having been watched, making the "unwatched shows only" option in the playlist selection meaningless

Anyone else have this problem?

[GregMac1213]

Originally Posted by tonyclifton

Some of those are bugs and some probably arent - they just arent how you would have designed it, I have not come across any of those problems because:-

I dont use playcounts or pay attention to them - but this is a bug! and it needs fixed.

Havent had the compilation problem either, but only because I never used it, I have always made my itunes fool proof in that regard by custom naming things..so I never got dependent on it organising for me. - But this should be changed.

I havent reset my ipod but surely reseting anything should reset it? which would involve putting everything back?

I dont use alarms - but if this is the case it is a bug

I use coverflow by artist, thats how I would want it, I would be disappointed if it was the other way around so I understand, but I dont think this is a bug its just a decision apple made that should probably be changed to a customisable option.

A simple reset should not reset customized menu views to the factory defaults. At least it doesn't on any of my other iPods. That's why I consider it a bug.
A restore, however, should reset the menu options to the factory defaults.

Regarding coverflow: I'm sure my problem stems from the lack of compilation support. If it supported compilations, then I could live with coverflow by artist instead of by album.

[GregMac1213]

Originally Posted by tmhallam

My nano problem relates to videos

I have found when a video comes to the end, the nano just stops, rather than reverting back to the menu as my 5g ipod did

Problem is, when synching, it doesnt record the show as having been watched, making the "unwatched shows only" option in the playlist selection meaningless

Anyone else have this problem?

Well, good grief. That's happening on my Nano as well. sigh...

[tonyclifton]

Yeah the coverflow issue is just a decision by apple that alienates some people as it isnt how they use/search their music, it just happens to suit me and again I dont use compliations in the same way so I am by pure luck immune to that problem - however it should be fixed as i would be ####ed if my compilation were all over the place

Originally Posted by GregMac1213

A simple reset should not reset customized menu views to the factory defaults. At least it doesn't on any of my other iPods. That's why I consider it a bug.
A restore, however, should reset the menu options to the factory defaults.

Regarding coverflow: I'm sure my problem stems from the lack of compilation support. If it supported compilations, then I could live with coverflow by artist instead of by album.

[Mawdryn]

Originally Posted by tmhallam

My nano problem relates to videos

I have found when a video comes to the end, the nano just stops, rather than reverting back to the menu as my 5g ipod did

Problem is, when synching, it doesnt record the show as having been watched, making the "unwatched shows only" option in the playlist selection meaningless

Anyone else have this problem?

I have this problem often with my new Classic 160. It's very annoying, but resetting the iPod always fixes it. Of course when I reset, I lose all my custome menu settings. And resetting does not correct the playcount for stuff you already watched.

Another problem I have is if I scroll fast forward in a video to the end, it just jumps back to the point where I started scolling from. Stopping short of the end works fine. Is this a problem on the Nano as well?

[riceman]

i'm having a problem with non-updating playcounts too. also with the movies stalling at the end.

what's interesting is that the playcounts update on the actual nano; if you go to itunes and look at the playcounts within the nano's movie section, they are updated from the nano's POV. for example, say video X got 3 plays before you put it on the nano. then you put it on the nano. while you use the nano, you play video X twice. when you connect it back to your PC, the playcount on the main itunes section will still be 3 but on the nano's movie section it will be 5. it will be 5 even if the video stalled at the end both times.

i also tried putting videos in a playlist and it still stalls.

videos on my old 5G pod video don't stall. however they no longer skip to the next video, but go back to the menu (maybe this started happening a long time ago but i never updated the firmware til recently).

oh well. i just hope the patch gets made.

[doctorfrog]

I've been noticing this as well. Since I integrate smart playlists based on play count and last-played status, this is a pretty irritating bug. Basically, I'll play music all day, and when I re-sync, I find that my iPod has reset to whatever playlists, counts, Podcast and Movie positions, etc. that it originally had on last sync.

The most irritating thing is that this is an intermittant issue. This might happen after I've played five songs, or it might happen only after I've played 50.

Here's a voodoo (based more on superstition rather than trial an error so far) fix I've been trying:

Windows XP, latest iPod Nano firmware, latest iTunes. Disk mode.

1. When you're about to sync, load up iTunes immediately. Wait for it to load before connecting iPod.
2. Connect iPod. Sync.
3. Disconnect iPod rudely. In other words, don't click the little eject button, and wait the now-interminable eject process to complete. Pull little blighter right the hell out of there.
4. Go about your daily business, play music, movies, podcasts. Don't play games, just in case this is the bug.
5. Go to step 1. Success?