.m4b files cause 4G iPod to lock up after I listen to them.

[Anachronism]

I use my iPod to listen to audio books about 1/2 the time, the other half being music. I used the information in this forum to change the file extension for my audiobooks to .m4b to allow bookmarking. I have been experiencing frequent lockups when I turn my iPod off, I have to follow the reset procedure to get it to turn back on.

I just recently figured out this is only happening after I listen to audiobooks, .m4b files . Has this happened to anyone else, any suggestions on what to do about this? I am using my iPod with windows and I have the latest software update.

Edit -- Cliff notes version of this thread

From responses in this thread this problem seems to be only with 4G iPods and homemade .m4b files. It also seems the iPod mini has this problem after the latest firmware update (v1.2)

It was first reported that more recently produced 4G iPods are have an 'A' After the model number and do not seem to have any problem with homemade .m4b files (M9282LL and M9282LL/A), but it now seems that the 'A' model 4G iPods also have the problem.

Some only have this problem with files larger than the iPods memory buffer (about 32MB), but I have had this problem with all homemade .m4b files.

I downloaded .m4b files from iTunes and they worked fine but they where also smaller than 32MB, so it is unknown if larger .m4b files from iTunes work

More info, but it seems to be incorrect -- http://www.ipodlounge.com/forums/sho...threadid=58160

It seems the problem is only with mono files, this is a known bug that apple is working on. Converting all .m4b files to stereo should solve the problem, you can use iTunes to convert the files - http://www.ipodlounge.com/forums/sh...&threadid=51159

The latest version of iTunes seems to fix this problem, files encoded with version 4.7.1 seem to work fine in mono

There is still an upper size limit that has not been determined, up to 100 MB seems to be OK

Converting all the files in stereo has worked for me so far...

[dordale]

Anachronism--

I've listened to several audio books that I've converted to .mb4 files on my iPod with no lockup problems at all. My iPod is a 15g 3G--don't know if there is any differences in the firmware for the 4G iPods that would cause the lockups.

Have you tried resetting and/or restoring your iPod?

Hope you figure this out--good luck!
dordale

[robert]

Never had your problem with half a dozen audio books. How did you go thru the process? Did you import as aac or do an iTunes aac conversion before renaming? I have never begun with anything other than an mp3 or audio CD file, so have always done an iTunes aac import or conversion. Just wondering if those steps might be part of your porblem.
How large are your m4b files? Over something like 120 mb gives iPod problem. Were you able to listen to the files before renaming without problems?
Good Luck.
I, too, have a 3g iPod.

EDIT 1-06-04 Apple Discussion Thread says that work around to the problem is to convert in stereo, not mono. It would appear that I accidentally recorded in Stereo when I first got my 4G and then with iTunes update, reset preferences to mono.
When creating homemade m4b files with iTunes, in iTunes, Go to edit/preferences/import tab/under settings choose custom/under channels select stereo/ choose your bps rate and click OK. When you go back to importing tab, it will show XXkbps stereo. If not, do it over.

I have not tested this, but I do know that my lockups all occurred with mono files.

[Spoon]

I was beginning to think that I was the only one having this problem. I'm guessing that you have a 4th gen. I can't explain why its happening but it doesn't seem to matter what size the file is. I've converted whole books (~700meg file) and seperate ~15 meg files and have the same problems. The only thing that I can think of is that there is an error in the origonal mp3 file, once converted the m4b file is not able to properly bookmark the file. One thing that I noticed though is when the pod locks if you don't reset it then your battery will drain like the pod is still running.

wierd but good to know that I'm not alone here. I've gone to playlisted mp3 files to avoid the lockups.

Spoon

[Anachronism]

It is a 4th gen and it all the files are .mp3 files I convert to aac. Some I have ripped from cds with iTunes using the join tracks feature. None of the files are huge and I have this problem with every .m4b file I listen to. I have had the problem with the battery draining while it is locked up occasionally also.

I have no problem listening to the files, the problem is after I listen to a file and turn the iPod off. It won't turn on without being reset then I lose my bookmark anyway, along with my play counts.

Does everyone with a 4th gen iPod have this problem? Are the 'real' .m4b files different? I would like to buy a audio book from iTunes and try it but there is nothing on iTunes that really intrests me. If this is a problem with real .m4b files also then apple will have to address it.

[Podunk]

so on the 4G, is this also happening with .m4b books from iTunes? or just the homemade ones?

Can anyone with a 4G comment on their experience with books downloaded from iTMS?

I still have an antique 3G (and a Mini) so I can't check the 4G.

[Gromit]

My 4G 40 gig iPod is locked up completely after creating homemade, bookmarkable auidobook files. It locked up once today but I was able to reset it. Now it won't respond to a reset at all.

Edit: It finally responded to a reset.

[blueharmony]

I'm having the EXACT same problem with *.m4a files I made bookmarkable with the "Make Bookmarkable" script by Doug Adams (http://www.malcomadams.com/itunes). These files were converted to aac from CDs using iTunes on a Mac.

At first I thought it was my cassette adapter but, thanks to this forum, I see now it is how the iPod processes these files: once turned off iPod won't turn back on and needs to be reset. If not reset the battery drains. Also, on at least one occasion, I couldn't get it to reset until I plugged it into power (may have simply been drained). Sounds like an iPod software problem!

[Revieced]

Same problem, 4th gen ipod. File size DOES NOT matter I've tried several consecutively smaller sizes (last about 20 mb). I'de be very interested if anyone has sucessfully fixed this.

[dasnutz]

My 4G 20GB does the exact same thing. I have had mine for close to 2 weeks and had my first one replaced, which I got last night. I tend to listen to audiobooks before going to bed, only to wake up to a dead iPod. Sometimes the reset doesn't work. When I got my new iPod last night, I did as usual and listened to an audiobook, woke up this morning and it was all locked up. It took 2 resets for it to work. I really hope that this issue gets fixed....

[Anachronism]

Has anyone with a 4g tried a 'real' .m4b file downloaded from iTunes? Has anyone with a 4g got m4b files to work?

For now I am breaking my audiobook files into 10-15 min chunks until this problem is (hopefully) solved, If I could just remember to turn off shuffle when I start an audiobook

[tadbot]

I've been having the same problem with my new 4G 40gb iPod. I converted .mp3s into .m4b. When I am listening to one of these audiobooks, and then turn off the iPod or pause it so that it auto-shuts down after a minute, I have to reset it in order to turn back on.
However, if I open a music file and then pause it/turn it off, it shuts off without freezing.

It seems that it has my current position in the audiobook stored in RAM, and when it goes to shut down, it tries to save this position to the HD and freezes. However, if I open a music file first, it saves the position to the HD correctly. I'd guess that there's a bug in shutting down while saving the audiobook's position as a bookmark at the same time.

I've been unable to recreate the problem - I tried re-converting the files, so it may be that the freeze problem only occurs with certain files.

[Podunk]

iTunes has FREE downloads of the Republican and Decomcratic convention speeches.

Can someone with 4G download a few of these and see if the problem happens with iTunes .m4b files or is limited to files using the homemade conversion method?

Thanks.

[Anachronism]

I downloaded the free RNC speeches and they seem to work fine. I guess this means there is not much chance of apple fixing this issue .

On the positive side I guess I can buy audiobooks from apple and have them work correctly.

[dordale]

Well, since I use my iPod for listening to audiobooks a good percentage of the time, and have several of the homemade variety which I've converted to .m4b files, I can quit being jealous of the 4g owners and have a renewed appreciation for my 3g ipod.

dordale