How prevelent is it? or has it been fixed (with the posts I've read, it seems like it can't be fixed due to hardware limitations, but they are fairily old).

I'm looking to get a nano, but here's the rub. I have a 5,000 song itunes library (with more ripping to come) encoded at LAME -V0 and -V2, and a LITTLE aac. If I indeed can't use the lame files, can anyone think of the best way to deal with using both ipods easily? The reason I want a nano is because I'd like to carry it around in one of those wallet cases so I will always have it with me. My 5th gen 60gb is fine for much of the time, but with my job, it's a little bulky.

The great thing about Itunes IMHO is the easy file management. If I can't just change out the songs as I want to for a nano it almost loses it's point. The best solution I thought of, although not great, is to re-rip what I will initially want on my ipod at say . . .160 aac. I'd start all the artist names with z and a space so that they are at the end of my itunes library and I can tell them apart, and just re-rip as needed and manually update both iPods to keep the files going to the right iPod. Is there a better way to keep two libraries separate?? Keeping in mind that they will be different files altogether.

I suppose I could re-rip EVERYTHING (a few weeks of work at least) at 192 aac and be done with it. Oh how I wish I had the $$$ to rip all of my music to flac on an external hard drive in the first place, then I wouldn't have this problem. I mean, is 192aac REALLY that much worse then -V02 or -V0?? Then again, I have a lot of music from emusic, which is supposed to be compatible with ipods and they (according to the file information in windows) use LAME . . . probably preset standard, last I checked the file was with 3.96, bitrates ranging from 160 - to 220. How's this for a long multifaceted post!!! (sorry mods, move it needed).

hi, i'm on the same boat. i just bought a nano. but i havent found one file that sutters yet. i have thinked of using mp3repacker, but i would have to first find a suttering file.

The only files that have skipped on my nano were some old APS files I downloaded. I'd assume they were encoded with a much older version of LAME. I reencoded them from FLACs with LAME 3.97 V2 and they no longer skip on my nano. I've never come across any other files that have skipped.

I tried this out just two days ago. I had an older fourth generation (4G) 40GB iPod that had a couple of problematic tracks, it would also stutter with the problematic tracks listed on an older HA thread. I purchased a 5G 60GB iPod about 2 weeks ago and the stuttering problem is fixed. I have been told different things by different people about the iPod nano. First I heard that it wasn't skipping, then I heard that it was skipping. FYI - All my music is ripped with Lame 3.97b1/3.97b2 at -V 2 --vbr-new

I met a friend two days ago with a iPod nano. I downloaded a track onto his nano that my 4G was having trouble with (Ozzy Osbourne - See You On The Other Side) which my 5G plays fine. The nano did not skip with this track. I then put all the tracks that my 4G was having trouble with on the nano (15 tracks out of a ~5000 song library) and the iPod nano didn't have any trouble playing these tracks. However, I also put Korn's new album "See You On The Other Side" on my friend's nano and it had a problem with one of the tracks: Tearjerker. There is one segmant in the song where the bitrate jumps from 128kbps all the way up to 320kbps for 2 frames, then drops down to the 224kbps to 160-kbps range. My friend's nano skipped on that part while my 4G and 5G iPod don't. I know my 5G iPod won't skip on the problem tracks but I was certain that my 4G would have.

So, I don't think you will find a 100% accurate answer. I know the nano has hardware and firmware improvements over the 4G and below line of iPods (and the 2G and below line of minis) but I don't know if the fixes include the stutter issue with Lame or not. Apple has yet to identify any updates for any of their iPods other than adding general statements like "Secirity patch" or for adding features (like adding adding remote playback with Apple's in-line remote to the 5G). Instead we must rely on people to test these things out so it could take a while until we here a concrete answer even though the nano has been released for some time now. Look how long it took to identify the stutter issue with the 3G/4G line of iPods.

There is no need to do another thread on this. As discussed before, the Nano is still impacted by stuttering on certain VBR content. Yes, it's unpredictable. The last firmware release does not address the issue... though it may have changed the variables slightly.

The "easiest" solution would be to selectively re-rip any LAME MP3 tracks that stutter for you with ABR or CBR instead of VBR, if you want to stay with same format & encoder. You won't know how many that will be until you find them.

Kwanbis:

are you using the rockbox firmware... I thought I saw you post about that in another thread... maybe not...

AFAIK, the problem lies in apples firmware... more specifically how it conserves battery life by dynamically clocking the processor... running slower when bitrates are lower, and increasing the clock when bitrates increase... so, if you have a vbr song that jumps from low bitrate to a high one the apple firmware doesn't catch it fast enough and the processor hasn't sped up enough to compensate for the increased bitrate...

because the rockbox firmware does not yet have this dynamic clocking completed (processor runs at full speed all the time)... it doesn't suffer from the stutter... hopefully when it is finally implemented it will not suffer from the same situation (I think apple err's to the side of battery life since they would rather you use AAC anyway)...

I want a Flash Based player and 4GB seems like the minimum I would like to have so I've been holding off till rockbox gets a little farther... hopefully some apple competitors will strat bringing out 4GB+ models sometime this year (The Iudio U3 looks promising)...

no, i didn't have time to install rockbox. i'm on vacations this monday, i would check latter. i wanted to know just if mp3repacker would fix files.