D2G mp3 music skipping

[joggy]

I've posted this over at the moto support forums and figured I'd post here as well to see if anyone had any ideas.

I recently upgraded from a D1 to a D2G. On my D1 I never had issues with playback of files stored on my SD card.

Since upgrading to the D2G quite often but not always when playing mp3 files on the stock music player (Music), my songs "skip & pop" (similar to the sound of an LP from back in the day). On occasion, the same files will play just fine. I've also tested another SD card with same files and the "skip & pop" still occurs. I've confirmed that the files play fine otherwise (straight off the SD card via my computer) so I know it's not the files themselves. This "skip & pop" also happen with other music players from the Market (Cubed Music player for instance).

I've haven't added too much to this phone since buying it so it's essentially stock from Verizon other than all the same Market apps I had on my D1.

I've seen this same issue reported elsewhere around the 'net, so I know it's not specific to my phone.

I'm guessing that there is something on the D2G that wasn't on my D1 that is interfering (there is so much bloat-crap ware on this from Verizon & Moto it could be anything).

Anybody else run across this on their D2 or D2G? Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

 

[leobg]

I can confirm I experience this too. I am coming from Motorola Milestone and initial firmware of the Milestone had a bug that was causing music playback over headphone jack to pop and skip quite often. That got eliminated completely after following firmware update (Motorola had recognized the bug officially). With D2G the sound effect is similar, but significantly less pronounced and happening much less often. Since my experience with my previous phone, I am pretty sure it is not insulated to my and your phone only. However, as it is less pronounced and it's quite possible many people won't even feel it (and complain), I am thinking it won't be easy to convince Motorola there is bug at all.
What is the link to the Moto forum post you made? I will go and post there too, hopefully Motorola will pay attention and look into this.

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[joggy]

Thanks leobg. I agree too that many might not even notice it when playing mp3s. Oddly enough, when I experience it with mp3s I can play music streaming over Audiogalaxy via the same headphones without issue.

The link is https://supportforums.motorola.com/thread/44033

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[ExodusC]

I too get the popping. It's frustrating and annoying.

Note that it doesn't happen with other apps like YouTube, just Music.

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[leobg]

Thanks leobg. I agree too that many might not even notice it when playing mp3s. Oddly enough, when I experience it with mp3s I can play music streaming over Audiogalaxy via the same headphones without issue.

The link is https://supportforums.motorola.com/thread/44033

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It was EXACTLY the same issue with the Milestone - streaming played fine. MP3 were skipping. Another thing was it was not skipping when playing over bluetooth. I haven't noticed skipping over bluetooth on the D2G, but I have used BT audio very little on the D2G to be 100% sure it is clear. But I suspect it is same bug as before, just less prominent.

 

[joggy]

OK, just an update on those for those that might care.

I've emailed Moto support regarding the problem. I've received an acknowledgement that it will be reviewed (not holding my breath).

I've also gone down the root & freeze path. I've frozen most of the apps in THIS thread and still am having the same problems with skips & pops...not always, but most times I play mp3s. I was hoping that one of the apps might be causing problems with the music/media player, but so far haven't found that app.

I've also reviewed logs from when there are no problems playing mp3s and also logs from when there are problems playing mp3s. I can't tell myself if there is anything there to help narrow it down, but who knows.

Guess it's just a wait and see with Motorola. Hopefully they do actually review the issue I sent in and in turn come up with a fix.

 

[tebower]

Yes, I can confirm this as well.

I was afraid my audio files had become corrupted in some fashion, so I deleted them off the SD card and then copied them from my desktop computer (no sound issues), and the issue does randomly recur. It seems to be intermittent. I don't experience it on every track.

 

[joggy]

Thanks tebower.

I may also try an underclocking setting to see if that helps. I fear it may be to low when the skipping occurs, so maybe a low threshold of 400 may help. Just a thought.

Does anyone know which overclock utility works on a rooted stock ROM D2G or does it matter? I see there are SetCPU and Droid Overclock in the Market.

 

[tebower]

I think it's safe to say that this is likely a problem with decoding on the stock music player. I have 3 media players installed - stock, Vital Player, and Zimly.

I found one song that I could reliably reproduce the skipping sound at the same intervals, and played it with all three apps. Stock skipped as expected, Vital Player did not skip, and Zimly did not skip. Went back to stock, and it skipped again, while the others again did not.

Honestly, while this issue used to bother me, I completely switched to using Zimly almost exclusively two weeks ago. It's by far the best designed music AND video playing app that you've never heard of. I came across a mention to it in an unrelated forum post, and installed it from the Market. I was immediately in love with it's style and function. It has modules for music and video, and sounds great. You can actually "quit" the app, unlike the stock music player. It is constantly updated, and also comes with a really cool "pre-lock screen" lock screen music interface. Once you see it, that will make sense (it doesn't have a widget you have to add to widget locker to get music controls, it actually has a music interface that appears before the main lock screen when waking up a phone while music is playing - you can unlock from the interface, and it does skip the system lock screen).

Anyway...kinda went on a bit there...

 

[The Robot Cow]

I had the exact same problem and here's how I solved it.
I went into Task Manager.
And removed both music and gallery from the auto-end apps list.

Hope this helps

Edit: I just realized that this was about a skipping noise coming from your music. This solution was for when the phone just stops playing the music.

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[joggy]

Thanks tebower...I bet you're onto to something regarding the decoding. I'm going to give Zimly a try.

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[kelemvor]

If the other apps you mentioned don't solve it, I don't have this problem with PowerAMP. I picked it up because the stock player won't do FLAC, which is what I ripped my old cd collection to. I've never had the problem with or without bluetooth while playing mp3 or FLAC in PowerAMP.

 

[joggy]

Cool...thanks for the suggestion kelevmor.

I had tried a handful of music apps, but hadn't yet tried Zimly or PowerAMP. I'll be checking these both out soon to see if there is a difference.

 

[gujupmp88]

I dont have a droid 2 global, but i was having the same problem with my fascinate. i found this while searching Re: Fascinate stock music player skipping while playing - Verizon Wireless Community and in the last post it says that battery widgets cause the problems. i had the gauge battery widget which i promptly deleted and uninstalled. the songs have stopped skipping. maybe this will work on the d2g as well.

 

[Techjourney]

I dont have a droid 2 global, but i was having the same problem with my fascinate. i found this while searching Re: Fascinate stock music player skipping while playing - Verizon Wireless Community and in the last post it says that battery widgets cause the problems. i had the gauge battery widget which i promptly deleted and uninstalled. the songs have stopped skipping. maybe this will work on the d2g as well.

I've been monitoring this thread since I also experience occasional "popping" and "crackling" sounds when playing some mp3s when using the stock music player. I was using the Gauge Battery Widget and thought I would try gujupmp88's suggestion to delete and uninstall this widget. The sound has indeed improved; only faint crackling and not as frequent as before. Interested to know what others find.

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