Zune sometimes skips at beginning of song

[-james-]

So far, I've been very pleased with the Zune and the Zune Marketplace, but I sometimes experience pauses/skips at the beginnings of songs...  Seems like it's when the hard drive is being accessed.  Anyone else experiencing this?

Thanks,
James

[illumination]

Mine was doing this so I called Tech Support (www.zune.net Then 'Contact Support') They picked up right away.

They said some of the problems could be that if you are charging it this can be caused (I am not).

They had my reboot the device (Hold down <- button and then hold 'up' on the directional pad). I thought this had worked but as I am typing this it just started skipping. So, apparently this did not help either.

I will have to call back.

[Josh]

It also seems to be the case the device will not respond when it is in this skipping state. For example if I hit the center button while it is skipping to see what is going on the player does not acknowledge it. It seems to do this at the beginning of every song whether it ends up skipping or not.

Is anyone else experiencing this issue?

[-james-]

Device restore (see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927001/en-us?sd=zune) doesn't help either.

The Zune is supposedly related to the Toshiba Gigabeat S.  I saw mention of the same problem on the mygigabeat.com forum, with some speculation that it only happens on subscription downloads... the only reason I bought the Zune.

MS 'tech' suggested that I return it.  Well, I have a replacement coming so we'll see how that goes.  Bought my wife one as well, but she hasn't set it up yet, so will also see how her's works out.  Judging by the responses here and the fact that the same problem exists on the Gigabeat, I'm not too optimistic.

[-james-]

Battery is currently around 50% and I'm skipping longer and more frequently.  May be a power or, more precisely, lack or power issue.

[lola1]

I have the same problem. I agree that it may be happening with ZuneMarketPlace downloaded songs. It's true that I hadn't noticed anything before signing up for my Zune Pass and unlimited download, while listening to my own songs. I need to experiment some more. A firmware update might fix that, but I think that my Zune device is definitely not at fault (at least it's not defective and I doubt exchanging it for a new one will change anything). I tried to reset my Zune, but the skipping happened afterwards again. This sucks.

[lola1]

I'm wondering if this doesn't have to do with decoding/decrypting the DRM from protected songs from the Zune Marketplace. This might make the playback skip (for me it's 2/3 times for a fraction of a second during the first 15 seconds of some downloaded songs.

[lola1]

All right,this is horrible, after experimenting, it's skipping during playback of pretty much every other song I downloaded (Zune MarketPlace - Zune Pass). I'm considering returning the Zune and getting a Creative Vision M with a subscription to another service. It sucks because all the other features and functionalities of the Zune are awesome. But this skipping is driving me mad.

Strange, when I fast forward till the last seconds of one song and let it play and go over the next song, it doesn't skip. And if I replay the same song (one click to the left), the song that had skipped before, doesn't anymore. The skipping always occurs at the beginning of the song. Goes to show that there's a big problem with the internal software/decoder, not with any corrupted song file.

[bbell37968]

Add me to the list of the disappointed.  I am experiencing the same skipping behavior described by others here.  I have only subscription content on the Zune (the primary reason I chose this device over others, as well as MS's likely position to acquire content).  When playing from one song to the next (as in a playlist or through album tracks, etc.), the first few seconds of the song will skip several times.  This happens at least 50% of the time.  If I select any given song, the selected song will not skip, but whatever follows will.  The device is not charging, etc.  It happens repeatably under any battery condition.

I have doubts that this issue is limited to just a few Zune devices or that returning it will result in success with a new Zune device.  Hope exists for a firmware upgrade, but if the statement is true that the hardware on which the Zune is based suffers from similar problems, this may be a challenge to resolve.  I have not yet contacted Microsoft and will do so, but if the advice is simply to replace it, it strikes me that this is not being addressed sufficiently.  I have had the Zune for a week, but will need to hear some kind of recognition of this issue from MS or will return it before the 14-day window expires.  That would be a shame, since otherwise it's a terrific player.

Hoping that MS sees these posts...

[-james-]

I replaced my Zune and am still skipping.  Check the other thread on this subject; someone reported that MS is aware of the issue and will be releasing updated firmware to fix it soon.  I sure hope so.

[gshocker]

I had the same problem along with a few other ones and returned my Zune. My new units has gotten rid of all the problems but the skipping. The fact that someone said it is happeneing on the Toshiba units with DRM music is not good to hear. I hope this is something that can be fixed as I love the unit. iTunes is a great service but for me the subscription is the way to go for most of my music needs.

[Evil1234]

Hi All!

I am soooo happy to have found this place! I have been going crazy as my Zune also skips. I have been on the phone with the support Level 2's for DAYS. AND even though they always tell me no one else has reported the issue... they have, I have personally had 5 BUG reports submitted about my issues!

So, a few tricks...
Basically I figured out, mine has a skip pattern. (with Display on any blackout timeing)
When you first hit play.. that song will play fine.
(the screen then dims during this song)
Then.. the next song.. fine!

After that, every other song skipps from 5-15 seconds.. and this gets worse and worse over time. (it starts with a single pop, then 2 pops, then it just starts doing the whole thing.)

--
Is that what everyone else has?
I have ripped music on mine too, and it does NOT do it on those at all. So it has to be something with the music, I have tried different computers, 2 different operating systems, and 3 DIFFERENT Zunes.. Even a redownload of the software and all of the 20 GIGS of music did not fix the problem. (Some of these however will ACT like its ok for like 2 hours or so, then it will start again.)
--

A Fix.....
So, after experimenting.. I decided to try different display options as mine only does it with black screen.
Now, if you set your backlight to "Always On" mine does not do the skipping.
If you have it plugged in, it doesnt skip.

Anyone else have any tricks? These actually make it bareable for the most part..

[lola1]

I called the support center yesterday to report the skipping while playing back MarketPlace songs. The guy wrote down what I had to say, put me on hold and then came back and wanted me to resync my Zune and call again with the Zune software running in front of me (although I had told him that I had resynced twice already, deleted everything and put songs back on again to test them). Anyway, I'll call again tomorrow and see what they can do for me. Still experimenting. If it doesn't go away, I'll return my Zune (14 day period) and wait for news of a firmware update actually fixing this problem. Otherwise, I'll have to go with another player, because I'm sick of listening to the same 60 CD's and getting a subscription was one of the main reason why I upgraded my mp3 player.

[Evil1234]

I just got a call from Zune Support:
"Bug Report about skipping and stalling, is a known bug with some of the Digital Rights Management. This is to be fixed in upcoming updates by Microsoft. So by updating your software will allow you to fix this problem in the future."

So at least they have pin pointed the problem.. I guess.

[lola1]

Having problems with skipping during playback, I called the support center again with the Zune connected. The guy at the other end of the line put me on hold several times to try to solve my problem. Served me some BS at first, like if you're battery is not charged, it will skip, if your 14-day subscription has expired, it will skip, try to delete content and then resync your zune (I had done it 4 times already!), you must sign in when connecting the device so that it can syncs the DRM rights (I guess to compare dates and see that your subscription has not expired), etc. Finally he put me in contact with another guy who seemed to have a clue. He served me just a little BS (about the battery, etc.), but that's ok, I guess they're trained to do that in order to get rid of as many people as possible. After that, he told me to FORMAT the Zune, not reset it and try. All right this might be known, I made a search for it on the forums and couldn't find the post, so here it goes:
1) While not connected with the USB cable, Reset the Zune by pressing UP and BACK and holding the buttons.
2) While the Zune screen shows the Zune logo and the Zune internal software is loading, press simultaneously these 3 buttons: Back-OK (middle button)-right. This must be done while the software is loading, not when you see the home menu (then it’s too late, it doesn't work)
3) you see a text in three languages telling you that it's formatting.

You lose all of your content on the Zune device. When you plug it in again with the USB cable, the Zune software asks you if you want to sync the CLOCK of your Zune device with Internet time (press "Yes"), then it's done. The Zune is empty, nothing happens to the library.

I'm back to testing it again.

[Evil1234]

Hope that works for you... it did for me for like a day, and then it started skipping again.

[bkbond]

Well I have had the same problem since the 4th day I had the Zune. They called me at the lovely hour of 11pm last night, nice right? They said it was a hardwar problem and to go get an exchange. For the 4th time since this started, I told her, this is my 2nd Zune device and it still skips. Do they really not listen when you call? One guy I talked with said that if you leave the display on all the time, the skipping doesn't happen but who really wants to do that and drain the battery. I do hope a fix is coming soon.

[illumination]

I listened to my Zune all day today with it plugged into the USB of a computer. I heard only one pop during a song. The minute I unplugged it the first song played started skipping. It seems to get worse as the battery dies.