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iPod locking up in C4 dock

thefred

By thefred
in General Control4 Discussion

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thefred Enthusiast

thefred

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I have noticed that my iPod seems to be locking up nearly every day. It will be playing a song and then, in the middle of a song, it just goes to an annoying buzz and the iPod is locked up. I then have to go, take it out of the dock, reboot the iPod it and put it back on the dock. Its rather annoying when I am in another part of the house and have to go to the dock and complete that exercise. I am using a new iPod Classic 160GB. Is this a common problem?

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ILoveC4 Grand Master

ILoveC4

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Do you mind me asking you guys why you would have a dedicated iPod for this as opposed to just using the C4 Digital Audio?

Also, before I had my NAS, I used to hook an iPod directly to the controller via USB and it worked great. I could stream several songs at once from the same iPod. I think it even charged it as well, although I don't remember for certain. I don't see why people mess around with that silly dock.

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Jobu604 Collaborator

Jobu604

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Do you mind me asking you guys why you would have a dedicated iPod for this as opposed to just using the C4 Digital Audio?

Also, before I had my NAS, I used to hook an iPod directly to the controller via USB and it worked great. I could stream several songs at once from the same iPod. I think it even charged it as well, although I don't remember for certain. I don't see why people mess around with that silly dock.

I have an iPod dock for three reasons, none of which may be very good:

- I assume that it is cheaper than a NAS

- I originally did not have Rhapsody, and so this was my only way to access my music

- I use it for when friends come over with their own iPods

Are you saying that if I hook up my iPod to the Controller using the USB connector that comes with the iPod, and then presumably scan the music via Composer Media Edition, that my music will all show up?

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ILoveC4 Grand Master

ILoveC4

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Are you saying that if I hook up my iPod to the Controller using the USB connector that comes with the iPod, and then presumably scan the music via Composer Media Edition, that my music will all show up?

That's how I used to use mine. I haven't done it for a while, but I assume it would still work.

Being able to use friends iPods in the dock, I could see that as a benefit if people brought there iPods over and wanted to listen to them.

Also, you don't HAVE to have a NAS. An external drive hooked up via USB works great as well, although you need to make sure you get it formatted correctly and have one with an external power supply.

NAS drives are getting pretty cheap as well....something to consider.

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thefred Enthusiast

thefred

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Do you mind me asking you guys why you would have a dedicated iPod for this as opposed to just using the C4 Digital Audio?

Also, before I had my NAS, I used to hook an iPod directly to the controller via USB and it worked great. I could stream several songs at once from the same iPod. I think it even charged it as well, although I don't remember for certain. I don't see why people mess around with that silly dock.

I tried to scan a limited amount of music from my computer hard drive to the HC500. Without creating playlists in C4, I could not do anything other than play a particular song or queue up songs one at a time. No shuffle, no play by genre... And, then to have to recreate all of this in iTunes anyway to make my music portable seemed like a double wate of time. So, I took all my CD's, scanned them into iTunes and then got the dock.

I restored the iPod last night and while I just turned it on and left it running, it *seems* to be working better. I haven't tried to access it from multiple locations or change songs, so I'll try that later if it hasn't locked up yet.

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  • 2 weeks later...
thefred Enthusiast

thefred

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Here is an update in case anyone may know of a solution or had a similar problem. I have two Nanos and one Classic. The Nanos work fine--never lock up. On the Classic, I found that it locks up on "Retrieving Cover Art". So, if I turn off the coverart on the C4 screen, it plays fine. But, if I have the coverart on it locks up within a couple of songs of turning it on.

Any thoughts?

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  • 4 weeks later...
cgboulet Contributor

cgboulet

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I have the EXACT same issue with my iPod Classic locking up and have been trying to resolve since 2008 (since I purchased the iPod dock). A very, very frustrating experience nonetheless. After lots of playing around by myself, I noticed (as did the thefred in his previous post) that having the Cover Art disabled did the trick. I got my dealer to even disable the Cover Art in the system so I don't have to do it myself. Since this has been done, I have not had an issue with it locking up. It must be something about the Classic iPod that the dock doesn't like.

I do have another question on the same topic that I also have been trying to resolve for the past 2 years. My iPod Classic lags about 2 seconds in sound as well every function that is performed with it around Control4. In other words, when I select a song, it takes about 2 seconds for the song to start. When I press pause or next, the same thing. I also have the dock setup to a TV to watch video, however, it is totally unwatchable because of that delay. The image is 2 seconds ahead of the sound. Does anyone have ANY fixes to this, or have experienced ANYTHING like this?

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  • 3 months later...
RenoDuke Rookie

RenoDuke

Posted
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Do you mind me asking you guys why you would have a dedicated iPod for this as opposed to just using the C4 Digital Audio?

Also, before I had my NAS, I used to hook an iPod directly to the controller via USB and it worked great. I could stream several songs at once from the same iPod. I think it even charged it as well, although I don't remember for certain. I don't see why people mess around with that silly dock.

To answer this question, the down side of the NAS is you must convert all your music to MP3 rather than steam directly from your ipod. Just one more step in what should be a simple task. I did end up installing a NAS since Control4 did not have a solution to fix the iPod dock. The NAS takes time to get up and running, but I purchase the NAS for the typical NAS requirements not for Control4. I have had the NAS go offline from Contorl4 but overall it is reliable. For others who may be considering, we went with the HP Smart Server.

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Letran Enthusiast

Letran

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Initially I thought exactly the same way iPod is useless for ME. I agree for the most part that the use of iPod Dock can be circumvented.

Via convert all your music files and make it available via USB (I do this now)

Via having a NAS centralize your media (Although my NAS is not always on)

Two good reasons in my house

1. 15 year old daughter. (I'd rather not mess with the system)

2. 11 yr old son (Don't want anywhere near the system)

Mainly ease of use for the younger inhabitants of the abode. This avoids me from hearing. Can I change my playlist? Can I add this song, delete this. downloaded this. convert this, etc. To have their friends swap ipods in the dock is also useful but not a main concern.

There is certainly a place for the ipod. I'm glad C4 has this product offering.

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dgbrown Collaborator

dgbrown

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Sonos + Sonos iPod Dock + EV Sonos Driver

The money you save by not buying the C4iPod dock can be used to bankroll the EV driver.

There were some recent performance issues surfaced with the EV Sonos driver and 2.x - not sure if it's been resolved.

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Letran Enthusiast

Letran

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dgbrown, Question for you. Now you've got me curious.

I've got currently an 8 zone c4amp. I need now at least 4 more zones but I'm delaying using two receivers instead connected to my 2 HC300s. I will in the near future add more zones via a proper c4 8-zone or 4-zone amp plus a matrix. I'm not one bit familiar with Sonos but I do read that it is better.

So if I add this configuration "Sonos + Sonos iPod Dock + EV Sonos Driver" to my system, would it be about the same price, cheaper, or more than

8zone amp+16-switch matrix.

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dgbrown Collaborator

dgbrown

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^ I was actually referring to using it as a source, not necessarily as a replacement for distributing audio. In the configuration I was referring you would hook a Sonos ZP90 (or two) to your audio matrix or C4 8 channel amp as a source (just like your cable box or BD player). Load the driver. And you can essentially use the either the OSG or the Sonos "i" apps to control what the Sonos is playing.

The advantage is the Sonos "i" app's are better, the Sonos is bullet proof in terms of playing music and Internet content, and you get to leverage your existing C4 install and A/V distribution. Your existing A/V distribution is more extensible than Sonos in that you can get, at least on the audio side, your video sources too.

That's what I do and recommend. Again, it's not about audio distribution, it's about having a good source that can play Internet content, music, iTunes, and having a reliable iPod dock - if that's important to you.

Make sense ?

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