iTunes 8.1 causing syncing issues with older iPod shuffles?

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iTunes 8.1 causing syncing issues with older iPod shuffles?

Users of iTunes 8.1 have reported issues when syncing some first- and second-generation iPod shuffle units. According to an Apple Discussions thread, iTunes 8.1 creates duplicate files on these shuffles when dragging files to the iPod that already exist on the device, does not place podcasts at the beginning of the play order on the shuffle, sorts alphabetically rather than by date, doesn’t automatically delete podcasts on the shuffle that have been deleted from the Podcasts list in iTunes, and doesn’t allow users to play songs from the shuffle in iTunes when the device is connected. The problems appear to be occurring on both Mac and PC computers; some users have reported that restoring the shuffle fixes all problems, while other users have had only limited success following a restore. [via Wired]

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Comments

1

The title of this news item ending in a question mark befuddles me; essentially because there ought to be no question about it.

iTunes 8.1 (and 8.1.1) has effectively ruined all three of my 2nd Gen Shuffles. It’s bad enough that play position is no longer preserved in podcasts and auidobooks, but to not be able to sort or reorder the playlist… well, it has quite actually made what was (for me) a nearly perfect audio device about 70% useless. If the Shuffle 3rd Gen weren’t so badly designed I would have picked one up just to get back the functionality that Apple has stolen from me.

Really though, disabling previous products in order to make the update enticing is despicable.

Posted by ThaddW on April 10, 2009 at 9:28 AM (PDT)

2

No one can say for sure that this was deliberate, can they?

Anyway, google for older versions of iTunes for now I suppose.

Posted by Fanman on April 10, 2009 at 10:50 AM (PDT)

3

The remedy I found for the out of order playlist, is to sync the Shuffle (mine is a 1GB 2nd gen and iTunes 8.1.0.52) and play one song through to reset the play count, and then to sync it again. It’s worked twice for me (I restored between attempts to see if it was a repeatable fix using different playlists, I haven’t tried a smart playlist). I know this is a stupid way to get it fixed but I understand that another way to cure this is to revert back to iTunes 8.0.X.XX

Posted by john on April 10, 2009 at 8:19 PM (PDT)

4

iTunes 8.1.1 has ruined my 1st generation 2 GB Nano. It worked perfectly until I upgraded. Now it’s not recognized in iTunes and my song library has disappeared from it.

Any ideas which older version of iTunes I should download to fix this?

Thanks!!

Posted by BrianC on April 12, 2009 at 5:53 PM (PDT)

5

Please help me back to iTune 8.0. Can’t play songs from 2nd Gen shuffle while hooked to computer! HELP!!!

Posted by Gary Ritter on April 13, 2009 at 12:01 PM (PDT)

6

Please help me!!! My 2nd Gen Shuffle won’t play from song list when hooked to computer. This happened after downloadind iTunes 8.111

Posted by Gary Ritter on April 13, 2009 at 12:09 PM (PDT)

7

check the iPod Shuffle section under Forums, I posted the links there (it doesn’t seem to be working for me here). Look for the lightbulb.

Posted by john on April 13, 2009 at 4:07 PM (PDT)

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