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A general query really.
I've got an Iriver iHP 20 http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=195
I've had it for around 8 or 9 months, but recently it's taken to only playing certain tracks and it seems to stop playing for lengthy periods of time and then the sound will come back, but having skipped certain tracks.
I've brought this up in conversation with mates who own MP3 players too, one has an Ipod and he says that sometimes certain tracks dont play on his either.
Has anybody else found this? Is there a remedy?
I know the fundamentals behind HD's and realise clusters on the disk can become corrupted.
Can you defragment these players? I havent read anything that would lead me to believe I can. The only solution may be to reformat the drive and then transfer all my albums back to the player. But this seems long winded and I'm finally filling up the bugger too.
Any suggestions?

Break it some more and take advantage of the warranty.

I very occasionally get tracks which have become corrupted on my iPod. All I do is transfer them over again. You have to remember hard disks aren't fail-proof, especially when they get rattled about as they do in a portable player.

Best thing to do would be to reset/reformat and transfer the tracks again. If you're sensible and have the music sitting there on your PC already it doesn't need to take very long at all.

When I get some time, I will transfer across the corrupted tunes and see whether they work.

If not, then I will have to reformat

The only problem I've encountered with my iPod is that it will advance one track further in a folder when I'm trying to play something, mainly because the unit is being shaken a little too much in the car etc.

Other than that, it's fine.

Irivers can be accessed as external HDs without the use of any software so they act as a normal USB device and can be given a checkup and defragged like any other external hard disk.

just plug in your mp3 player, see what drive letter it is, and from the command prompt type "chkdsk e:\" or whatver the drive letter is. For defragging i use O&O defrag, as its the mutts nuts.

Thanks for that Stimpee, will follow your advice and see whether I can listen to Mr Schnauss without my Iriver deciding to jump to Underworld!

I know this is not a particularly helpful answer to the iPod query, but I thought I'd plug my Creative Zen Touch (20Gb) whilst we're on the subject of MP3 players.

Thoroughly recommendable. It's never refused to play anything or done anything strange or quirky. I had a moment when it "froze" once, but you can reset it with a "sharp pointy thing". Never had a prob since. I've crammed TONS of music on it - in fact I have a job filling it up! They are going down and down in price since I bought mine, so for the amount of storage it's a good buy. The battery power is awesome too!

Obviously it's not as much as a fashion accessory as the trendy iPod (and perhaps not quite as beautifully crafted) but it does look very similar. Instead of a wheel there's a "slidey"touch-sensitive pad.

A cheaper alternative to the iPod and just as (if not more) reliable

Only problem with zen touch is that it uses MP3 - MP3 is shite. Needs more AAC.