Track skipping (FS#12208) way to reproduce

[Sykes]

Hi Guys,

My Clip+ with RB 3.10 suffers from #12208 pretty badly - quite often, during playback it just skips to the next track with a loud 'squeak', which makes it even more distracting. It's pretty impossible to reproduce since it happens every now and then, and when you rewind back before the 'skipping point', it just plays to the end of the track as if nothing has happened.

I now have a file which exhibits this behavior almost every time. For copyright reasons I don't wish to share the file, but it's easy to obtain. It's track #08 from this digital download downsampled to FLAC/L8 16 bits in foobar2000. The skipping happens pretty much every time at one point around 0:37.

Notes:
- the file passed the foobar2000 integrity verifier inspection. File system on the card is also fine.
- the file is 16 bits 96 kHz (original download is 24 bits)
- after installing RB, the file used to play fine at least a number of times... Only recently I returned to it and found that it skips. Also sometimes it play just fine. I think it plays okay mostly when there was another track playing just before this one (i.e. #07), but this might be a coincidence.
- the music is quite laid-back until the point where it usually skips - then it begins being faster/more complex.
- just before it skips, a 'lightning bolt' icon appears in the top right corner (I assume it means accessing the FS). If the playback isn't going to skip, the icon does NOT appear.
- reverting to original settings didn't help
- I never experienced a skip on any other track from this album (all are converted to 16b/96k)
- this file has the highest bitrate of everything I have - 1058 kbps according foobar2000
- if I FF past the 0:38 time, there's no skipping on the rest of the file

To me it seems that file access + FS fragmentation + large bitrate (@ 96 kHz nonetheless) = possibility to lose the next set of bits. But obviously it happens on lesser files as well, so who knows.

Hope this helps to debug the issue. If you need more info or want the sample file anyway... Lemme know.

And thanks for the great RB work guys 

[saratoga]

My Clip+ with RB 3.10 suffers from #12208 pretty badly - quite often, during playback it just skips to the next track with a loud 'squeak', which makes it even more distracting.

Do newer builds still have this problem?

I now have a file which exhibits this behavior almost every time. For copyright reasons I don't wish to share the file, but it's easy to obtain. It's track #08 from this digital download downsampled to FLAC/L8 16 bits in foobar2000. The skipping happens pretty much every time at one point around 0:37.

Without knowing the exact software versions and command lines, there is no way anyone could reproduce that file even if they wanted to.  Regardless though, if you're not providing a download link, you're probably going to have to solve the problem yourself.  We have no shortage of problem files, so usually people only work on the easiest ones.  No download == hard == forever at the bottom of the list

I would generate a truncated version of the file (clips of a song are generally permissible under fair use), or just post a link with nonobvious file name for a limited while. 

[Sykes]

I've sent you a pm.

Dunno if newer builds have the problem... I haven't updated to 3.11 yet.

[saratoga]

I just played the first minute of that track 5 times in a row without a problem using the current build for the clipv2.  I guess you should check if this problem still happens for you.  

http://duke.edu/~mgg6/rockbox/broken_file.flac

If anyone else wants to try.

[Sykes]

Well now I managed to kill the reproducibility.

I wanted to know if the 48 kHz version of the file has the same problem so I copied the folder with 48k album onto the card. And now, the 96k doesn't have problems anymore. Even after I deleted the new folder from the card.

Well go figure. What could be the reason? I'm not using auto db refresh. Apart from physically removing and replacing the card, what else could affect the playback in such a way?

(Note: the bug also affects file in the player's memory, not just on the card.)

[saratoga]

Perhaps it depends on how you were playing it?  The exact sequence you used to start playback? 

[Sykes]

I don't think so. Previously, I would either play the file from the beginning, or FF to 0:30 and it would most likely skip at 0:37. Now, I tried the same several times it just doesn't skip anymore.

I mean we knew the problem is pretty random, but this is strange.

I'm not a dev so I can't help further... What could change in behavior of the player by adding one folder (and then removing it)?

[Sykes]

And now it's doing it again, at the exact same spot 

Is there anything I can do to find out what exactly is the player doing at the time of the skip?