Clip+ random stop and hang m4a. Sometimes noise.

[Julian67]

I've experienced my Clip+ hang several times when playing m4a.

I'm running Rockbox 3.13.

It's happened I think four or perhaps five times and I didn't take any notice the first couple of times but now it is recurring so I guess it's something that could be fixed.

Today this was the file which was playing:

Code: [Select]

$ MP4Box -info 06\ -\ Purple\ Haze.m4a
* Movie Info *
Timescale 44100 - Duration 00:05:21.294
Fragmented File no - 1 track(s)
File Brand M4A  - version 0
Created: GMT Mon Mar 25 14:23:30 2013

File has no MPEG4 IOD/OD

iTunes Info:
Name: Purple Haze
Artist: Nigel Kennedy
Album: The Kennedy Experience
Genre: Alternative
Created: 1999
Encoder Software: fdkaac 0.2.0, libfdk-aac 3.3.3, VBR mode 4
TrackNumber: 6 / 0

Track # 1 Info - TrackID 1 - TimeScale 44100 - Duration 00:05:21.294
Media Info: Language "Undetermined" - Type "soun:mp4a" - 13837 samples
MPEG-4 Config: Audio Stream - ObjectTypeIndication 0x40
MPEG-4 Audio MPEG-4 Audio AAC LC - 2 Channel(s) - SampleRate 44100
Self-synchronized

The playback stopped and when I checked the player the screen came on with a button press.  It showed the normal screen in the same way as during normal playback but with no activity and no action was possible (button presses did nothing) so I powered off with a long hold on the power button.  On restarting I pressed the home button and play did resume on the same track but at about 30 seconds earlier than it had stopped.  I know this was also the case on a previous occasion.  The track played to the end without any problem.

Each time this has happened the player has been on and playing uninterrupted for some time i.e. I'm playing an album through and the player is in my pocket or clipped some place and there haven't been any pauses or button presses, possibly not even volume changes.

I can't compare this to older versions of Rockbox because I just switched to using m4a instead of Ogg Vorbis at pretty much the same time as upgrading to Rockbox 3.13.  I do still have some complete Ogg Vorbis albums on the player but I've only experienced the hang with m4a.  I've been using Rockbox on my Clip+ for maybe the last 18 months and it didn't choke on vorbis yet which is why I'm associating this with m4a.

I guess this is a buffering problem?  I also experienced some noise.  I'm used to there being some noise on button presses and powering up or down, and on starting/pausing/stopping playback sometimes but generally I expect the player to be silent on pause and indeed it is absolutely "black".  But I noticed some ugly distortion on high notes (soprano voices) where I'd never heard it before.  I spent a few minutes repeat listening to to the same section and the distortions were identical and happened every time in the exact same place.  At first I thought it was an encoder artefact (having just switched from vorbis to m4a this seemed like an obvious recent change that might be a factor).  Then I noticed when I paused the player it was really noisy like a terrible headphone out on an ancient motherboard.  I powered down and restarted and the noise was gone and playback again sounded pristine; no distortion of any kind and the encode was obviously fine.  I'm guessing this might be associated with the hanging which is why I mention it.

I'm not sure I can reproduce these issues on request as they appear to be unpredictable, and if the player hangs I can't do anything except a hard reset.  If I get the noise again the player is otherwise working normally and I could collect data if I knew what was useful and how to do it,  so if there's anything useful to be done please specify.

The file where I experienced noise:

Code: [Select]

$ MP4Box -info 01\ -\ Attollite\ portas.m4a
* Movie Info *
Timescale 44100 - Duration 00:04:41.007
Fragmented File no - 1 track(s)
File Brand M4A  - version 0
Created: GMT Sun Mar 31 02:56:25 2013

File has no MPEG4 IOD/OD

iTunes Info:
Name: Attollite portas
Artist: I Fagiolini & Fretwork & Sophie Yates
Album: The Early Byrd
Writer: William Byrd
Genre: Early
Created: 1995
Encoder Software: fdkaac 0.2.0, libfdk-aac 3.3.3, VBR mode 4
TrackNumber: 1 / 0

Track # 1 Info - TrackID 1 - TimeScale 44100 - Duration 00:04:41.007
Media Info: Language "Undetermined" - Type "soun:mp4a" - 12102 samples
MPEG-4 Config: Audio Stream - ObjectTypeIndication 0x40
MPEG-4 Audio MPEG-4 Audio AAC LC - 2 Channel(s) - SampleRate 44100
Self-synchronized

p.s. I have no idea if this is relevant but on two of the occasions the player hung the track being played was definitely the last track of the album (each album in its own directory).  The other times may have been the same but I don't know.