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March 28, 2007

ipod

Nano volume leans to the left

Posted Mar. 28, ’07, 1:31 PM PT by Dan Moren
Category | iPod

New nanoI love my second-generation iPod nano. It’s not my everyday iPod, since it lacks the capacity of my 30GB iPod with video, but I use it for working out and in other circumstances when I don’t want to be weighed down by the obese 5G (it’s…just…so…heavy).

My experience with the 2G nano had been largely trouble-free, but earlier in the year I noticed that on occasion I would start getting sound through only my left earphone. Twiddling the headphone plug would usually restore the missing channel, though often with a bit of static. The same was true no matter whether I was using headphones, a minijack-to-RCA cable for my stereo, or my car’s tape adapter.

As of yesterday, the problem worsened to the point where if I didn’t twist the headphone plug perfectly, I’d get absolutely no sound through the right headphone. A quick search of the Apple Discussion Forums shows that I’m not alone, so I guess I’ll be taking the nano in for service when I have a chance.

How about it, readers? Any of you encounter misbehaving headphone jacks? Got any clever solutions?


8 Comments

jayH said:

it's the earbud, not the nano. it happened to my Mini too, and since i had an extra earbud around from my previous iPod i just switched and it's worked since...

March 28, 2007 1:40 PM
Strongblade! said:

Hav you tried a different set of headphones to make sure it really is the headphone jack and not the headphones? Other than that... I'd say the nano needs to be looked at..

March 28, 2007 1:45 PM
jOHNNYbOY 05 said:

Sounds like you got some dirt or dust in the headphone jack. I would suggest using a can of compressed air then squirting some electro-contact cleaner into the Jack.

That will probably fix it.

March 28, 2007 2:39 PM
Dan Moren Author Profile Page said:

@jay, Strongblade: It's definitely the nano. As I said above, it happened in my car using the tape adapter, and when I was connecting to the stereo via a minijack-to-RCA cable. I tried it with another set of headphones to be sure, and it has the same problem.

Guess I'm Apple Store bound.

March 28, 2007 3:01 PM
Mike said:

Happened to me too. I returned my first 2G nano to Costco. The second just started exhibiting the same problem today.

March 28, 2007 5:37 PM
Yan said:

Interesting. I have the same problem with mine, though it only happens when I'm working out. It's never happened any other time (and I use it a lot). I thought maybe it was caused by sweat going into the earbud.

March 28, 2007 5:39 PM
Adam Raschka said:

I got my 2G the day they arrived at our local Circuit City. I had this problem right around the beginning of December. My right bud totally died eventually. I bought another pair of Apple's new earbuds and the same thing happened. I love the new earbuds for comfort (i have a small inner-ear so the old ones never worked) and sound, but as far as reliability they are awful. My girlfriend has had her 2G since Christmas and this has just started happening to her. I replaced the earbuds with Sony in-ear isolation headphones and they work great. Chances are, it's the earbuds. If not, air-duster is the cure. I'm an audio engineer and air-duster is a life saver at live events with "on-the-fritz" channels.

March 28, 2007 7:47 PM
Philippe Azimzadeh said:

I guess I'm just lucky, but this never happened to me: I've had a 4Gb Nano (RED) since Christmas and the only "problem" I have is that the rubber part on the round en of the earphones is peeling of a little bit, but it doesn't feel any different when I wear it. But no left side problem.

March 29, 2007 4:44 AM

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