Random iPod Question

[G. Klopfenstein]

I just purchased a 30GB audio/video iPod and for the most part everything works fine. Maybe I'm just an idiot but for some reason I can't get the songs to play straight through. For instance, when listening to iTunes on the computer I can start listening to Rancid and just sit and listen all they way through to Red Hot Chili Peppers,etc. However on the iPod, if I start listening to Rancid it will play all the Rancid songs and once all those songs are over it won't go to the next artist. It will just stop and go back to the main music menu. Also if I'm listening to a specific artist and I want to listen to the next artist, if I push the fast forward button it goes back the music menu. I'm sure it's just a dumb setting, but can somebody tell me how I can listen to my songs in order without having to go back to the main menu everytime? I was excited to get this thing and now I can't make it work right.

[Slim Shady]

In your settings, you can "shuffle" by songs or albums, which will eventually get through your entire collection either randomly picking songs or full albums depending on what setting you choose.

If you don't want a random setting, or prefer to organize by artist, just create a new playlist on the iPod (using iTunes) and drag all your iPod songs into it, then you just select to play that playlist and it will go from top to bottom through all the songs you put in it.

[G. Klopfenstein]

Gotcha. Another random question. Anybody actually getting 14 hours per charge out of their iPod like the box says? Mine doesn't seem to last near that long.

[gunnarg]

Are you actually running it until it stops playing and observing that or are you seeing the battery meter drop dramatically after a short time? My battery meter drops super fast but the battery life seems to be quite good. For example, I've noticed the meter go low after listening to a little music and then put on a movie - to my surprise it plays through an entire movie before the battery croaks.

I seem to remember reading that the battery indicator is somewhat dynamic based on your activity. Also, if you're skipping songs a lot instead of just letting it play, the iPod is constantly refilling the play buffer, taking up a lot of battery. Try turning the backlight timer down to the minimum 2 seconds too.