digg

Facebook Connect Join Digg About
See the original image at gizmodo.com

iPod Nano Switches Left/Right Channels With Headphone Insert

gizmodo.com — If you have a new 4th-gen nano and a decent ear, you may have noticed something funny: After putting it to sleep, if you wake it up by inserting headphones, the left and right channels switch. I tried this with the most obvious stereo mix of all time, David Bowie's "Space Oddity," and it's really easy to duplicate yourself.

Who dugg this? Made popular Oct 11, 2008

Digg DudeWhat is Digg?

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. Digg surfaces the best stuff as submitted and voted on by the community. Take the Tour to learn more.

69 Comments

show profanity settings
expand all
  • Jeffler, on 10/11/2008, -2/+70Its not a bug, its a feature
  • djrbx, on 10/11/2008, -2/+46Talk about fanboy. Dude, they never even mentioned anything about bashing apple products. All it states is a flaw/glitch, not even that big for that matter, that the new Nano has. Something that could easily be fixed via software update, which the article even mentions as well. Get off your hype and stop being a fanboy.
  • pintomp3, on 10/11/2008, -0/+42Hear Different
  • crow30, on 10/11/2008, -0/+40Here's a easy way to replicate this effect: take the earbuds out of your ears, switch them and put the back in. It's magic!
  • podwich, on 10/11/2008, -4/+43Why in the world would that be done intentionally? That'd be stupid. You don't intentionally cause a music player to not work correctly.
  • jejeje666, on 10/11/2008, -3/+41> ...and it's really easy to duplicate yourself

    Apple sure knows how to add useless functionality in their IPods. Why would I want to duplicate myself? One jejeje666 is more than enough.

    EDIT: Spare organs. Clever. I'm getting one.
    EDIT2: Wait. What if my replica wants MY organs? He better be in a coma or something..
  • UMDWei, on 10/11/2008, -2/+28Stupid fanboys. I have several Apple products in my family but a bug is a bug, it's not a easter egg. Why try to make excuses for them? Let them know so they can fix it.
  • freqk, on 10/11/2008, -15/+35Any possible reason this would be done intentionally?
    It seems just as unlikely as this glitch.
  • Clbck, on 10/11/2008, -5/+22While I'm happy that you enjoy your Zune, I don't really see your comment as being relevant to the topic at hand.
  • brianez21, on 10/11/2008, -0/+13It has to do with the fact that the new iPods support a third channel for microphones (Voice Notes). Obviously this is software controlled, and when resuming from sleep, the channels aren't being set back up properly.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2008, -0/+13Actually, I have to digg you because iTunes blows.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2008, -0/+12Apple: Feature
    MS: Bug
    Linux: Incomprehensible techno babble.
  • Mootabolife, on 10/11/2008, -0/+12It changes the music and makes it slightly more interesting when you hear the same song with reversed stereo? Most likely just a glitch though.
  • brkhobowriter, on 10/11/2008, -1/+12Yuck. He needs to clean those earphones.
  • Whackly, on 10/11/2008, -3/+13I have a zune and love it also.. and (getting ready to have the audience throw rotten veggies at me) I even like the zune software and prefer by a wide margin over itunes.
  • enclaved, on 10/11/2008, -1/+11Garry, before you speak again I want you to think.

    Why would a a sony or ms fanboy even use an ipod?

    Why would 'it's a weird easily fixable bug' even register as FUD to you? Do you even know what FUD is? I don't think you do. I think you're dumb and just felt like watching yourself type and let loose the first stupid thing you could think of. People like you make me ashamed to love apple as much as I do.
  • ironhide, on 10/11/2008, -7/+17People still listen to FM radio?
  • Lungkisser, on 10/11/2008, -0/+10Yeah, whining like that is going to make Sony/MS fans respect you more.
  • HappyScrappy, on 10/11/2008, -1/+10He means it stays swapped even after the plug is fully inserted.
  • explnx, on 04/27/2009, -1/+10I think digg needs and audio preview button too.
  • HappyScrappy, on 10/11/2008, -0/+6Not small? It took a month for anyone to find it, clearly it can't have been too big.
  • KeniF, on 10/11/2008, -1/+7"it's really easy to duplicate yourself"
  • inactive, on 10/11/2008, -2/+8A special something something from Steve Jobs???
  • inactive, on 10/11/2008, -1/+7Better yet, have your ear canals surgically swapped.
  • sensor, on 10/11/2008, -1/+7That's what she said.
  • BrendanSheehan, on 10/11/2008, -0/+6I feel sick after you pointed that out.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2008, -0/+5that's what he said.
  • diskopo, on 10/11/2008, -0/+4Yeah that guy is filthy.
  • jpaolini, on 10/11/2008, -0/+4Maybe needs to learn how to clean his ears so they don't get like that in the first place.
  • inactive, on 10/11/2008, -2/+6Microsoft fanboyism and Apple fanboyism are both just as bad. Thought i might mention that.
  • cathpah, on 10/11/2008, -1/+5I wouldn't exactly call that "small"
  • daschupa, on 10/11/2008, -3/+6And the feature will be fixed in the next software patch.
  • linagee, on 10/11/2008, -2/+5Sound chip is woken up from sleep and the initialization routine is different from the initialization routine when you start the iPod nano? (Some left/right swap registers are not restored?) *shrug* Someone look at the source code.
  • robev, on 10/11/2008, -1/+4Oh, just one more thing...we added a new feature to ipod nanos, involuntary channel switching!
  • CrushThemTorg, on 10/11/2008, -2/+4Wow! FM radio! I can finally catch up on my favorite radio commercials. I like the one where it sweeps from the left to right channel and some guy with a flanger voice telling me to go buy a Scion.
  • Junior612, on 10/11/2008, -2/+4An iPod (besides touch in wifi hotspot) can't access NPR online so your point is moot.
  • stealthspc, on 10/11/2008, -6/+8It's a small bug. Apple will probably fix it.
  • adkenc, on 10/11/2008, -0/+2i would think the most obvious stereo mix of all time would come from the iasca test disc.

    "left channel. left channel. right channel. right channel. if your system fails this basic test, it will be difficult to continue the judging process..."
  • Technopundit, on 10/12/2008, -0/+2Apple fanbois listen to a lot of Bowie and Queen, do they?
  • Technopundit, on 10/12/2008, -0/+2Did the author intentionally leave those gobs of ear wax in the photo?

    eeeecchhhh!
  • BrendanSheehan, on 10/11/2008, -2/+4It's not magic if you have the Apple ones, cause the left one is designed left-sided etc.
  • ShrimpCrackers, on 10/12/2008, -0/+1Yah, NPR, BBC, etc. News man, news!
  • miggyb, on 10/11/2008, -3/+4NPR, yeah. I'll give you that point. But they have their stuff online, so the point is moot.
  • Shazbuckle, on 10/11/2008, -1/+2Working as intended.


  • Thater, on 10/11/2008, -2/+3There's a lot of great stuff on the radio.

    NPR has tons of great music programs for instance, like Morning Becomes Eclectic, All Songs Considered, etc...

    Don't bash an entire medium just because you've never spent the time exploring it.
  • CrushThemTorg, on 10/12/2008, -0/+1You're preaching to the choir. The radio in my car hasn't left the local public radio station for years. NPR++ (This American Life can come too)
  • inactive, on 10/11/2008, -1/+2iNverted Stereo
  • johnpaul191, on 10/12/2008, -0/+1The Circle Jerks song "Coup D'Etat" has a line that says "push from the left, shove from the right" and each half of the line is completely panned as expected. That's a pretty easy way to tell.... if you listen to punkrock.
  • dcmjzero, on 10/11/2008, -0/+1Whenever I go to Austin I just listen to FM. But here at home, not so much.
  • Whackly, on 10/11/2008, -0/+1Not all FM Radio is saturated with commercials. I live in a state with really crappy public radio (SW Ohio) but I came from a state with awesome public radio (MN) and they listed the underwriters at the bottom of the hour and did 15 second station id breaks every 15 minutes. Otherwise it was nothing but politically unbiased talking head/ author/ musician/ politician interviews all day every day. Pure mental goodness.
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 73 of 73 discussions

  • Add a Comment

    Login or register to comment!
    Or, sign-in super fast with your Facebook account ...


© Digg Inc. 2009 — Content created and posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain | Terms of Use Updated | Privacy Policy
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.