Audio glitch at start of some iPod tracks

[whiskywallah]

I've had a long running issue of a very short glitch at the start of tracks played from my iPod or iPhone through MDI into RCD310 or now an RCD510.
It never happens on first played track, but only when a track change happens.
If you skip back to start of track it plays cleanly so it's not on the music itself.
It could be every track, but masked by the fact that most tracks have 0.5 sec silence at start anyway.
I thought it might be to do with embedded cover art , but have cleaned all embedded cover art off MP3s.
Not sure if it happens only on MP3 or AAC files, but 80% of mine would be MP3.

I heard it might be FW related for MDI, but I've tried re-flashing with no change.
Tried 3 different iPod variants, but all loaded with my music collection, so I don't think it's an iPod issue per se.

Anyone else had and hopefully solved the problem?

[AdamD]

I get this all the time, and have observed it on several MDIs. The latest versions of the MDI firmware do help somewhat, but the problem is somewhat inherent in the design of the MDI/iPod interface.

[whiskywallah]

...... but the problem is somewhat inherent in the design of the MDI/iPod interface.

Thanks Adam.
Any evidence for this statement?
I've now read on other forums that people THINK it's to do with the update to text info; iPod tells HeadUnit/MDI that track has changed, MDI requests new info, iPod replies....and in all that an audio glitch occurs....... sort of makes sense, but then again not.
I'm a software programmer in the AV field, and understand the complexity of what's going on, but fail to see the connection between meta-data and audio stream that would cause this, and more importantly, if it is inherent, why VW haven't fixed it?
If I was a big boss at VW with an iPhone (and surely at least one VW executive must have one?) I would be knocking on the door of the software department on Monday morning....which leads me to believe this isn't actually the problem, but something external.
I realize in the big scheme of things this falls into the 'not that important to life and limb' but no other product that interfaces with iPod has this issue to the best of my knowledge so it can't be that hard to fix.

I really would like to get to the bottom of this

[kamold]

Does the same happen with the same media loaded onto a dumb USB storage device via MDI?

[whiskywallah]

Does the same happen with the same media loaded onto a dumb USB storage device via MDI?

I've only just got RC510. Just loaded SD card. Will let you know about usb stick as well.

[DoggieHowser]

Sometimes resetting the iPod or iPhone helps remove the sudden judder

[AdamD]

Any evidence for this statement?

Personal experience, lots of research and countless posts on this and other forums have lead me to the above conclusion. I am also a software developer, and yes, it bugs me every bit as much as it bugs you. I have learned to live with it. It does appear a lot better on the very latest generation MDIs, but the model in my MY10 GTI won't accept the latest firmware so I'm out of luck. Having said that, it does occur less frequently (and the skip/gap is shorter) on the later firmware revisions.

[whiskywallah]

Does the same happen with the same media loaded onto a dumb USB storage device via MDI?

Initial test would say that glitch only happens when iPod is connected via MDI.
USB over MDI seems clean.
SD card seems clean.
Not tried iphone over BT yet.

iPod over MDI can play a live album cleanly, ie no pause between tracks.
Whereas usb and SD both pause briefly between tracks ( not a glitch within a track, which is my prob, but simply a pause between data files)
I guess this points to the fact that data is transferred to the head unit which then 'plays' tracks from SD and usb, whereas iPod over MDI is simply analogue playback through an amplifier.

[kamold]

I would say try an Android phone but that would just be rubbing it in...so I won't.