Apple Posted an iPod Sleep Bug Alert

yesterday. That was quick. On Thursday we described an experience with our iPod becoming unresponsive and having to reset it. Our problem occurred after the battery got low and we recharged it over night. On Friday Apple posted an updater, a 2.2 MB file, to fix the problem. The updater installs iPod Software v1.0.2. Changes since 1.0: iPod now supports additional languages, including Spanish, Italian, and Dutch. Power management in low battery conditions has been improved according to the Read Me file.

If your iPod has the sleep bug and it fails to respond to the reset procedure (i.e. connect the iPod with its FireWire cable and simultaneously press the "menu" and "play/pause" keys), then Apple has an iPod Service web page to arrange for service.

We updated our iPod's software in Mac OS X 10.1 by connecting the iPod to our TiBook via the iPod's special FireWiire cable, launching the installer, clicking the lock button, entering our Administrator's password and clicking the Update button. There is also a Restore button but don't click it unless you need to because it is the equivalent of a reformat which will erase all of your songs and other data on the iPod. After clicking the Update button the installer told us to unplug our iPod from the FireWire port on our TiBook and then to plug it in again. When we did so a progress bar appeared on our iPod's screen. After the progress bar was filled, the iPod "rebooted" and went back into FireWire mode. Our songs and data were still there and our iPod worked as well as usual.