iPod owners report whining sound emanating from 2G nanos
By Conrad Quilty-Harper 
posted December 31st 2006 5:12PM
posted December 31st 2006 5:12PM
In a thread over at the Apple Discussions forums, dozens of iPod owners are reporting high-pitching whining and / or buzzing sounds emanating from their 2nd Generation iPod nanos. Many of the owners cite that their units are fully functional despite the whining, although the volume of the unwanted sound varies between each report; for example, russgra states that the whining sound was the first thing he noticed after picking up his 8GB nano, although Energie claims that he wouldn't have noticed had he not seen the problem popping up in forums. There doesn't seem to be any correlation to any particular model within the range either, with 2, 4, and 8GB owners all reporting the annoyance -- notably, none of the reports notice any sound on their previous generation nanos, leading some to suggest that it's caused by a new or upgraded component such as the backlight or battery. In the interests of investigating the problem ourselves, we commandeered a nearby 2GB nano -- although we could hear a faint whining sound once pressed to our ear (which oddly changed tone after we shook it), we found the whine to be inaudible unless we practically lodged it in our ear. Could it be that this encounter is simply a reverberation of the post-Consumermas hangovers, or is this scenario a repeat of the whining problems with the MacBook? If the latter case is true, then it's worth noting that Apple was relatively quick to fix the problem and silence the buzz, along with the vocal minority of people who had brought the issue to the attention of everyone else.[Thanks, David B.]
I can only hear something when I press my 8gig Nano's back side up against my ear. Otherwise it's pretty silent. If I'm holding it in my hand or in a case, I don't hear a thing.
Though I hope it stays that way.
funny.....the 2G Shuffles came out with a hissing, static noise, and now the 2G Nano has a whining noise?? So much foe iPod's being audiophile devices...
although I too wonder if this problem has been present with the initial release of the 2G Nano back on Sept. 12th, then why are we hearing about it now?
It's probably the LCD screen. This is common among PDAs. Not everyone can hear it.
I bought a Nano 2G the week they came out and mine did this as well as suffering from the "white screen of death" issue. The high pitched whine was VERY noticeable and seemed to trigger when the player was paused. Apple claimed nothing was wrong with it and other than updating the firmware did nothing else but both issues were resolved. I'm curious if the new round of folks having this problem bought stock which was from the initial release or if a recent update might have caused the whining to return. This issue was discussed heavily on the apple support forums back when the new units came out - kinda surprised to see it being reported as recent news.
I should think you have to be quite young, with better hearing for those high frequencies to advantage of this 2g nano easter egg.
Myself, I have to stick it right up to my ear, the edge with the connectors is best, and i still can only sense a noise. It's so quiet that even my breathing stops me from being able to make it out.
my problem with this is, why are you listening to the whine in the first place? My nano has a slight high-pitched whine, but oddly enough i can't hear it when i have the headphones on and i'm actually listening to music.
Did you people buy the nano just to look at it?
My speakers hiss when i'm not playing music, my cd player whirs, my tv makes a high pitched whine, it's much worse. my fridge makes a hellishly loud noise... you should hear my dishwasher, and god forbid the noise my car makes.
lame.
I don't know how this is news when I first posted thispn my blog here.It was called
Could There Be 2nd Gen iPod nano flaw !!!!!
.Plus i have the video on my site to prove they make the noise …
http://macbloghaus.wordpress.com/2006/10/17/could-there-be-2nd-gen-ipod-nano-flaw/
No whining from my Sansa e280!
I noticed this with my 2G Nano 8GB. I believe it is only noticable when the backlight is on.
Wait, are we talking about a whining noise coming from the device itself, or coming through the headphones?
SpamBadger,
The noise or whining as some call it,Is suppose to be coming from the ipod itself.Some have stated that it can only be heard in a quiet place.
Chris Embry
http://macbloghaus.wordpress.com
Its most likely a capacitor powering the back light about a third of all cellphones have the same whine when the back light is on emergency exit signs make the same sound cause of the caps in them.
It's probably the backlighting. Take almost any backlit device and press it to your ear while the backlight is on, and you'll hear a whining. That's an inverter. Unless your device is backlit by LEDs, you'll almost always hear it.
-Nicholas
http://journal.pdsys.org/
I don't know how serious this is, but it seems to me that Apple has been having some quality control problems?
Anybody else noticing the same thing?
My iPod nano green had a whine, but I returned it. I am waiting for the next iPod video :)
Hint: The 2G iPod Nano's and the 5.5G iPod's are the first models to use the non-Portal Player proccessors. The 5.5G iPod's could have had their proccessor whining dismissed as the hard drive's whine.
For the MacBook recall, did Apple swap them out? My black Nano has had some nice scratches in it since October... wouldn't mind getting a new one.
Don't you people understand that the iPod whines even with the backlight off?!
Almost all electronic devices make noises, most at high frequencies or at resonates of mains frequency, devices that have to change DC into AC are particually prone to making noise (for example magnetic ballasted flourecent tubes or for a true DC to AC noise checkout a Networker train in the UK (or a Jubilee line tube train)). The noisest component in a modern device as has been pointed out earlier is the inverter which converts the DC from a battery to AC for the backlight to a LCD screen (I maybe wayoff but stay with me). I imagine this or a similar component in the Nano may become slightly loose and vibrate at high frequency against the now fully aluminium body of the iPod nano. In this case the new aluminium body is acting as an amplifier whereas the far more plastic based 1st gen Nano would have reduced the vibrations.
Pete, as it has already been claimed many many times, the sound can still be heard with the backlight OFF. Moreover, I expect from an AUDIO device to be perfectly silent, and not emitting some kind of ultra sound. And some iPod seem to be unaffected. I understand it might be a physical phenomenon, but as a customer who paid $120 for a quality mp3 player, I-don't-care.
Someone might have said this already, but it's just the specific type of backlight that is in the new Nano. I've noticed the same "problem" in a lot of devices that I own that have backlighted LCD screens (digital camera, palm pilot, etc). If you dim/shut off the backlight, the noise gets quieter. The reason why it's not in the older Nanos is probably a different type of backlight, because Apple needed the different type in order to make the screen brighter.
in the apple forum it says install firmware 1.1.1 and my ipod has this. I own an 8gb black nano and it makes a whining noise even though i have the most recent firmware. I can even hear it over my laptop fan.
"lukaz @ Jan 3rd 2007 9:51AM
in the apple forum it says install firmware 1.1.1 and my ipod has this. I own an 8gb black nano and it makes a whining noise even though i have the most recent firmware. I can even hear it over my laptop fan." In addition to this I would like to ask for help in solving this problem. Does my nano need replaced???
"lukaz@ Jan 3rd 2007 9:51AM
in the apple forum it says install firmware 1.1.1 and my ipod has this. I own an 8gb black nano and it makes a whining noise even though i have the most recent firmware. I can even hear it over my laptop fan." In addition to this can anyone offer help? Do I need a replacement iPod?
"Rick @ Dec 31st 2006 6:03PM
The whine noise is the first step in a dangerously overheating battery, next they explode. Or the whine noise just might be some other kid wanting it."
i dont think that would be an issue if a 2G nano blew up. It would create a very neat sphereical (circular/round?) iPod, and apple would probably decide to market them as a very limited edition and exclusive iPod. The next craze after that will be macbook pros with authentic scorch marks on the battery packs/keyboard & palm rests