Motorola Milestone skipping on music playback, perfect for Billy Joel's 'Movin' Out'
By Chris Ziegler 
posted February 26th 2010 4:11PM
posted February 26th 2010 4:11PM
For a device with as much superphone street cred as the Milestone, you'd think a basic task like listening to music through the headphone jack would be a cakewalk. No problems, right? So straightforward, really, that it's not even worth testing thoroughly -- and therein lies the problem, it seems. Milestone owners on both sides of the pond are reporting en masse that music playback occasionally skips over the jack -- though stereo Bluetooth, ironically a more CPU-taxing operation, seems to be fine. For many owners, particularly those who don't carry a separate PMP, that can totally be a deal-breaker. It's said you can work around the issue by putting the phone into airplane mode, which effectively makes it a dedicated PMP anyhow -- not an optimal solution, right? Yeah, Moto, this seriously isn't shaping up to be your week, so let's just make sure you earn some brownie points with awesome customer service through this rough patch.[Thanks, Vlad G.]
Just now? I thought these were out for a few months already.
I've encountered a problem like this on the Droid before. I'll be listening to music and it will start playing through the speakers, even though my headphones are plugged in. I think that that issue was fixed in 2.0.1 though.
Brilliant title Mr. Ziegler
:facepalm:
I still can't bring myself to rely on my phone for music. I have a Zune HD for that. Of course I have a G1 as my phone so the battery sucks anyway even if I wanted to use it as my sole pmp.
@BoBoTheChimp
I have the G1 (and a Zune HD) too, but I would totally ditch the HD if;
1. The Android music app was better.
2. The G1 had a headphone jack.
3. I had a Class 6 16 GB Micro SDHC card.
@Dafrety Zune Pass.
@RobertJP
Yeah, that too.
@Dafrety
dont be mean to the Zune HD, its a really good pmp...
@masta vaan
Hey, I love my Zune HD, I just would find it really nice to only have to carry one thing. Maybe I'll replace my G1 with a WinPhone in the future, those are supposed to be nice.
I had the same issue with the Omnia HD -- same chip, OMAP3430.
Not sure if it's related or not but...
Never had a problem with mine... I connect it via headset in my car to listen to podcast every day with no issues. I also use BT when docked @ home with BT headset, also with zero issues.
I thought we all agreed to not use the term "superphone."
My Samsung I8910 always skips when establishing a WiFi connection in any firmware, so good luck to you Milestone-owners that Motorola will (be able to) do something about this problem unlike Samsung.
It seems that BT playback doesn't skip as it has a buffer, while the common headphones don't
@nightshadex101 Correct, A2DP doesn't skip, just wired headphones.
This has been the case with the Milestone since launch, and one of the reasons I sold mine. (As per my post here: http://www.androidguys.com/2010/02/26/milestone-skipping-mp3s/) Motorola were next to useless with customer support, I expect more after paying >£400 for a handset.
@siksik6
Thanks for saying this. I thought about getting an unlocked Milestone from Canada to use on AT&T here in the States, but never mind. I listen to music frequently on my breaks and lunch at my job, so with this having said problem is a deal breaker for me.
It's even worse because there's not just a software related bug which causes the music playback to skip. The headphone jack seems to be broken for alot of people (crackling sound, playback stops because the phone thinks you disconnected your headphone, ...). German readers can check it here: http://www.android-hilfe.de/motorola-milestone/13227-wackelkontakt-kopfhoereranschluss.html
Also, it would be kinda nice if Engadget could do a post about _the_ major dealbreaker of the Milestone:
As we all know, the Milestone is the exact same device as the Droid, safe for the radio module (CDMA vs UMTS). For some reason, Motorola decided to implement a hardwarebased signature check of the phone's bootloader. It basically means that we (Milestone users) are unable to develop and flash custom roms. No overclocking, no Android 2.1, no "bugless beast", ... you get the idea. This is a major flaw, since basically every other Android handset supports the flashing of custom roms.
The european (and I imagine every other country in which the Milestone is sold) scene is very disappointed by Motorolas decision, just take a look at Motorola Europe's Facebook page. And if you're there, look for Motorola's comments concerning the matter. They are actually saying that we should buy a Nexus or a G1 if we want custom roms. They gave no reason why the Droid's bootloader is free to use and our's is locked down.
You can read an english article on this here (http://www.techknots.com/mobiles/motorola-angers-european-customers-with-milestones-decisive-limits/), users of Android-Hilfe.de are currently trying to get a community-written article published on as many sites as possible.
@bobxloblaw This phone is a kind of joke !!! (a bad one)
Here in Brazil my milestone even can keep my contacts : all my contacts with the same/like name was MERGED !
All the applications crash a lot of times, and motorola even cant deliver de 2.0.1 here, imagine about 2.1.....
@cortezano you know that you can split them easily, just use this menu button of yours.. but anyway, i agree - this time the joke is on us..
@bobxloblaw
Umm, what are you talking about? How outrageous that they secured the device to prevent it from taking unauthorized code. Just because you *want* to load custom roms doesn't mean any manufacturer should have to make that easy/possible. They have the right to prevent shady people from screwing around with their phones, loading whatever random roms they find online, breaking the phone in the process, and then trying to make warranty claims without disclosing the tampering.
My droid skips every time I receive an email or text, which is really annoying. The a2dp bluetooth also has a lot of problems connecting. Hopefully there will be some 2.1 fixes for that.
@Junius
It doesn't actually skip, it just doesn't pause it.....either way quite annoying I know as well!
@grimace
i absolutely hate that it pauses when you get a: text, email, voicemail, missed call, or even a dam update for an app.
and sometimes my music skips but i have noticed that the headphone jack of the phone is very sensitive. for example i put my phone on my desk while listening to music and i get up forgetting that my phone is there and headphones are in, which yanks the phone around, it has interference and goes a little static
but ya i am still waiting for that dam update (2.1)!!!!! (flash)!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and lots of things that can be done in the next update including: multitouch and small tweaks and maybe a optimization
and yes i am a motorola droid owner
@theonlysmr
also every time i plug USB into my phone it gets all buggy with everything. it feels like it doesn't recognize a thing i touch and if it does its n the exact opposite side of the screen or somewhere else random
I have the MAGIC here in CDN with rogers, my music skips in the first second of the song then plays fine, does this maybe 1 every 7 songs, anyone else have this issue?
@jc35 I haven't seen that, but mine often plays music through the speaker even when the bluetooth audio connection is established.
My nexus one does it too....Maybe not a Moto problem as much as an Android problem.
I say that because I've never had Pandora skip playback on my nexus...Just the built in media player.
@PapaSteveZ
the milestone skips any audio (build in music player, pandora, spotify) it does so each time the phone switches radio mode (between hspa, umts & 2g)
I'm glad Engadget is doing a post about this. This news needs to blow up, so that Motorola will feel the need to do something quickly about this issue.
I have listened to music for several hundred hours on my Droid and never had any issues.
@remella
It does not effect the droid, only the milestone!
@FastRX8 Sure, or Changes by Bowie. Heck, you could build a whole playlist just for this phone.
This happens to me a couple times per song, just goes dead for like millisecond. I always thought it was because gmail was being checked.
Just got the Milestone and have noticed this as well. Doesn't seem to do it on Podcasts here people are just talking, but does it frequently with music.
Not a big deal to me, but I can see how it might be to some.
I'm just using the Milestone till they make a Nexus One available in Canada though.
Ain't seen nothin yet
B-b-b-baby
My iPhone skips just about every time I get an email so welcome to the club.
@Sherifftruman I've never had a skip on mine. I know that if you have silent off it will pause the music to play the notification sound and go back to playing immediately after. I leave silent on almost always so it's never bothered me.
@RobertJP
Are you using 3G and have data enabled?
@Sherifftruman
This is worst because it happens every 10 seconds or so.
@Sherifftruman It's not the same problem.
iPhone just chirp a bit to remind you of the new mail, the music keeps playing. It is supposed to do this.
The skip on the milestone on the other hand is definitely a bug.
That's why the good lord invented - wait for it -the Apple iPhone
@Chrisdaly1 Refer to the post just above you
probably the only people posting comments here have the problem, so i dont think it's too widespread
The skipping actually happens when the radio switches bands. If you are on 3G you get hit the worst because the phone is constantly switching between 3G and HSPA. If you turn your wireless on and are connected to an access point the skipping stops dramatically because the 3G radio is not using HSPA for data. This is a horrible horrible bug, it ruins listening to music and ruins an awesome device. If there is not a fix for this within 2 weeks I am returning my Milestone and so are a couple of my friends who purchased the phone as well.
@alexkidd2000
HSDPA and 3G are the same thing. I think that you're thinking of EDGE and HSDPA.
Never had a problem with skipping on my 3gs.... :-p
Damn, to think playing something like music would be so hard on the advanced droid =) lol. Google needs to get it right.
The CPU must have been thinking that working too hard can give it a heart attack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack...