Sound stuttering problems for Samsung

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There seems to be (and has been for some time) an apparent uproar about the Zune software on the Samsung Focus device over on the Microsoft forums. There appears to be an issue, which many are experiencing with ZunePass content and synchronised playlist.

During the remaining ten seconds of a song it will freeze for a moment or two, play the following second, lock-up once again and continue this loop until the media is finished. Both owners of installed microSD cards, and without have reported this.

Looking into the reports on the forum thread, people seem to be experiencing the stuttering playback issue in completely different circumstances - through the audio jack, via BlueTooth and the built-in speaker. Not only that, but there are more reports that have been posted about the Omnia 7 device that seems to stutter through playback also.

I have attempted to reproduce the problem folk are experiencing on my Omnia 7, but have failed to find anything - I have also been using it as an MP3 device for a month now through commuting and general use, and have never noticed this issue. [Edit: Our own Daniel Rubino has seen this on the Samsung Focus though, numerous times]

Should it be a Microsoft or Samsung fault, we do hope they are looked into as this could seriously impact a user's experience on WP7. Are you experiencing the same problem on your Samsung device?

Thanks Brian for the tip!

Rich Edmonds
Rich Edmonds

Rich Edmonds is a word conjurer at Windows Central, covering everything related to Windows, gaming, and hardware. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a device chassis. You can follow him over on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.
31 Comments
  • I have noticed this many times, I cannot correlate any reason for it and it does it not only on my zune music but my notification sounds will do it occasionally as well, I thought it was just a issue specific to my device but its nice to know its not just me, hopefully we get a fix pretty soon.
  • my omnia does this on both zune and notification tones only real issue i have though...
  • my HTC HD7 does not have this problem. I play song in Zune every day for at least 3hrs with no problem at all. I think its a device issue and not a Microsoft problem
  • no problems on my HTC Surround... play music + videos.. all good
  • I have this problem all the time at the end of my songs on my Focus. I usually get tired of it and finally skip to the next song.
  • My Focus has done this in Zune and with email alerts when locked. It doesn't bother me much, since Windows Mobile had a tendency to do it too, as well as Windows Media Player on the PC. It's like it's buffering the next song when it stutters. This might be a bug, but there are bigger issues that should be addressed first, like the Marketplace bugs.
  • I'm also having this problem on my Omnia 7. Notification tones also crack when playing too... reminds those nearby that my phone is running Windows.
  • I've had this issue since i got the phone. I've always just assumed it'll be fixed in a future update.
  • Has also happened to me with focus, it will be fixed eventually so it is just an annoyance right now
  • I've had it intermittently on my Focus. It seemed to start when I got within 500MB of filling my internal storage (no additional card yet). Songs very occasionally stutter as do notifications. It's not frequent enough to be annoying.
  • Have not seen this in my Focus. I have not spent a lot of time listening to music on the phone (I use a couple of Zunes) but enough that I'd have thought it would have shown up by now for me.
  • I have a Focus. I have not experienced these problems thankfully.
  • I don't have this issue with music via the Zune player, but I do get stuttering with notifications sometimes as well as my alarms. I have a Samsung Focus.
  • I just got my Focus last week and I've already experienced this a half dozen times. It goes away as soon as I hit the power button.
  • It is sooooooo annoying. Happens all the time to my Focus.
  • Nope, doesn't happen to me but that's probably because I don't use Zune Pass.
  • I've had it happen on my focus a few times, but haven't experienced it on my Surround (granted I've barely used the Surround)I've also experienced apps not opening and instead returning me back to the home screen. I usually just power the phone on and off to stop it from happening.
  • Happens on my Omnia 7, Richard you should be able to reproduce it if you use the Shuffle all music option, I get it about once every 5 songs, it's a pain in the ass but not a dealbreaker
  • I attempted to reproduce the problem with using the "Shuffle All" option within the Zune app but still fail to witness the stuttering. Will attempt to try some music with applauding at the end to catch it out. This is why I love technology - fails when you don't want it to and never fails when you do.
  • I have had this day one with my Samsung Focus. It is very similar to the early Zune30 and the issue was fixed with firmware but if we are talking several makes/models I am not sure its that similar or easy to address. In general it seems to happen most with Zune Pass content in my experience.
  • Email notifications while locked like to break up, but otherwise the songs play fine.
  • I was an active member of that Answers thread until we got the moderator to experience the issue himself, and also was in contact with a Microsoft dev that experienced it as well.The interesting part of the issue is that it never happens when playing music through Bluetooth (locked screen or not). It only happens when using the headphone jack or the phone's speaker. And it only happens under a locked screen that is off. As soon as you hear the stutter, and press the power button to light up the screen, the stutter goes away and plays the rest of the song normally.The file type being played doesn't matter either. I've experienced it with Zune Pass songs, my own mp3s, and songs that I own from Zune.
  • As my ID suggests, I've got an HD7. No stuttering music here. Someone mentioned it could be a Zune Pass thing, so I'll add that I am not currently subscribed.I do sometimes experience the unrelated stuttering notification chime issue. My experience indicates the likely cause is multiple email/calendar/contact accounts simultaneously updating when the chime goes off. I've purposely set the sync times at different times, and that seems to prevent most stuttering. (Most, because eventually 15-, 30-, 60-, and 120-minute cycles all coincide.)
  • It happens only on my Focus when the screen is locked, when a song is about to finish and play the next. Unlocking and skipping will stop the stutter. Doesn't happen with every song. it might be that when the buffer is filled and the device has to read the next song from slower memory, the power saving features activated in locked mode make this reading slower. The Samsung appears to have a more aggresive power saving mechanism, since a friend that bought an HTC surround complained about short battery life, that he couldn't get through a day on a single charge, then he switched to a Focus and he only recharges every two days now.
  • I have had this issue on my Focus. It doesn't happen a lot, but it does happen.
  • Just a note, I use my Focus to play a ton of podcasts and the stuttering does not seem to occur with that media format, but video podcasts seem to have an issue keeping the video in synch with the audio.
  • I have Samsung Focus with no SD card installed and non-jailbroken. So far my phone play music fine without any stuttering problem mentioned in the article. I tried sending text messages when there is less than 10 seconds left to the song and can't reproduce it. I put my phone in lock screen and no stuttering issue there either.
  • I have an Omnia 7 for about one month, frequently use it as my MP3 player, and have NEVER had a playback issue with the Zune software, ringtones cracking or etc. Now just hope it stays so :o
  • I have this problem on my Omnia 7, it's very frustrating as it happens every time a song is finishing (whilst the screen is locked), I hope there is a fix soon!
  • Just got my Samsung Omnia 7 on Orange last week and noticed this straight away! It's doing it quite frequently, using headphones and screen locked and off in pocket. Last 10 seconds are choppy/stuttery. This has to be addressed straight away, if it's a MS or Samsung issue it doesn't matter - if it effects the WP7 experience then MS need to fix it ASAP or come down hard on Samsung to, they're trying to fight for a share of the market with their late to the game offering, they need to make sure what it does do - it does well!
  • This happens on my borrowed Samsung Focus and it's easily repeatable. I noticed it while my "Ener-Jewels TGIF!" v1.10 was in development. Whenever a game-music track is played, there is a sound system glitch. Also whenever a sound effect is mixed with the game-music, the music stutters. This doesn't happen when music from the phone music collection/radio is being played, only when game-music is played. This also doesn't happen on my LG developer phone.