iPod Shuffle lights-of-death: An explanation?

Recently my precious iPod shuffle was afflicted with “lights of death,” a fatal condition wherein any presses of the controls only yield alternating blinks of the amber and green feedback lights on the front. The unit won’t play, nor be mounted by the computer or recognized by iTunes or the iPod software, so it cannot be reset. Apple was kind enough to replace it under warranty, without much fuss. It’s fairly common (witnessed by the lack of fuss by Apple support). There is no official explanation of why.

Anyhoo, I puzzled over this for some time. I use my shuffle very little. It was working fine on a recent vacation. I laid it aside for a few weeks on my dresser. When I picked it up again, all I got was lights of death.

Here’s my theory. The only change in my iPod shuffle recently was the purchase of a protective silicone skin. Works well, though it makes the on-off switch on the back hard to use. As I put my replacement shuffle through its paces, with skin, i noticed that as I fumbled to operate the on-off switch that I was inadvertently pressing, even holding, the controls on the front at the same time.

Could the simultaneous use of the on-off and playback controls confuse the unit, sending it into the lights of death spiral?

Hmmm….

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<a href="http://correctedwisdom.com/2006/09/14/ipod-shuffle-lights-of-death-an-explanation/">iPod Shuffle lights-of-death: An explanation?</a>