I have no idea when this began, but the iPod on my 1st generation iPhone would only play in shuffle mode. Tapping on the suffle icon had no effect. No matter what, the iPod would only shuffle songs.
I searched for others who might have had this trouble, but I wasn't successful, so I began the series of steps recommended by Apple when there are problems. (Updating to the official version of the 2.0 firmware had no effect by itself.) Turning the phone off and on had no effect. Neither did a reset. I finally achieved success by resetting all settings. (Go to Settings -> General and scroll to the bottom and pick Reset. The first option is to Reset All Settings.)
The next recommended step would have been Erase All Content and Settings. Luckily, I did not have to get that far.)
I did have to redo a number of settings I had customized, which is a nuisance, but not such a nuisance as a permanent shuffle in the iPod.
I post this as a possible tip, in case someone else may be searching for a solution to the same problem. I would really like to know why this happened. And I'd be interested if anyone else has had a similar problem. Post here if you have.
I searched for others who might have had this trouble, but I wasn't successful, so I began the series of steps recommended by Apple when there are problems. (Updating to the official version of the 2.0 firmware had no effect by itself.) Turning the phone off and on had no effect. Neither did a reset. I finally achieved success by resetting all settings. (Go to Settings -> General and scroll to the bottom and pick Reset. The first option is to Reset All Settings.)
The next recommended step would have been Erase All Content and Settings. Luckily, I did not have to get that far.)
I did have to redo a number of settings I had customized, which is a nuisance, but not such a nuisance as a permanent shuffle in the iPod.
I post this as a possible tip, in case someone else may be searching for a solution to the same problem. I would really like to know why this happened. And I'd be interested if anyone else has had a similar problem. Post here if you have.