iPod and Z refuse to cooperate

gnznroses

Last year I bought an iPod Classic 120gb. I have the navigation package in the Z. I pretty much can't use the iPod because it constantly/randomly enters a loop of "Check USB Device" / "Reading USB Memory". It'll be playing a song and then stop and flash these messages in alternation for a few secs, then go back to the song for about 10 seconds, then quit again, and repeats this over and over. Even when it goes back to the song you can't skip to the next song or even turn off the system. The only thing you can do is unplug the iPod.

Sometimes simply plugging the iPod back in solves it. Sometimes I can go a couple days without any issues. But other times it just refuses to work and nothing matters.

When this is happening the iPod screen is also changing, so it's not happening just within the Z. But the Z is causing it because the iPod works fine otherwise, including in my truck. Always works without issue in my truck.

I don't encode or download any MP3s that are over 320kbps and most are only 192kbps. Most are not VBR either. But while selecting new songs sometimes does fix it (for a while), it doesn't seem to be a problem with reading certain files because it'll have this issue with files that I know I've played fine before.

Any ideas?