The N9 never gave a reason to complain until now...
Strange issue I've been having with the stock Music Player while playing songs through the headphones. As soon as I start playing music (from the library) it automatically pauses a few seconds later. If I tap on play again, same thing happens.

Now, interestingly, the problem occurs with "FM Radio N9" application too. It turns off the radio few seconds after it starts playing.

I thought it was the headphones, so I tried another pair. Nope, same result. I rebooted a few times to no avail. The issue sort of coincided with me installing the "gPodder" application so I thought uninstalling it would resolve it - but no, still the same.

Then I installed "QuasarMXLite" application and surprisingly, the songs play just fine - no abrupt stopping/pausing.

I should mention that the problem only occurs while using headphones, not with the phone's speakers.

Any advice/suggestions for troubleshooting or resolving this weird issue is welcome.

Thanks guys!

Does that happen using the N9 headphones?

I actually haven't tried the stock headphones (must be lying somewhere in the house, not sure where) but have tested with 2 other pairs.

Shall I try to test with the stock ones if I can find them? Is there something different in them?

The wiring could be different: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_c...#Mobile_phones
and http://forums.wpcentral.com/windows-...ahj-apple.html

I had this issue with my N950. The pins INSIDE the headphones may be not so tight as before. So when you jiggle the headphone jack a bit, the phone thinks that you've pulled out the headphones.

I had to open up the device and push the pins back in again with something pointy.

Those are the things that you have to bend inside so it will be tight again:

But would that not just switch back to the speaker instead of stopping the playback?

FWIW, I have a used N9 with a broken speaker and without the original headphones. I have used it exclusively with 3rd party headphones and they work fine.

No. It stops untill you press play again to avoid shameness, like when you're in the bus.

Just wanted to provide an update:

Firstly, thank you all who provided suggestions and reasoning on the erratic "pausing" behaviour.
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So I found the stock N9 headset (took a few hours of scrambling), and plugged it in - Voila! They work; with gpodder as well as FM radio application.

Does this mean that if I wanted to buy a decent pair of earphones (without mic) for music, I have none to slim possibility of them working? Any suggestions?