iTunes Problems

I listen to the Buzz Out Load from CNet on a regular basis, and there has been recent discussion about the new iTunes 7 and problems with it. Here is some help. Note, this is based on version 6.x of iTunes, as I have not yet installed version 7 (see item 1).
  1. Do not be the first to upgrade to the latest version of any software -- wait and listen to the experience of others. If you really want the latest version now, make sure you have a sandbox machine to thoroughly test it out yourself. Oh, and when you install it on your primary machine, make sure you have your data files backed up.
  2. Many folks had complained about iTunes moving their files around. iTunes has a feature to let it manage your files (Keep iTunes Music Folder Organized). Likely version 7 just shipped with this featured turned on. I actually use this feature -- I remember having the same experience when I first turned it on.
  3. iTunes and QuickTime will run in the background and in your System Tray. And when you think you have removed them, they come back after the next time your start one of the programs. Get a program such as Microsoft Windows Defender that allows you to disable startup programs. Disable over delete is very important -- if you delete, they will re-install and re-appear. Disabling will not remove them from the install, therefore they wont re-install, but they still will not start. This also works real well for Acrobat and Real Player.

Comments

ALF1328 said…
Hope someone can help, have looked everywhere for help with my problem.

I can no longer play my video files in iTunes. Sound is ok but the picture is just a white screen. The saved artwork just turns to white when I click on a video file, & stays that way.

However, a video file that I have saved in the 'TV Shows' tab plays fine, it's just the video files that I have saved in the 'Movies' tab.
Bizarre.
Also, when I transfer the files to iPod there is no problem, so it's just iTunes.

Please help!! Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
ALF1328 said…
Hope someone can help, have looked everywhere for help with my problem.

I can no longer play my video files in iTunes. Sound is ok but the picture is just a white screen. The saved artwork just turns to white when I click on a video file, & stays that way.

However, a video file that I have saved in the 'TV Shows' tab plays fine, it's just the video files that I have saved in the 'Movies' tab.
Bizarre.
Also, when I transfer the files to iPod there is no problem, so it's just iTunes.

Please help!! Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Chris Todd said…
alf> iTunes uses QuickTime to display files and play movies. I would try uninstalling and reinstalling. Perhaps the best method is to uninstall both iTunes and QuickTime, get the individual installs of each, re-install QuickTime (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html) and then re-install iTunes (http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/).
Anonymous said…
I have a weird problem. iTunes cant find most of my songs. So there will be a circle with an exclamation mark on it and then I have to go looking for the song in my files. Sometimes I just relpace it with another set of the song... so there ends up being 2 copies of the song but only one can work. So somehow, I have 55 gigs of duplicates, plus the songs that dont work.
I'm wondering if I just delete my iTunes and download a new one, would the same problem occur again?
Chris Todd said…
Mandi> First, make sure you have iTunes to manage your music, "Keep iTunes Music folder organized" (Edit | Preferences | Advanced | General).

If that doesn't work, 1) Close iTunes; 2)rename iTunes Music Library.xml and iTunes Library.itl (..\My Music\iTunes); 3)Re-start iTunes; Drag your top-level music folder onto the Music icon (left nav, under Library). This should recreate your music database.

Finally, if that also fails, try uninstalling iTunes, verify iTunes Music Library.xml and iTunes Library.itl are removed, and then re-install iTunes. Again, make sure you have iTunes set to manage your music.

Good luck!
Snake88 said…
I have a weird problem. whenever i open itunes up it gives me this message: The file
"itunes Library.itl" cannot be read because it was created by a newer version of itunes and i have no idea what that means
Chris Todd said…
I searched Google and found several similar suggestions. Try this:
http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?
qid=20070531155339AAXUS1v
MikeD said…
I have been using itunes for years with window 2000 and XP and have never had any problems until last night and now have the exact same thing happening that occured in the post of Tue Jul 10, 11:18:00 AM PDT by Mandi. Can anyone give me a solution that a novus can understand?
Anonymous said…
I can't get some MP3s to play in iTunes on one computer. They're playable on another though. On the machine that won't play them (in iTunes) they're playable in Media Player... So I've deduced that it's not the MP3s themselves. A setting that I'm just not aware of maybe?
Chris Todd said…
Pesty> Are you sure they are mp3 files? Likely those that only play in media player are .wma files (Windows Media Audio). Unless that are converted to mp3 or another iTunes supported format, they will never play through iTunes. Bob rankin has a blog post that helps you do the conversion: http://askbobrankin.com/convert_wma_to_mp3.html.

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