iTunes 7.0 (#7): Older versions of iTunes locked out from store; Fix for Error -50, other issues when downloading music; more

CNET staff

Sept. 2, 2009 12:04 a.m. PT

7 min read

[Update 10:15 AM PST]

Older versions of iTunes locked out from store As has traditionally been the case with major changes to the iTunes Store, certain versions of iTunes cannot fully function with the current store. iTunes 5.x, for instance, is unable to properly purchase tracks.

MacFixIt reader Michael writes:

"I'm currently using iTunes 5 and have held off for the past weeks from upgrading to iTunes 7, which by all accounts is problematic and the correct thing to do for now. While I can browse the iTunes store, I can't make any purchases."

"Clicking the shopping cart or enabling the 1-Click purchase (then buying) immediately brings up a screen telling me to upgrade to iTunes 7--which for obvious reasons isn't the thing to do now. I can not complete my purchase, nor I imagine can other people who have decided to stick with a previous version of iTunes."

iTunes 6.0.x can access and purchase music from the store, but some features are not accessible.

iPod transfer issues (cont.) -- another workaround We continue to report on significant issues, and accompanying fixes, with transfers to iPods to and from iTunes 7.0 (see yesterday's coverage for several fixes).

Now MacFixIt reader Colin reports an odd fix for problems with iPod transfer -- formatting the drive as a FAT32 volume using a PC, and using the PC to restore the iPod.

Colin writes:

"I had my 3G iPod and 2G Nano killed by iTunes 7 ? firewire became unusable, it would only see the 3G through USB, and when I disconnected the Pods they wouldn't work, the Nano displaying the 'you need to restore' message. When I reconnected, iTunes wouldn't give me the option of restoring or updating, those being greyed out.

"Disk Utility would periodically repair things, but soon it would be unable to reformat the drive of the 3G, reporting I/O errors. Soon the 3G became completely useless.

"One tip from a friend solved the issue ? reformatting as FAT32 on a Windows machine, then using iTunes 7 on that PC to restore. After that it worked like a charm on a Mac ? photo syncing and restoring are still not accessible options, but it functions as an MP3 player at least, if a Windows-formatted one."

Brighter video playback As reported some users, the video playback for previously purchased or transferred video from within iTunes 7.0 seems to have a higher gamma setting than previous editions of iTunes.

One reader writes:

"Since my iTunes 7 and QT 7.1.3 upgrade, my old shows purchased previously from iTMS appear brighter, like the gamma has been turned way up. Boundin' looks very pastely (this was definitely not the case before). If I click on the preview on iTMS, that preview looks correct. Viewing the file via QT (outside iTunes) produces the same result. This did not affect the iPod trailers I previously downloaded. In iTunes, if I maximize the video to full screen, it becomes even brighter! But that doesn't happen I maximize in QT (although it still looks brighter than the original)."

Fix for Error -50, other problems when attempting to download purchased music We previously reported on significant issues attempting to download purchased music from the iTunes store.

Some readers report that deleting certain .plist files, as we've mentioned for other iTunes problems, resolves the issue in his case.

One reader writes:

"I was getting 'err= -50' messages when attempting to download from the iTunes Store after upgrading to iTunes 7. The fix was to delete the plist files mentioned in a MacFixIt Late Breakers article on 9/15/06."

The files that should be deleted are located in ~/Library/Preferences, and are as follows:

com.apple.iTunesHelper.plist
com.apple.iTunes.plist
com.apple.iTunes.eq.plist

Problems dragging and dropping artwork MacFixIt reader Thomas reports that he is unable to drag images directly from some applications into the iTunes 7.0 artwork pane.

Thomas writes:

"With iTunes 6, I could drag and drop album artwork from Photoshop to iTunes (to the cover field in the lower left corner of iTunes). This doesn't work in iTunes 7 anymore."

----------

[Update 7:00 AM PST]

Slow importing fixes One of the more consistent issues afflicting iTunes 7.0 is slower-than-usual importing and conversion of music from albums or other sources. A few fixes have emerged:

Reduce playlists It appears that a large number of playlists can cause sluggishness in iTunes 7.0 importing for unknown reasons. Try reducing the number of playlists in your library, or creating a new library (accomplished by holding the option key while launching iTunes) then re-adding your music Library without the same multitude of playlists, and re-attempting importing to check for a speed increase.

You can then choose revert to your old Library (again, by holding the Option key at launch and making a selection).

Try turning off error correction MacFixIt reader Matt Lopez suggests that turning off the "Use error correction when reading Audio CDs" (in the Advanced/Importing pane of iTunes' preferences) can improve importing speed in some cases.

Try re-selecting song for issues downloading purchased music Yesterday we reported on an issue where some users are unable to automatically download music after purchasing it from the iTunes Store. In other words, the transaction occurs properly, but the file is not transferred to the system.

In some cases, this issue can be remedied by navigating back to the iTunes Store and re-selecting the track (or other media), then again clicking the "Buy" button. You may then be presented with a message that the file is ready to be downloaded, at which point you should click "OK." Do not re-purchase the track if the aforementioned message is not displayed, however.

Fix for problems deleting artwork from multiple tracks We previously reported on a situation where iTunes 7.0 appears unable to delete artwork from multiple tracks simultaneously.

Note that deleting manually added artwork from multiple tracks works properly, but deleting automatically downloaded artwork from multiple tracks does not work. This is because manually added artwork is stored in a different manner than artwork automatically downloaded by iTunes.

MacFixIt reader Scott Rose (who initially reported the issue) offers a workaround for the latter:

"Select the songs, Control click and select Remove artwork. You don't need to use the 'Get Info' box unless it's for manually-added artwork."

Crashes, other problems when accessing iPods While we continue to track issues with transfers to and from iPods under iTunes 7.0, one reader reports an issue with updating his iPod's firmware, and an associated problem where iTunes 7.0 crashes whenever iPod functionality is accessed:

"My problem relates to my iPod. When the iPod (60 GB 'wide iPod') was first connected, I had trouble updating the iPod to the current version of software. I couldn't get from v1.1 to the current version from within iTunes. I had to upgrade to an intermediate version using a different computer. Now when the iPod is connected, if I don't click on any of the iPod related buttons, iTunes works just fine. But if I click on any of the iPod related buttons, iTunes crashes. It just disappears. I don't even get the usual report window. It's just gone."

If you are experiencing a similar issue, please let us know.

Continuing iPod transfer issues Yesterday we reported on several fixes for issues with iPod transfers, a topic that continues to draw numerous reports.

One reader reports an issue affecting large video files:

"I'm experiencing a similar issue with iTunes 7 and my video iPod. Since upgrading the ipod's firmware and the tunes app on my MacBook, I've been unable to copy movies to my ipod with any degree of consistency. I've historically used handbrake to rip DVDs to MP4s. I've always ripped the files and just dragged them directly into the ipod via itunes--bypassing the local library on the computer to conserve hard drive space. After having upgraded, this functionality is spotty at best. Often, after dragging the files into the ipod, itunes will report that the files are being copied to the ipod. Generally, the status bar will either vanish mid-copy or will complete without actually copying the movie(s) anywhere. If I select multiple MP4s from my desktop and drag them into the ipod via itunes, the status bar identifies that there is a queue of files, but gives up after ineffectively transferring the first file. Everything had been working fine for months and up to minutes before upgrading. It's clearly a problem with either the software or firmware."

More occurrences of two tracks playing simultaneously Meanwhile, users are continuing to report an issue where two tracks play simultaneously under varying circumstances.

Israel Brewster writes:

"I ran into the two tracks playing simultaneously in iTunes 7 issue that you reported on just this morning. In my case, it occurred when I triggered an applescript to skip back to the beginning of the current track just as iTunes was loading the next track. The display showed the info for the next track, but both continued playing. Stopping and restarting playback fixed the issue, at least for the time being."

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