Upgrading To iTunes 7:0? You Might Want To Wait
If you haven’t upgraded your iTunes software yet, you’re probably one of the lucky ones. There are many reports of bugs in this new version. There is no word yet on when they will be fixed, but with the general unhappiness of iTunes customers, I am guessing that will be relatively soon. No matter how long it takes, you’re better off waiting.
Experienced computer users know that using just-released versions of any software poses risks, but Apple really made some mistakes this time. Just take a look at the Apple discussion boards to get an idea of how many unhappy users are out there. On a thread discussing Apple 7.0 bugs at the Apple website, there are over 15,000 views with over 200+ responses. To check it out, start at Apple Discussions. If you’re like me and don’t have an Apple user I.D., you’ll get an error message. At this point click on the login button, and on the next page click on the cancel button. Believe it or not, after clicking on cancel, you will be at the correct page. From here you can read comments, but can’t post without an I.D.
Now you’re almost to the “bugs” thread. Scroll down to iTunes, then Using iTunes for Windows. The Apple 7.0 thread is located here. If you’ve already downloaded iTunes 7.0, you’re likely to find somebody complaining about whatever problems you may have already experienced.
If you’ve already downloaded and are finding all of your music distorted, check out GeekZone for a possible fix. If that’s you’re only problem and this fix works, consider yourself lucky.
At least one user found problems with missing music. He wasn’t just missing a song or two; his entire iTunes collection was gone after he upgraded. (This customer is actor Will Wheaton. Apple replaced his music.) Other users lost individual songs. More commonly, downloading the newest version resulted in skipping music or the distortion mentioned above.
The new version of iTunes boasts a “gapless playback” feature, designed to eliminate the gap between songs. There is speculation that this is responsible for some of the issues, though it clearly not the cause of all of the problems.
Now we’ll really be able to see how well Apple serves its customers. Will those who lost music get it back from iTunes? How quick will all these bugs be fixed? As one article asked, doesn’t Apple test this stuff before letting an unsuspecting public download it?
Several users were so frustrated that they started asking for help converting back to the older version of iTunes. If you’re happy with your current version, save yourself a hassle. Watch for a new release, and even then don’t download until you know that Apple has really fixed the problems.
Fortunately, I’m not among those with the new software. There are also those who have posted on internet boards saying they have upgraded with no problems. How many of you have downloaded iTunes 7.0? If you have, tell us how it’s working (or not working.)
I hope we have a fix soon. Apple has always ranked high in customer service; now lets see how quickly they can please their customers again.
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Comments
I successfully upgraded on both my Mac and PC, albeit with some wonkiness getting 1.2 software on my iPod. My brother, however, had problems on BOTH systems. His library completely disappeared from his Mac, and the Windows side won’t open.
At this point, I consider myself lucky.
Upgraded 4 Macs and 1 PC. No problems.
Also upgraded 2 PCs which have no music and they upgraded fine.
You guys can’t be using iTunes much. Just count your ignorant blessings.
I’m running version 7 on an iMac Core Duo with an iPod 80GB.
Album art downloaded from Apple won’t appear on the iPod.
Changes to iPod settings in iTunes will not save to my iPod; my Mac cannot find the iPod although it syncs music just fine.
iTunes cannot automatically identify a gapless album.
In version 6, I could keep my Shuffle in the source list. Why can’t I do that in 7?
My advice: Wait until 7.0.1 before installing iTunes.
Not problems whatsoever on my 12” PB.
The only problem was the iTunes icon (blue, eww) and I ‘fixed it’. Now I wish there was something I could do to bring Aqua back to iTunes. It looks too grey.
Changes to iPod settings in iTunes will not save to my iPod; my Mac cannot find the iPod although it syncs music just fine.
I had a similar problem. I was connecting my iPod through a hub. When I connected it directly to my iMac, the problems went away. I don’t know it you’re going through a hub, but it could be a connection issue.
Now, I’d imagine that one should be able to use a hub with the iPod with no problems, but I’m sure Steve Jobs had his reasons.
I actually really like the new version EXCEPT that if you are playing something full screen, then a movie comes up in itunes, the whole system shuts down and I lose the screen until i can find a way to close it from the keyboard. Note I am using Virtuedesktops.
It has also lost the library a couple of times. cancelling and restarting iTunes fixed the issue
I run a PowerMac G4 DP 1 gig and a White MacBook 2.0, both running 10.4.7. I upgraded them both to iTunes 7.
The only issue I ran into was the loss of a music video.
Otherwise, everything worked great, gapless works fine with my classical stuff, it synced well between the laptop and tower, and the Coverflow works fantastic!
The interface is a bit bland for my taste, but since the new version isn’t “in my face” I can deal with it. I like the new navigation bar’s layout, but miss the burn button.
I like the ability to customize the various views either using the coverflow or not depending on whether I want to see things by album or not.
Overall, let them fix the bugs people are experiencing, and I think this’ll turn out to be a nice release.
Tiger-
I use iTunes all day, every day. I use it more than Photoshop, and I’m a graphic designer. So, no, I’m not ignorant.
That’s funny. My shuffle shows up just fine in my source list. And my iPods sync just fine, even to different Macs. The Wall and Dark side of the moon play as gapless now, and so does American Idiot. If iTunes doesn’t recognise an album as gapless, it’s simple to get info and check the “part of a gapless album” button. How lazy are you, exactly?
Just because you can’t figure out how to do something, don’t assume that the problem doesn’t lie with you.
Oh, yeah. My album art shows on my Nano also. Are you sure you don’t have the “display album artwork” button unchecked?
No major problems with 7.0.
But, has anyone else noticed that the importing time on your CDs has slowed waaaaaaaaaay down? It used to take 1 or 2 minutes to import - now it’s about 10. Burn time has slowed down as well.
Anyone know of a fix? It’s frustrating enough for me to want to go back to an old version.
Apple should call this iT7 release iTunes 7.0 Beta.
From what I can see with folks here and the Apple Discussions boards, most of these cryptic errors appear on iT6 upgrades not fresh installs.
And let’s examine, those folks using Windows XP have these problems. I know since I had cryptic registry keys not budging during the upgrade on my garage Server 2003/XP. I selected “Ignore” and the install was able to complete <whew!> and my music intact.
Thanks to the foresight of the iTunes 7 devos, I can now backup my whole music library onto an external drive [File/Backup To Disc] before upgrading next time. For those iT6 users, backup your music folder directly from the OS before upgrading your current iTunes version or you’ll be a sour puss. That advice to Mac or Windows users.
Anyway, none of my Macs - several PPC models and an Intel MacBook - had any problem with the upgrade.
My guess is Apple rushed iTunes 7 in response to the competitive pressure of Amazon’s movie store launch. In so doing, they sacrificed the ability/committment to properly trouble shoot the software before its release.
From what I can see with folks here and the Apple Discussions boards, most of these cryptic errors appear on iT6 upgrades not fresh installs.
Excellent point, Robotech, and one that might be worth checking out.
On the other hand, how many people posting on the Boards will never have used iTunes before? None, I’d say.
I’m guessing you’re right about that, too, Ben.