Warning!!! iTunes/iPod Shuffle/Windows XP

[mwfanelli]

It appears that the latest iTunes 7 on Windows XP can not update iPod Shuffles (the small one with no screen). When I had trouble, I looked on the web and found lots of irate owners with the same problem.

Avoid iTunes 7 and iPod shuffle on Windows XP!! Stick with iTunes 6 for now

What I gathered from looking at all the complaints and the timestamps we have:

1. Apple says there is no problem.
2. Apple says problems are due to the "Buggy Windows XP" system
3. Apple says that the Services on Windows XP is all screwed up.
4. Apple says the original iPod shuffles are at the the end of their production life cycle so buy a new one which does work.
5. Apple says wait for the next update of iTunes that will, maybe, fix the problem.

I managed to get iTunes 7 off of my machine and reinstall version 6 that I had hanging around. It took a long time to clean up the mess left behind because of the incomplete uninstall function of version 7. After about 1.5 hours, I was back in business again, cleared the iPod, and reloaded the music.

Some Mac owners have the same problem but their numbers seem small compared to the Windows users.

I bought the iPod in spite of all my experiences with really bad Apple products while at my former job. Hardware problems, buggy software, non-responsive Apple service... My latest foray at a day long seminar with the new Macintel machines was really less than satisfying. I should have known better than to buy an iPod rather than another player! My fault for buying an Apple product, their fault for the crappy service and software. Proprietary hardware, proprietary software, and still no basic QC testing.

[Asylum Steve]

I run Win2K on my desktop, and I put off upgrading to iTunes 7 for the longest time (kept getting the prompt every time I opened iTunes). I finally decided to upgrade, and I've had a lot of problems ever since.

My probems are with Quicktime Player 7.1, which was automatically upgraded with the iTunes upgrade. Now, every time a web page video starts to automatically load Quicktime, my browser (IE) freezes and the PC's video card starts to go haywire, my monitor screen going blank then slowly loading all the desktop icons. Mouse movement and all the visuals load and proceed in painfully super slow motion.

Usually, closing the program with the task manager, then re-booting is the only way to break out of this visual "funk"...

[mwfanelli]

I run Win2K on my desktop, and I put off upgrading to iTunes 7 for the longest time (kept getting the prompt every time I opened iTunes). I finally decided to upgrade, and I've had a lot of problems ever since.

My probems are with Quicktime Player 7.1, which was automatically upgraded with the iTunes upgrade. Now, every time a web page video starts to automatically load Quicktime, my browser (IE) freezes and the PC's video card starts to go haywire, my monitor screen going blank then slowly loading all the desktop icons. Mouse movement and all the visuals load and proceed in painfully super slow motion.

Usually, closing the program with the task manager, then re-booting is the only way to break out of this visual "funk"...

I didn't mention it but iTunes 7 also has a problem eating up the CPU. Several times, the only way to get the damn thing to stop was to do a "brain death" on my laptop. My desktop will eventually come up with the task manager where I can kill all the runaway Apple services.

Its a real shame, I really like the iTunes/iPod idea. The iPod does very well (with minor glitches) and iTunes is slow but OK. But iTunes 7 is looking more and more like a disaster.

[walterick]

I turned on my computer the other night to find my music in complete disaray. Somehow - I'm not blaming Itunes for this - my music folders had gotten jumbled around, and alot of my music was not found by Itunes 6. I closed Itunes and restarted it - and all of my music was gone out of Itunes. I thought, this is sure a funny way to force people to ugrade to Itunes 7!

But, I bit and upgraded. I haven't used 7 extensively yet but it seems to work okay. Like you Michael, I love the idea of Itunes and also the store. Soon will be the day that all music, tv, and movies come through the web, imo. I don't like the look of Itunes 7, but it works (so far - I'll update on changes.)

So, I rearranged all my files and got my Itunes working again. However, all of my playlists are now lost.

As a side, working at home, I got tired of my Itunes music pretty quick. I've moved to internet radio, and largely, Yahoo music. When I can't stand to hear my songs anymore, I love the diversity and unpredictability of internet radio. And it's free!

[Asylum Steve]

So, I rearranged all my files and got my Itunes working again. However, all of my playlists are now lost...

When I installed iTunes7, I too lost all my playlists and rankings, etc. It even took a while for me to get the program to find and reload my song folders...

BTW, Comcast cable provides Rhapsody web radio free, and I agree it's pretty cool. As someone who hates conventional radio, with its lame playlists and endless commercials, web radio is fantastic. I just pick a music genre and let it play. When I hear something I like, I can instantly find out the artist, album and cut title...

[SmartWombat]

Seems I don't call it a MacInTrash for nothing
Even my graphics designer friend swears at, not by, his two Macs.
... but there's something compelling about it to keep him using them.
Despite the software problems.

[mwfanelli]

Seems I don't call it a MacInTrash for nothing
Even my graphics designer friend swears at, not by, his two Macs.
... but there's something compelling about it to keep him using them.
Despite the software problems.

In this case, the Macs are not having the problem with iTunes 7 and the Shuffle. It appears limited to the Windows XP version. That's a shame, because most iPod Shuffle owners are Windows users.

Its just sloppy software from Apple: lots of flash with function as an afterthought. IMHO, they don't really care as they didn't sell all that many iPod Shuffles anyway.

[walterick]

You rank your songs?

What I miss is being able to tell how many times I've played each song...

I'm with you on the distaste of corporate (they're calling it "terrestrial" now) radio. The same 20 songs looped, and looped, and looped...

What I do miss are local news and weather being broadcast to me. But that's what my Google homepage is for

As another aside, I heard an NPR piece recently about how many people now are skipping broadcast journalism altogether and getting their news straight from sources on the web. It's plentiful, it's on demand, and you're not limited in the number of sources you can tap for news.

The world is slowly moving onto the internet.

[another view]

Glad I read this! I hadn't gotten around to updating 6 yet - and I won't for the time being! iPods rule. It's so handy for so many things, just not thrilled with the car interface that I have. It's a little different (USA Spec) and controls the iPod with the CD shuttle controls on the stock radio, leaving the iPod in the trunk and playing off of five playlists. It's great until you want to hear something not on a playlist (my life is really not that terrible). Doesn't seem to like podcasts either.

Thanks for the info...

[SmartWombat]

ts just sloppy software from Apple

I heard the same from Apple users in the office blaming MS Office
It couldn't possibly be anything to do with Apple, oh no.

I wonder how things will go with the new Intel CPU models.
It adds yet another layer of complexity and presumably two applicaiton binary formats or software CPU emulation, neither of which is a good solution.
It's another opportunity for software problems to creep in when recompiling for the different CPU.

[walterick]

Steve, your life sucks

I don't own an Ipod. I am waiting for an MP3 Player/ PDA/ XM Radio radio device to hit the market, and then give them a few years to work out the bugs.

[mwfanelli]

It appears that the most downloaded file on the iPod web site is now version 6.05 of iTunes! One group is threatening a lawsuit because some users had iTunes 7 blowing away all of their music (that did not happen to me). Silly lawsuit and will go no where but it does show how bad the iTunes 7 software really is.

[walterick]

Mine is still working okay. I'm still a little miffed that all my playlists got erased. And it won't network with the other Itunes computer in the house (haven't tried real hard yet though)

Itunes 7 is just very ugly looking, imo

[Tom_Proctor]

iTunes has never worked with my shuffle. I think they just blow that problem off because it's not their best selling player, even though it was at startup. They had NO shuffles left ANYWHERE. I got mine free though from freeipodshuffle.com

[mwfanelli]

Well, the 7.01 version came out with no fanfare or announcements. This version does work with the shuffle now but it does so at a glacial pace. Each tune takes 15-20 minutes to move! Version 6.5 on my desktop takes a minute at most.

How do Mac users put up with such crappy Apple software? Quicktime is no bargain either, even free. The new MacOS requires 1-2 Gig to run at all. In the old days, Mac users didn't know any better and thought that crappy software was "normal" for computers. But these days?

No, I'm too tired for a long fight. It's no wonder that Apple has just 2.3% of the computer market.... and dopes such as myself who bought an Apple product even knowing what I know. Sigh...

[another view]

Sheesh, guess I'll stick with version 6 for now... Thanks for the update.

Tom, I had problems at first getting my XP based computer to see my iPod. I guess it's not uncommon. I have USB2.0 but it's installed on a PCI card and not original to the PC. I plugged the iPod into an original USB1.1 port on the front of the computer and it works fine. Well slow, but fine.

Actually it's not really that big of a deal - I hear more complaints about iPods at USB1.1 than people downloading photos with USB1.1 but even a few images take longer than my usual iPod updates...

[Sebastian]

Installed iTunes 7 on my GF's Dell the day it came out. Her only iPod is the regular old stick of gum shuffle. Not a single hiccup anywhere along the line.

I guess I'm just blessed.

[Asylum Steve]

Installed iTunes 7 on my GF's Dell the day it came out. Her only iPod is the regular old stick of gum shuffle. Not a single hiccup anywhere along the line.

I guess I'm just blessed.

Seb, you show great restraint with all the Apple bashing going on in this thread. Good man... :thumbsup:

[walterick]

In case anyone has been holding out on downloading Itunes 7 for the multitude problems reported, I thought I'd let you all know they have released 2 updates since the original release. I assume these updates (one of which came days later) have addressed most critical problems. It might be safe!

[mwfanelli]

Seb, you show great restraint with all the Apple bashing going on in this thread. Good man... :thumbsup:

FWIW... It's not "Apple Bashing" if the problems are real. I also don't hear claims of "MS Bashing" when I complain about MS stuff that messes up... :-) Hey, I didn't mention the massive heat problems on the new Mac laptops (Pro)!