iTunes 7.0 Special Report: Playback problems with audio and video: Fixes (including disabling OSS 3D)

CNET staff

Sept. 2, 2009 12:06 a.m. PT

4 min read

Audio playback issues A surprisingly high number of users have reported a complete loss of audio playback capabilities -- for MP3s, DRM-protected AAC files, etc. -- after updating to iTunes 7.0. Most users experiencing this problem note that double-clicking a song, or clicking a song then pressing the play button simply result in no action from iTunes; no error message or feedback. In other cases, the timer for playback appears, but remains at 0:00.

Users experiencing this issue can generally preview tracks and other media in the iTunes store, but are unable to playback any local media.

MacFixIt reader Matt Stanford writes:

"I upgraded to iTunes 7.0 this morning, and now am distressed to find it won't play. I let it run through the 'seamless music check' and then dutifully restarted my dual 2GHz G5 with 1.5gb ram and OS 10.4.7; iTunes opened up but won't play any music. I hit play and the counter just sits there on 0:00; I double click, nothing. Connecting to shared music brings the same result, but bizarrely, videos play OK. I updated Quicktime to 7.13 at the same time and have a registered (legit!) Quicktime Pro."

In some cases, the problem may be plug-in related. Look in the following folder:

~/Library/iTunes Plug-ins

for any third-party plug-ins, then remove them. Quit and re-launch iTunes and check for persistence of the behavior. You can then add the plug-ins back one-by-one (quitting and restarting iTunes between each move) to isolate the offending item. Plug-ins that have been identified as potentially problematic include OSS 3D (a tool used for real-time audio enhancement)

If you are still having audio playback issues after removing all third-party plug-ins, you may want to consider reverting to iTunes 6.0.5 as described in the "Downgrading to iTunes 6.0.x" section below.

If you are having issues playing back some media (particularly songs) under iTunes 7.0, try navigating to the Sound pane of System Preferences, clicking on the Output tab and re-selecting the sound output device (e.g. Internal Speakers).

Video playback issues Some users are reporting a loss of ability to playback various videos under iTunes 7.0. This includes video podcasts, home-encoded video and more.

For some users, video simply refuses to play. For others, the video and audio is accompanied by distortion, usually in the form of green or orange static and scratchy audio.

Unfortunately, it appears that this problem may be caused by a decoding error. Some video formats have trouble playing back properly in iTunes or under QuickTime 7.1.3 (reverting to QuickTime 7.1.2, as described separately in today's coverage, may resolve the issue for some users).

In some cases, you may be able to temporarily achieve correct playback by restarting the afflicted video.

Failing that, your best bet is to use an alternative player like VLC until the codec issue is resolved or another fix is found.

Another potential solution to this problem involves removing the following file:

QuickTimeH264.component

from the folder /System/Library/QuickTime, then quitting and re-launching QuickTime.

MacFixIt reader Ben Donnelly is one reader who had success with this workaround:

"I found that by simply dragging the H264 Component to the desktop and allowing the system to re-create another one resolved all of my video issues. I'm now able to view videos successfully. I can only assume that the install of Quicktime 7.1.3 corrupts this plugin somehow."

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