iTunes 4.5 (#5): Caching problems, ShapeShifter and a new fix; Audio CD crashes; more

Caching problems, ShapeShifter and a new fix Yesterday we reported a problem caused (in some cases) by Unsanity's ShapeShifter interface modification tool. We've now received a response from Unsanity, ShapeShifter's developer, indicating that the haxie is not the only culprit in this situation, and offering a fix that does not require disabling ShapeShifter.

Unsanity's Jason Harris writes: "The issue is that iTunes 4.5 is using iTunes 4.2 resources because ShapeShifter had cached them for speedy access.

"The fix is simply to reapply your theme using the ShapeShifter preference pane and relaunch iTunes.

"I don't think that ShapeShifter is the only issue here - I think that Apple's servers were also getting hammered. People who have never installed ShapeShifter were getting the same errors. But using the cached resources can't be a good thing, so I suggest that all ShapeShifter users follow the above procedure. Apologies to all for any inconvenience this has caused, and please rest assured that we'll be resolving this in a future release of ShapeShifter."

Scripts not working; ShapeShifter A MacFixIt reader writes "I have 8 scripts in ~/Library/iTunes/Scripts/ they worked perfect with iTunes 4.2 but since I updated to iTunes 4.5 the Scriptmenu is missing."

The same reader writes that disabling ShapeShifter re-enabled the Scripts menu. "I just found the problem. It's ShapeShifter, I applied the normal Aqua Theme, then I deleted this folder ~/Library/Caches/ShapeShifter/ then you can apply your theme again. Now my Script menu finally works again."

Audio CD crashes We've received a handful of reports indicating problems with store-bought audio CDs and the new version of iTunes.

MacFixIt reader Darren Gibbs writes "I've installed the new version (as well as QT 6.5.1) on my TiBook (667MHz) and a friend's PowerBook (Pismo). In both cases, inserting Audio CDs caused problems. OS X saw the CD and mounted it, iTunes launched and accessed CDDB to get the track names. However when attempting to a track on the CD, iTunes froze. Force Quitting iTunes and re-launching it didn't help. Restarting the PowerBook and trying to preview tracks from the Finder resulted in similar behavior. The Finder froze immediately after clicking on the CD's icon and before displaying a list of tracks. Force Quitting the Finder twice caused a kernel panic. I've since tried 2 more CDs and so a total of 3 out of 5 caused the freezing behavior. Working CDs will work every time, non-working CDs don't work every time. All of them were manufactured in the 80s so I don't think it's a copy protection issue."

If you are having a similar issue, please drop us a line.

Play songs first in iTunes for other iApps to access them Continuing our coverage of inability to access iTunes music store purchased tracks in other applications (note that you must have the latest version of several components installed, possibly in a specific order), it seems that some users have had success first playing the purchased tracks in iTunes before attempting to use them in other iApps.

We're not sure what exactly is triggered by initializing the song in iTunes, but the solution has nevertheless worked for a number of readers.

Richard Huyck writes "I 'purchased"'(Pepsi promotion) eight songs tonight. None of the new songs were able to be selected as a song for an iPhoto slide show.

"To get them to work, I first had to play them in iTunes, and then I was able to get them to work with the slide show with out any problems. All of the other users (wife and daughters) on this machine had to do the same thing."

Reversion to version 4.2 for audio problems Yesterday we noted a process for reverting from iTunes 4.5 to version 4.2. We've now received word that the reversion process works to correct some volume level issues that have occurred with the 4.5 update.

Douglas Stetner writes "I have found that with iTunes 4.5 the volume of playback has dropped considerably, and the sound quality is like one of the first transistor radios!

"If I set the iTunes volume to max, set the 'volume adjust' on the track to max and set my system volume to max, the sound volume is OK. But then an alert 'ping' almost knocks my socks off.

"Switching back to iTunes 4.2 (after restoring my library files that get updated when you run 4.5) resolves the problem."

As noted previously, the advantage of iTunes' 4.5's new volume scale is that you have finer control at lower volumes than before.

Resources