iTunes 6.0.1 (#3): Purchased video playback choppy; Distorted audio with external audio interfaces; more

Purchased video playback choppy We continue to cover an issue where videos purchased from the iTunes music store play back in a very jittery fashion, with regular skips and pauses. We initially noted that this appears to be due to a performance bottleneck in iTunes' use of the QuickTime playing mechanism, as users experiencing the problem report no similar playback issues when using the QuickTime Player itself. However, some users have now reported that choppy playback persists when using the QuickTime Player.

One reader writes:

"I also had problem with my first iTunes Store music video (Josh Turner 'Long Black Train') on my iBook. It periodically, momentary freezes and has out-of-sync audio/video. When I played it on my G5 PowerMac dual 2, there was no such problem. I know my iBook has problem playing streaming wide-screen H264 video such as Steve Jobs's keynote, but I would think that if the new iPod can play the purchased music video, then certainly my iBook can. By the way, it did not matter whether I played it in small iTunes window or full screen the same problem was evident. I also tried playing in QT Pro with same results. I also purchased PIXAR's first animation and downloaded a free video podcast. The PIXAR flick was hard to judge audio/video sync since it was all instrumental, but there were no obvious freezes and only slightly pixilated. The best of the three was the free podcast which was .mov rather than .mp4."

Distorted audio with external audio interfaces MacFixIt reader Cam Hitchcock reports distorted audio from iTunes 6.0.1 when used in conjunction with an external FireWire audio interface.

Cam writes:

"Just installed iTunes 6.0.1 via Software Update and now have click and pops on playback. I use a Metric Halo MIO 2882 DSP firewire audio interface that has worked flawlessly with previous versions of iTunes."

I haven't seen anyone else with this problem, but ITunes 6.0.1 simply crashes every time I hit the "Preview" button for a music video in the Music Store. It starts to make a connection just before the crash, then it's gone. When I relaunch, I get the "iTunes Software License Agreement" window again. Regards, Theo Margelony.

Lyrics pasted twice in a row As verified in-house, pasting lyrics into a song's lyrics pane of its info window causes the lyrics to be pasted twice in a row in iTunes 6.0 and 6.0.1

One reader experiencing this issue, Andy Jensen, writes:

"I have been adding lyrics from various sources since iTunes 5 came out. As soon as I upgraded to 6, I noticed this problem. It is not fixed in 6.0.1.

"I have tried removing all traces of iTunes (including preferences and receipts) except for my library and reinstalling, but it has not helped. Rebuilding my library did not help either. I also tried creating a new user and the problem is present there as well. I have not tried a fresh install of Tiger, and I am running QuickTime 7.0.3.

"An easy way to test this is to copy a single word or line of text from somewhere. Then, in iTunes, get info on a song which currently has no lyrics and click on the lyrics tab. Finally, paste, and the clipboard contents instantly appear twice in a row."

Wrong track names from CDDB MacFixIt reader Michael Mortilla reports on an issue where iTunes is pulling incorrect track listings from the CDDB (CD Database).

Michael writes:

"While I love the fact that when I insert a CD into my G5 iTunes finds the name for me and even renames the CD to the appropriate commercial disk, I just hate it when I create a CD of my own original music and iTunes insists that it is something else. Last time it claimed it was a Reebok commercial. Time before, an obscure Christian song on iTunes with the exact same length. (Where it decided this was a Reebok demo is beyond me!)

"The CDs play fine, but it is a little embarrassing to explain the problem to clients who just paid to have music created for their production.

"Clearly, iTunes is utilizing my broadband connection to find the title. That?s great, but not if it is not the right title, or, in my case, I want my clients to see the correct title on the desktop."

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Previous coverage:

• iTunes 6.0.1 (#2): CD playing/importing bugs not resolved for some users
• Apple releases iTunes 6.0.1

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