ITunes woes - please assist if you can

[mgerics]

I came to the only place I know where I can get smart *ss answers as well as Real Answers!

I have a WinXP machine, fully updated, etc. Son got an IPod, so we dl'ed the latest iTunes.

Problem: When I open My Computer, or navigate up to it from a root drive in an explorer window, the machine waits for about a minute and a half before it displays the drives. Nothing else appears to be slow; I can do Start >Run >C: and explore all day long, programs start and run fine, operations seem as zippy as ever. But when I get to My Computer, it slows down - if I minimize a My Computer window and then reopen it, it displays the same hesitancy. This occurs if the IPod is connected or not.

I hesitate to uninstall ITunes because of all the bleeping media rights controls applied to the songs on the machine.

Any ideas? (If I were a REAL programmer, I'd write a driver for the Amiga to operate the IPod...)

[motorollin]

Go in to task manager and kill the iPod and iTunes helper tasks. Then see if the problem goes away. That way you will know whether it is iTunes causing the problem or not, without having to uninstall it.

--
moto

[Chain]

It looks like bad usb driver os something other with usb

[GreggBz]

When it's giving you trouble, open the task manager and look at the second tab, sort by CPU and see if you can determine what the troublesome process is.

Do you have any NetBIOS, Microsoft networking going? Finding shared volumes can take forever in some cases. Try going to the properties of your network interface and turning off client for Microsoft networks and file and print sharing.

I know iTunes has a sharing protocol as well. Is this turned on? I'm just speculating.

[Doobrey]

mgerics wrote:
I hesitate to uninstall ITunes because of all the bleeping media rights controls applied to the songs on the machine.

You could always use Hymn to remove the DRM and then backup your music before uninstalling iTunes (Or use iTunes to burn the music to CD then import it again)

[mdivancic]

The only problem with going to CD and then using iTunes to reimport the music again is that there is a slight loss of quality doing this.

iTunes should not be the problem. I've been running it for years on Windows and OS X computers and have never seen anything like this? I'd try reinstalling iTunes before I do anything. Also, the only music with DRM attached would be the stuff purchased from the iTunes store. Anything importated from CD should be DRM free.

[blobrana]

Hum,
it sounds like a driver/USB issue...
But, have a look at what is running in your Windows XP Services.

Also, it may be worth applying this tweak that will make your icons appear quicker.
Windows XP default is to automatically search for network files and printers. This causes a delay in displaying icons.

You can disable this feature by doing the following:
Click Start, then Run.
Type control.exe folders, then click OK
Click `View tab`, then uncheck `Automatically Search For Network Folders and Printers`, then click `Apply`

[huronking]

My bet is it is trying to read a drive that isnt there.

Usually when there is a long delay at that point windows is
looking for a floppy drive or CD that may not even be there.

Installing the iPod probably upset the house of cards that
is the windows registry.

Looking at the task list for the one pegged at 100% cpu
is a good idea, but I'll bet it will be EXPLORER.EXE.
Anyway- check your drive assignents when My Computer
finally opens and look for something that dont belong.

[NoFastMem]

Doobrey wrote:

mgerics wrote:
I hesitate to uninstall ITunes because of all the bleeping media rights controls applied to the songs on the machine.

You could always use Hymn to remove the DRM and then backup your music before uninstalling iTunes (Or use iTunes to burn the music to CD then import it again)

Blech at re-encoding. Lossy encoding is a necessary evil, but doing it twice is just heinous! If you have spare bandwidth, just download FLAC rips of the albums in question and burn them to good CDRs. I've done that with every iTunes purchase I made. It's the only way to future-proof your purchase.

That said, uninstalling iTunes shouldn't invalidate your DRMed tracks, it's actually QuickTime that handles the DRM and decoding.

[mgerics]

Thanks all! Most of the things I tried already, but it was awesome that you wanted to assist w/o being condescending (sP?) -[Isn't that a criminal going down the stairs ?]

I think it was the "Automatically search for folders and printers" option...but as typical w/ windoze...
I turned that off, rebooted and it was still slow. Let it be snd left the machine on (someone is using it almost evey day...)

We had a power outage last night - I got up to complete my winuae 3.9 install (man, is it FAST! Can't wait to see all that I can get running on it!), turned the machine on, and everything was working fine!

Go figure!

Thanks for all the suggestions - A.org people rock!

[motrucker]

If you just downloaded a new version of iTunes (within the past couple of months) it may be the version you have. Download the latest version, and see if that cures your troubles. (I can't remember version numbers)