# iTunes: the program formerly known as cool



## Gregita (Jun 7, 2002)

Where should I begin? For one thing, let me say how surprised I was that NOBODY on here has had a problem burning cds under iTunes. You all should consider yourselves lucky. Hop on over to support at Apple.com. Look under discussion for iTunes. See how many people are having trouble. On one message alone, there were over 200 people that had problems.Supposedly, Apple is investigating it. I am sure you will see some of my posts on there. I have posted 13 times about iTunes. Some display negativity and hostility. Some display a short-lived happiness over one or two cds that were successfully burned. I don't know what else to say. I am extremely disappointed over this whole experience. I lost the ability to burn cds almost two months ago. Once I downloaded iTunes 2.04 and 10.1.4. I have ran software restore. I have used the original version of iTunes. 1.1.1, I think it is. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I have had my Mac almost a year now. I have loved it, for the most part. I was so impressed by it when I first starting running it. Having converted from the dark side, I was so happy to be running a computer that ran so smoothly. Then this happened. Disk burner has also been affected with this. I can't burn data cds or music cds. I can't burn in OS 9 or OS X. I have installed all the latest updates. I now have 10.1.5. I thought last night it had fixed the problem. I was wrong. I guess I am the only member of Macosx.com...that has had this problem.


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## Gregita (Jun 8, 2002)

Fifteen people have read this thread since I created it.  Nobody chose to respond, though. One can only conclude that none of those people have experienced the same problem with burning cds that I have.

Apple asked us to post our system information to investigate the problem. I posted mine. I don't know if the problem will be fixed or not. I decided to do something besides just complaining. That hasn't helped, so why not take a different route?

Perhaps it is only older iMacs that are affected. That looks funny considering I have had my iMac less than a year. On some of the posts at Apple.com, I have seen people who have the newest Macs, and they are having the same problems, so maybe not.

Another funny thing: My Mac burnt cds like mad for months on end....and then it just stopped. Right before it happened, I had read a letter on Planet Feedback.com. The woman writing the letter had problems with her Flower Power iMac several times. They had replaced the burner under warranty and she was still having problems. That iMac was the 4th one she had bought, if I am not mistaken. Do you really think she will buy another?

This is a serious problem.  A problem that is supposedly being investigated but is never fixed. I am not a Mac basher. I am not a Windows freak. I am a Mac lover severely disappointed . It doesn't really make me angry. Most of the time, it just makes me sad. It is the emotional equivalent of a broken promise to a child. That is how it feels.  I can't explain the feeling of being let down any better.

With every day that passes, that feeling grows. Thank you for reading. I hope soon that I will be able to say it has been fixed. In all honesty, though, I have serious doubts it will be. Maybe Apple will prove me wrong.


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## evildan (Jun 8, 2002)

Gregita,

We've all been there, in one form or another.  

Be it Mac or PC, these kinds of issues pepper the forums. While I can honestly say I have not had problems burning with my G4 tower,I can imagine that it would be very frustrating to be in your position.

I don't really have any advice for you, at least none that you may not have thought of, but from your post you mentioned that you cannot burn data cds so that would suggest that it's not an issue isolated only to iTunes. 

iTunes may have started the issue, but it doesn't seem to be the only thing effected.

It's been my experience that desperate times call for desperate measures. If the issue was created with software related, then it should be solved with a reformatted hard drive and a fresh system.

Unless, of course, it's a hardware issue, then no amount of software reconditioning is going to do anything. But if I were you, I would want to know if it was hardware or software. If it's hardware, I'd yank my machine and take a drive to where I bought it. If it's software, then hey, don't download the iTunes update this time.


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## phatsharpie (Jun 8, 2002)

The only time I have had problem with burning CDs is when I was using really cheap CDR's. With higher quality CDR's, I have not had any problems. I don't know if this helps you at all. If you are having problems burning from iTunes and the Finder, it might be a hardware problem, perhaps you have a faulty drive. If you can find someone with a Firewire or USB drive, I'd try burning to another device and see if that works.

Sorry I can't be of more help, and I know it must be frustrating. I hope your issue gets resolved soon.


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## Gregita (Jun 8, 2002)

Thank you both for your help. I really do appreciate it. 

In reponse to both of your suggestions: I could try a different kind of cd-r, but the problem has not been confined to one brand. People have posted on support@apple.com how they have had problems with different brands. Still, I understand where you are coming from. It makes sense. 

I don't know anyone with a firewire or usb drive. I would definitely experiment with it if I did. Those kinds of drives have suffered the same error messages and unpredictable burns, too, though.

As for reformatting the hard drive, I have done that. I read a suggestion on Apple.com that said to try it because your computer would run the same as it did out of the box. No better, no less. I tried burning under the original version of iTunes included with OS 9 and OS X. The first time it worked fine. Then, on the next burn, it stopped again.  Disk burner wasn't originally affected. It was only recently that it started acting up, too. 

As for taking it back to where I bought it, I wouldn't feel comfortable with that. I bought it at Circuit City. Had I known Apple was going to discontinue its relationship with them, I would have probably thought twice about it.

I do appreciate your solutions, though. I felt like I was writing for myself here 

I posted my system info on the official Apple post tonight so we will see. 

Once again, thank you both for your help. I will not forget it.


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## rubberchicken (Jun 9, 2002)

The only problems I have had burning discs has been due to the media itself. When you look through your iTunes preferences/settings you will see a choice of burning speeds. 

I solved a lot of these problems by changing the speed to 4x/2x rather than max speed. This probably won't help when burning data but you should be able to copy music. If that works then you should try different media. 

I quite like Imation,Princo, Kodak and Verbatim in no particular order.


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## PCSMASHER (Jun 9, 2002)

I hate that you have had problems. I have burned over 50 cd's with my G4 and have never had a problem. I know it will get resolved somehow.




HE SHOOTS..... HE SCORES.


Sorry, Red Wings just won game 3.


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## rinse (Jun 9, 2002)

yeah, i dont think i have had a single coaster come out of my G4 tower... sorry, no help here.


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## Gregita (Jun 10, 2002)

Thanks to everyone who have added suggestions.

You have given more response than a computer company. Of couse, that may not be saying much. 

Today I viewed commercials from Apple's new ad campaign. I think they are hokey in a way, but they could work. It  could convince someone to switch.

On the site, www.apple.com/switch, there was a link for people who used to be on a pc to tell their conversion stories.

I decided to email Apple and tell them mine.

I told them I switched to a Mac....because I wanted to be able to use iTunes...and burn cds. I then told them....how burning cds was something my Mac did in the past. How it didn't do it anymore. I suggested they should share my experience along with the rest to provide a more balanced perspective.

I told them I doubted that would help them sell Macs, though.


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## Koelling (Jun 14, 2002)

I tend to agree that iTunes used to be cool. But if you base your whole judgement on this one program, you are sick in the head 

iTunes is simply a poorly ported Carbon App. Because of this it takes up way too much system resources. It's pretty and for encoding and burning I can't think of a better solution (sorry for your problem, but it is an isolated occurrence). But if I want to run iTunes while surfing the web then I can expect every thing to be twice as slow. Add in Chatting and project builder and Mail.app and others and my poor little iMac can't keep up.

I wouldn't mind seeing it updated and maybe even aquafied but thank god there are other options until that happens. I find that OroborOSX plus xmms uses less processor power and with the right skin it looks more aqua than iTunes does with brushed steel.

iTunes used to be cool, but the cool thing now is that we have UNIX software to replace it.

oh by the way, mpg123 is cool too.


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## xaqintosh (Jun 14, 2002)

what is mpg123?


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## bigbadbill (Jun 17, 2002)

Gregita

I have never experienced any problems burning cd's with iTunes or OSX. I have done so using an original iMac 266Mhz using an external CD burner, a new iMac 800Mhz, a G4 466Mhz using both external and internal CD burners, so i've pretty much covered the gammut. So I don't believe that it is the product that should be in question here, but rather your individual configuration.

You say that you were burning cd's fine and one day problems started. That makes me think that this is a software issue.

If you could post your system information including what version of iTunes and OSX you are running, I'm sure somebody here will be able to solve your problem.

P.S.: Ya, what is MPG123?


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## Koelling (Jun 17, 2002)

> what is mpg123?


 mpg123 is the command line mp3 player. It's in the Fink unstable tree. I think it belongs there because it does have some bugs but it's still a lot of fun. I found it when I was trying to set up a cron alarm clock since this one is command line but I never got it to work(the alarm clock, not mpg123 because that does work).

If you want any more explanation I'll watch for someone who opens a thread in the Darwin forum because I don't want to get too far off topic here.


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## Gregita (Jun 18, 2002)

I have posted my system information.

There is a thread on Apple.com that asks for people having problems to post a copy of their system profiler report... So I did.

I have a G3/600. 256 MB of RAM. 40GB HD...

10.1.5 is my OS.  It is not as OS X exclusive problem, however. Same problems and errors in OS 9...no matter which version of OS 9 I was running.

As I have said on Apple.com, I am not using an external drive. I am using the drive that shipped with my Mac. 

I don't have Toast or any other program like it installed. 

I use either cds made by Imation or Fuji...the same cds I used successfully for months. They haven't changed the cds in that time. They are the same length...with the same capacity.

Software restore doesn't remove the problem, either. I have ran software restore a couple of times. The cds will burn normally once or twice..and then the same error message (-7932) will appear. This even happened in the orginal version of iTunes that came installed on my Mac in both OS 9 and OS X. 

The only way I can burn cds is by following Apple's suggestion..and setting the burning speed down to 4X...and keeping the gaps between the songs at 2 seconds. If I set the burning speed at 8X or at maximum speed, the burn will stop every time.

I am doing nothing different, either. I burnt over a hundred cds before all this started happening...I don't do anything different now than I did then.

I am also not the only person having this problem. The number, at last count, has grown to almost 300 people....last I checked. That is the number of people who have posted messages on Apple.com. That is not counting the ones who have yet to come forward. 

Anyway, I will continue burning cds at 4X speed...until the solution is found.


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## hulkaros (Jun 24, 2002)

Look Gregita, Testuser IMHO gave you the best advice and it would be my advice too! I am a technician for PCs and Macs too, and I've seen the problem you mentioned and solved it (without going and asking around things) with the EXACT advices that testuser gave you 

Anyway, I don't know what's your relation with computer knowledge in general and how deep that goes but for someone who knows and understands, this problem was clearly NOT iTunes bad behavior but a NOT good-set parameter/media setting 

However, I know from my experience that in ANY iMac G3/500 with 128 RAM our customers and/or family members can browse the internet, listen to their MP3 iTunes music, have word or excel loaded, another one or two small apps there too AND burn CDs either in Toast or iTunes and ALL these at the same time... How? Because they choose good CD media and have their apps' settings customized for perfection instead for whining here and there 

My advice to you after all the above LONG intro is:
Before feeling bad about your computer's misbehavior, be it PC and/or Mac, try:
1. Not to panic
2. To calm down
3. To clear your mind
4. To play with its settings/preferences that are most close to your problem and VOILA: Problem dissapears --at least most of the time that is


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## Gregita (Jun 24, 2002)

I agree that Testuser did give some very good advice to solve the problem.

I have lowered the burn speed in iTunes. I have mentioned that in almost all of my posts. So, being told that again was hardly a revelation. Someone who had the same problems called Apple and talked to tech support, and that was their official stance.  

My question is why did it used to burn at 8X with no problem? 

I have played around with the preferences.  Some people found that their privileges had been changed when they installed iTunes 2.04. Once they changed them back to read and write for all, the program worked again.

However, my privileges were never changed, so that is not part of the problem.

I am able to burn cds with the burning speed set down to 4X in iTunes.

I am still not able to burn MP3 cds or data cds using disk burner.

The cds I have don't have a bluish back, either. They are silver. (This was another of Testuser's instructions.) 

As I have said before, Apple is well aware there is a problem.

They have asked people to post their system profiler information on Apple.com so they can look into it further.

Seems to me if it was all human error and poor quality cds, Apple wouldn't waste it's time trying to solve the problem.

Perhaps Apple chooses not to blame consumers for their software mistakes. In which case, they more than live up to the "think different" slogan.


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