iTunes 4.9 (#4): Reverting to iTunes 4.7.1; Lost library; Podcast problems; more

Reverting to iTunes 4.7.1 A number of readers are experiencing insoluble problems with iTunes 4.9 -- inability to copy songs to iPod, problems playing some tracks, etc. -- that necessitate a downgrade to iTunes 4.7.1 (version 4.8 has apparently been pulled from Apple's servers)

This is a relatively straightforward procedure that has three primary steps:

1. Quit iTunes if it is open, and drag the iTunes 4.9 application, which should be located in the /Applications folder on a standard Mac OS X installation, to the trash.
2. Go to the folder /Library/Receipts (in the System Library folder located at the root level of your Mac OS X startup volume, not the user-specific Library folder) and drag the following files to the trash: iTunes.pkg and iTunes4.pkg.
3. Download iTunes 4.7.1 [10.5 MB] from Apple's Web site and follow the install process.

You may want to repair disk permissions using Apple's Disk Utility (located in Applications/Utilities) after performing this process.

Lost libraryUsers continue to report the loss of their entire music library (the iTunes organization data -- no the actual music files) after updating to iTunes 4.9.

One reader writes:

"I lost my library after the first iPod plugging under iTunes 4.9 and the consolidate command won't work. I think it work only with the music file kept outside the itunes music folder"

Tracy Rominger adds "Just for info I also lost my complete library with the latest iPod update. The files were there but the iPod would not see them. This resulted in a complete reload."

Podcast problems MacFixIt reader Doug Smith notes that there are some limiting differences between the way podcast files and and MP3/AAC tracks are treated in iTunes 4.9:

Doug writes:

"I have my preferences set to 'Keep: All unplayed episodes.' But no episodes are ever removed.

"I used the view options to add the play count column to the display and have verified that the tracks I think should be removed have play counts of 1 or more. (By the way, the play count is incremented when playing reaches the end of a track. So if you are listening and want to bail out, you have to run the playhead to the end for the track to be marked as played.)

"Also, unfortunately, podcast tracks cannot be seen by smart playlists. Otherwise, I would go back to my old system of manually deleting everything from a smart playlist looking for a play count greater than 0 with a genre of podcast. It appears that podcasts are treated separately from any other tracks.

"Finally, on the iPod, when a podcast track is finished playing, the iPod jumps all the way back to the main menu. This is a pain! Other kinds of tracks will continue playing the next track or jump back to the menu that contains the track that was last played."

Not reading tags generated by third-party applications MacFixIt reader Ian reports that iTunes 4.9 is no longer capable of reading ID3 tags generated by some third-party applications.

Ian writes:

"I now find that iTunes doesn't read id3 tags for year or track number created in ID3X or Media Rage. It also fails to calculate the bitrate for VBR joint stereo files. Also says the artwork is not editable.

"This is annoying because the editor function of iTunes is very slow on my 450 G4. I used to be able to rip my CD's and tag them with Audion and ID3X."

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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