The iTunes question......

noobvious · 06 Jan 2011

I've pretty much decided that after my recent increase in work hours that it is time to treat myself to something, and I'd like to pick up a 32GB 4th-gen iPod Touch. However, I've seen enough posts regarding peoples' issues with iTunes on Windows machines, in various forums, that I'm a little leery of it.

I've had a pretty good streak of not having any problems with my computer, and I would like to keep that going.....so iPod owners out there, anything specific to watch out for? I know I would need the 64-bit version....I guess basically I'm asking if I am worrying needlessly or not....lol. I tend to over-think things sometimes, and this may well be one of those times.

Packet · 06 Jan 2011

you are overthinking this one.

itunes 10 (latest ver is 10.1.1, i think) on 64-bit is just fine - no issues.
it installs bonjour (you can disable or set the service to manual if you dont need it - you only need it for apple specific stuff, air speakers and what not) and a couple of other services and a couple of registry RUN key items (leave those since you need them for your device)
(once bonjour is disabled, restart itunes, it'll complain that it's turned off, hit ok and continue as normal, even on minor / major upgrades)

you have to install quicktime with it (which installs a qtboottask.exe in your registry RUN key - that entry you can safely delete - and go into the quicktime settings to make sure that the load in tray on windows start is disabled...something along those lines)

(you will have to re-remove that entry each time you update quicktime...)

what else... that's it. reboot is optional.

oh yeah, once you add your music into itunes, everything is selected by default. uncheck what you need and create playlists - then sync those playlists to your device to have itunes copy the music over to it.

i sync an iphone 3g and itunes is most well-behaved.
only suggestion i'd make would be about moving the folder out of 'my music' to elsewhere (which is as easy as pressing shift and launching itunes...serious)

other than that, itunes is awesome.
if you have an apple device and want to use something to sync your audio, you need itunes.
if you are using some other device, itunes still works as pretty much the ideal consolidated setup.

personally, i cannot understand why people have issues with itunes killing their computer - the only real issue i am aware of was around a particular series of motherboards (the p55's, i think) that needed a bios update to let an iphone/touch sync with itunes 9 on that pc

mlevy · 06 Jan 2011

I haven't run into any issues with iTunes on my machine. Granted, I'm no "power user" for iTunes but when I use it, it works.

geeve420 · 06 Jan 2011

I have the latest iTunes running on W7 home 64bit. I connect an iPhone 3G, an ipod Nano, and an older ipod Video. I have had absolutley no issues with it running, syncing, and managing my music. My wife also has it on her laptop for her iPhone and runs it with no issue. The new version seems a lot less flakey than previous versions. Just my experience though.

thehappyman · 06 Jan 2011

noobvious said:

I've pretty much decided that after my recent increase in work hours that it is time to treat myself to something, and I'd like to pick up a 32GB 4th-gen iPod Touch. However, I've seen enough posts regarding peoples' issues with iTunes on Windows machines, in various forums, that I'm a little leery of it.

I've had a pretty good streak of not having any problems with my computer, and I would like to keep that going.....so iPod owners out there, anything specific to watch out for? I know I would need the 64-bit version....I guess basically I'm asking if I am worrying needlessly or not....lol. I tend to over-think things sometimes, and this may well be one of those times.

Itunes 64 bit is a really great program. After learning the ropes and setting your "preferences" you should have no problems. Not only can Itunes "sync" Music, Apps, Photos, Audio Books, Videos, TV shows, and Podcasts but it will even sync your Contacts, Calendar, and Notes if you use a program like Microsoft Outlook.

In addition to the synching with any Apple "Device" (Iphone, Ipad, Ipod) it also provides an easy way to upgrade your devices firmware (to the latest available version) and to monitor its memory usage allocation.

And when you're not using Itunes with your portable device its a really great Music Player on its own (using your Computers Audio Card). Itunes even has a "psychedelic visualizer" display that generates colored graphic displays modulated by the music.

In addition to all that (and other features which I'm sure I've forgotten to mention), Itunes will also burn any of your "play lists" to a CD utilizing your CD writer.

BUT, because Itunes IS SUCH A GREAT Program and has SO MANY Features, I would recommend buying a simple Itunes User Manual (Like the Itunes and Ipod for Dummies Book) if you're going to get into it for the first time. If some people have had a hard time with it's probably just because it has so many features, settings, and does so much.

To top it all off, Itunes is 100% Free :):):) It's a SUPER program.

One of the things that makes the Apple Line of Portable Devices so good is Itunes - When You buy into an Apple Portable device or phone youre getting a lot more than just the device - youre getting Itunes too - the Whole is Greater than the Sum of its Parts !!!!!!!

(No, I dont work for Apple)

noobvious · 08 Jan 2011

Well, I think I am going to make the plunge tonight....thanks all!

noobvious · 08 Jan 2011

First step, install iTunes and disable bonjour......success! However, the top songs on the sidebar do not exactly restore my faith in humanity.....lol.

thehappyman · 09 Jan 2011

noobvious said:

First step, install iTunes and disable bonjour......success! However, the top songs on the sidebar do not exactly restore my faith in humanity.....lol.

Easy to fix
Go under the View Menu and check "Turn Off Itunes Sidebar" :):):)

noobvious · 09 Jan 2011

thehappyman said:

noobvious said:

First step, install iTunes and disable bonjour......success! However, the top songs on the sidebar do not exactly restore my faith in humanity.....lol.

Easy to fix
Go under the View Menu and check "Turn Off Itunes Sidebar" :):):)

Yes, I did that....but I will check them once in a while, out of curiosity to see how crazy the world is becoming.

thehappyman · 10 Jan 2011

noobvious said:

First step, install iTunes and disable bonjour......success! However, the top songs on the sidebar do not exactly restore my faith in humanity.....lol.

Hi noobvious - In the past I have always left the Bonjour Service "running". I tried shutting it off today (in MsCofig > Services) and did some checking (benchmarking) and noticed absolutely NO performance gains by disabling it. Apprently it's only utilized by various Apple music sharing applications.

There is, however, an annoying "nag message" thats appears whenever you start Itunes if Bonjour is missing or disabled. I turned mine back on just to get rid of the "nag message".

Since it causes no degradation in system performance I see no good reason for disabling it. Just thought I'd share that. :):):)

There dosent seem to be any way to get rid of the "nag message" in Itunes itself.