Q: Updated to iTunes 10.5 today and now my Audio Playback IS TERRIBLE!!! HELP!!!!

Just signed up so I could add one more name to the list of troubled users.  I (like probably many, many users) never thought of searching for this issue; I'm sure it's second nature to most of you who post, but I am pointing this out because maybe Apple doesn't realize how many people are trying to figure out why their iTunes "broke" but aren't represented on these kinds of posting sites.

Anyway, thanks to all for the commentary and I'll now try Mercury Comet's reversion to 10.4 and wait for the fix. 

Like many of you, I can't believe Apple isn't at least acknowledging this and either rushing a fix or giving a public warning about upgrading.

Just wanted to give an update to something I discovered in case anyone else is not aware.

My main issue with this whole thing was that I could not sink with my iPhone/iPod without having the distorted "Robot" tunes.

I read in another thread in the forums that someone had problems when they selected "Convert higher bit rate songs to 128 kbps AAC", but not when they deselected this.

My son's 8GB iPod touch had this selected to reduce the space needed to download and I had problems after syncing.

My 32GB iPhone which did not have the reduction selected had no problems after converting to iOS 5, but I have been reluctant to sync since finding out about this problem.

I re-synced the 8GB iPod with the conversion option "deselected" and I have no problems!

I can live without iTunes as I have windows media player  for my PC and at least I can sync my iPod/iPhone with no problems now.

Hope this helps.

Huge problem for me too.  Has apple addressed with a fix/update?  I appreciate the thread instructions to install previous version of iTunes, but it's Apple's responsibility to correct this....too many are affected by this error.

November 5th and still no update to iTunes 10.5. Myself and others are getting impatient.

I still like to know how this issue got past 9 betas!!!

Having same issue as everyone else

XP

AMD Athlon single core

creative sound card

Come on Apple wheres the fix???

Just found this in another forum

"iTunes 10.5 has a bug for Windows XP users (apparently with an AMD chipset, only).  mp3 file playback sounds tinny and distorted. m4a files play just fine.  Based on my call to tech support, Apple knows about the bug, and is planning to get a fix out.  But no timeline was specified, and they don't seem to be publicizing the bug at all.  Got an email from Apple Support Community on how to rollback to iTunes 10.4, but its not that simple, so I'm going to wait for the fix."

I won't go into detail with specs outside of I am using AMD and XP like everyone else here.  It is almost a month and I pretty much can not do anything with itunes.  I dont want to currupt my ipods and ipads with the metalic sounds on my main computer.  I can not roll back and start over because i have hundreds of play lists that I refuse to lose, so I wait.......and wait........and wait......... For an update to fix this bug.  I will never update again after its fixed on this computer.

You really gotta wonder. There was no problem with my library playback until the 10.5 update. Perhaps if this is too much to trust Apple with (our Music Libraries) then where'e the motivation to hand over all our file ownership and control to this "Cloud" storage?

This would definately NOT motivst e me to run right out and buy a MAC!

Is anyone else having trouble with the new Quicktime update? Since I updated that and iTunes, Quicktime wont play the audio of any of my mp4s and it also stretches it across my monitor ONLY horizontally.

I want to know its not just me haha.

This is what happens when there is a monopoly and we have little choice in the products we use.  As this update is unuseable, it should never have been released and a roll back should be posted until a solution is found.

What if you operated a radio station and utlize itunes to play content?  I would be my lawyer on the phone and start keeping score of the $$$$ I was losing!

Spent about an hour and 1/2 with tech support today. They had me doing the normal stuff, uninstalling, restarting, reinstalling, rebuilding library, etc, etc.

they had me send them a sys log and were going to have an engineer look at the issue.

I'm on a XP SP3, older AMD athlon pc. Everything working just fine until 10.5.

Can't go back on iphone or ipad OS without jailbreaking according to my tech, so I'm going to have to wait it out.

Will post when I hear something back.

Just a hunch, I think it has some to do with the Fraunhofer encoder...

i, too, experienced the robot sounds on NON purchased tunes. Yes, i, too, have windows XP and AMD processor.

I was on the phone with apple for over 90 min today and their level 2 tech said he hadn't heard of this before, so i sent the link to these threads.

UNBELIEVABLE that he "never heard about this" when there are over 7 pages of threads here and one person said he was on the phone for 5 hours.

i, too, uninstalled and then reinstalled itunes. i believe the problem is in itunes 10.5 with the XP AMD system. i think there was one note with similar problem with windows 7.

i saw one post that showed how to install iTunes 10.4... the tech i spoke to said to wait before doing so. But i think this may be a good answer, but i haven't tried it yet. I do know that you MUST deleted ALL of iTunes and the 5 other associated programs first.

Hope they can reoslve this for us!... BTW: the sounds are fine on my iPod touch... and the MP3 files are fine and can be enjoyed via Windows Media.

I contacted Apple Support and finally got the following reply:

Greetings from iTunes Store Customer Support. My name is Marites and I am glad to assist you today.

I understand your concern that your Podcast and Radio doesn't play on iTunes. I can imagine how frustrating this must be and we will work toward fixing this situation for you.

Paul, I've looked into this, and I recommend that you attempt to resolve this issue by uninstalling iTunes and then reinstall the latest version. To do this, first ensure that you are logged in to an Administrator user account on your computer, then follow the instructions in the appropriate article:

Removing and reinstalling iTunes, QuickTime, and other software components for Windows XP

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1925

Note: Titles you purchased from the iTunes Store or imported from CDs are saved in your iTunes folder by default and are not deleted by uninstalling iTunes. Backing up your iTunes library regularly is recommended.

Paul, after successfully uninstalling iTunes, please ensure you have upgraded to the latest Service Pack for Windows by installing all updates available to you on Microsoft Windows Update:

http://update.microsoft.com

  Once you have the latest Service Pack for Windows installed, download and install iTunes for Windows:

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download

  If you continue to experience difficulty with this issue, you may wish to contact Apple technical support. A representative will be able to tell you about Apple's complimentary and fee-based support options and can help you determine which option might be most helpful.

Paul, if you would like to create a technical-support case via our website and arrange for a representative to call you, please visit the Apple Expert website:

http://www.apple.com/support/expert

If you prefer to contact Apple technical support by telephone, you can find the appropriate phone number here:

http://www.apple.com/support/contact/phone_contacts.html

Thank you for your patience while we have worked to resolve this issue. Take care and have a wonderful day!

Sincerely,

Marites

iTunes Store / Mac App Store Customer Support

Which did not work....MP3's play fine on MS Media Player. The expert support is fee based and thus I am not interested as my iPod is out of warranty. Pretty frustrating!

I want to add myself to our growing list of disgruntled audiophiles.  I'll spare you the XP/AMD/SSE conversation, we've heard it all before.  I just bought a new iPhone and cannot sync my tin-can-WWII-radio-underwater music from iTunes 10.5 to it..rather annoying to say the least.  I was considering a MacBook for several projects I have upcoming, but all shopping is stalled until the fix is in.  Many of my podcasts will not play.  Most of my music will not play, even the music I have purchased on ITunes.  ITunes "Help" just started working today, and I hope that means someone is working on this issue as hard as we are.  I am not going to roll-back my iTunes..it is more likely I will move my external vault of music to my laptop, which has not had the 10.5 upgrade.

The only reason I upgraded my iTunes was to use the ICloud feature on my phone, which of course, is useless at this time.  I had an old iPod Classic that died and decided just to get an iPhone4 with mega-memory instead of replacing it with a new iPod, as The Apple Store told me that the iPhone WAS an iPod. Well..that isn't true right now.  I'm glad I haven't tried to sync my new phone.  The fix will come, eventuall..but like another who posted, I have no interest in re-doing my massive music library.  Therefore..I too will wait, for now.

Thank you all for being the only place I have been able to track the issues and attempts at a fix!  If we all contact Apple (and I have before, for ITunes Store issues multiple times) regarding this problem, the flood of callers/emailers will flag the issue for hopefully faster resolution.

For those who have trouble syncing mp3s or who are afraid to try it, here's what worked for me:

On the main sync page, make sure you have deselected the option "Convert higher bit rate songs to 128 kbps AAC".

I too have AMD/XP and have the "robot" sounding mp3 issue in iTunes 10.5.

I synced my iPod touch using the "convert" option and my mp3s either would not play at all or would have the robot sounds.

I synced the same iPod touch with the "convert" option deselected and all is well. All mp3s sound just fine.

I synced my iPhone 4 with the "convert" option deselected and all is well. All mp3s sound just fine.

Yes, it ***** that you can't listen to mp3s on iTunes, but I don't usually do that anyway and I have windows media player if I need to. I can still sync and listen to my mp3s on my iPod & iPhone with no problems.

It also ***** if you have a smaller capacity iPod/iPhone (8GB) with a very large library of music at a high bitrate because you won't be able to convert to 128kbps to fit more on there.

Hope this helps.