iTunes 8.0 - Genius - unknown error 4010

Ok this is really really incredibly annoying. I was soo looking forward to this feature.

I have a relatively small (16gb) iTunes library and slow internet connection (256kbps). Every time I try to turn on the feature, it goes to "Sending this information to Apple." and stays like that. I left it for over 12hrs and it still said that - no error or anything.

I've tried pretty much everything; deleting genius database file, repairing permissions, checking for MIA files, repeating the process over and over about 20 times. I even went so far as to create a seperate library and add all the files (incase the iTunes Library file was corrupt) but that didn't work. I slowly delete files to see if I could narrow it down to a problem track or tracks, but that didn't work (was successful whenever there was approx less than about 500 tracks). So now I'm bummed 😟

I'm guessing it HAS to be something to do with the server not the local library.

Has anyone tried rebuilding their itunes library ?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1451

I've just tried rebuilding the itunes library as suggested and it works! give it a try.

Hey guys this is all correct. It's working after you do this.

Hi I am cross posting to widen a question [this posted to kdurkee as well]

I have the same problem, 4010 but could I ask, I have loads of custom cd's in my iTunes (demos and live cdr's not registered in gracenote) have you any unrecognizable cd's in iTunes? My iMac has the largest library, but i am going to clear my Powerbook of my custom cdr's. I will re-post asap as to whether this is the thorny issue!

Didn't work for me... still stuck on step 2 sending information

That knowledge article describes steps for iTunes 7.

I can't seem to locate the "Import..." menu item in iTunes 8.
What steps did you take?

File -> Library -> Import Playlist

Illogical i know...

It screwed up my iPhone sync though - had to re add all apps again (XML file doesnt store info on apps) and it had to erase it and sync EVERYTHING back to the phone again. Also it stuffed up my smart playlists.

Doesn't work for me.

I get an "Unknown error (-50)" when trying that. Luckily i saved my iTunes Library file and could revert to my old version.

I was however able to turn on genius with my empty library. But after going back to my old lib, it was turned of again, and the known 4010 error popped up again.

So i tried:
- restoring permissions,
- Removing dead tracks
- removing audio streams
- Fixing all my id3 tags
and nothing seemed to fix my problem. On top of that I can't seem to restore my Library. Apple, help me out here?

Sorry for the double post, but I got mine to work!!!!!

So I investigated the "iTunes Music Library.xml" file and noticed it wasn't valid XML! As this problem seems to be Library related I'm pretty sure the Apple servers fail to pars our Library files because they are not valid XML.

I had 3 more record containing non valid UTF-8 characters (0xFFFF) to be exact.
So I found these records in my library and rewrote their id3 tag. Running genius again (without restarting) I had it working.

Follow theses steps to try and fix your library file. (Only for techy people)
- Make a copy of your "iTunes Music Library.xml" file
- Run it trough an XML validator.
- For each invalid tag, find the corresponding file in iTunes and rewrite that tag (explicitly)
- Try Genius again.

If this fails, quit iTunes and check your "iTunes Music Library.xml" again.

I would also encourage Apple to either have their Servers able to parse XML files with UTF-8 validations, or don't create files having these invalid tags!

Hopes this helps you guys!

No use for me - my XML was already valid. Argh

This is messing with my brain! There is no other possible problem I can think of. It can't be the iTunes Library file (recreated it with XML), the XML file IS valid, I attempted to isolate a particular track as the problem but that didn't work, I've tried every general troubleshooting tip in the book (repairing permissions, resetting PRAM...)

I give up!

I just tried rebuilding my iTunes library, and it worked for me too. However, I noticed later that about 20% of my library was missing. 😟

Re-importing the missing music caused the 4010 error to return the next time I updated Genius.

I don't see "import" under the file menu. Any help?

I have my music stored outside of my home>Music folder. It looks like a recent iTunes update decided it was going to start putting all new music in my home>Music folder.

Rebuilding did not work. I may try fixing the XML file as mentioned above.

YES! Bertg's solution worked for me. I had only ONE non-valid UTF character that showed using the program Validator. I just deleted the character from the .xml file deleting the iTunes Library Genius.itdb and iTunes Library Extras.itdb and still got a -4010 erro

Then I deleated the offending track from iTunes. After quitting, deleting the iTunes Library Genius.itdb and iTunes Library Extras.itdb files from ~/Music/iTunes, I launched iTunes and went through the Genius creation steps and no -4010 error.