After reinstalling my playlists from my back up CDs, iTunes will skip to another song right in the middle of some songs or just before the end of other songs. Is there a way to fix this?
I am also having this problem with any newly created playlists. It will move to the next song 10 or 15 seconds before the end of the song that is playing. This problem just started with iTunes 8.1.1
This may work for both of you: Select one of the tracks that's skipping, and go to File-> Get Info. Go to the options tab, and make sure that Stop Time and Start Time are unchecked. Note you can only do this for one song at a time.
My sincere "Thanks to You" for taking time out to reply to my question. I tried your suggestion and it worked for some songs but others still cut off with 30 or so seconds left. Do you have any other suggestions? Could it be that the files are corrupt or do you know if this has something to do with the copy protection?
Well, I doubt it has something to do with the copy protection, but there's a way to check: find one of the copy-protected songs that's giving you trouble, go to the iTunes store, click Upgrade to iTunes Plus in the Quick Links menu to the right. Upgrade one song. Try playing it. If it still skips, you've got a problem. If it doesn't skip, then we know that either (as you said) the file was corrupted, or it had something to do with the protection. Again, a corrupt file seems more likely to me. Since upgrading replaces the old file with a new one, it will fix a corrupt file.
If upgrading doesn't help, I don't know what to tell you.
CrazyBoy and RainBird, right-click (or control+click) on a song that skips and then select "Show in Finder." Then right-click on the file and select "Open with QuickTime." Then play the song with the QuickTime player. If the file has been corrupted, you'll hear 15-35 seconds of odd oscillation beginning at the point where the song jumps using iTunes.
If the file iTunes is corrupt, you'll have to reimport that song or, as Nate suggested, upgrade to iTunes Plus for iTunes Store purchases. If that doesn't work, perhaps Apple Support will allow you to replace the corrupted iTS purchases (you can go to your Purchase history, select a purchase, find a corrupt song, and click "Report a Problem."
There seems to be something about iTunes 8 that causes it to foul up music as it transfers it to iPods or discs. I've been having pervasive problems with music ending early on my iPod, but I've found it easy enough to replace the iPod's copy with a good copy from my Library. I did have one iTS song that somehow got corrupted ON MY HARD DRIVE, so when I tried to replace the faulty iPod file (which was actually just a replica of the one on my drive), the replacement kept ending at the same place. When I finally learned that the problem was the "original" file rather than the iPod's copy, I reported the problem to Apple and they credited my account so that I could download the song of my choice. I suspect that what happened was that iTunes 8 fouled up the "original" file when I removed the album art. I used to remove all of my album art -- copying it to a folder on my external drive, but separate from the music -- to save space. However, once I upgraded my computer, I discovered through Front Row that I had one song that still had artwork attached. So I removed it, and I guess iTunes mucked up the file at that time. I believe that all of the other files on my computer are okay.
Now I'm going to begin backing up all of my Purchased songs to CD. Because it appears that iTunes can't handle too much data, I'm going to reduce the load on my processor while I perform the backup. I'll have little besides iTunes running.
Crazyboy, one more thing. Now that I've completed my backup, I see that iTunes just transfers the files to the CD-R.
First check the files on your backup. Listen to the songs that skip using either QuickTime or iTunes. (I put the backup CD into the computer drive; when it mounted, iTunes started and asked me if I wanted to restore from backup; I clicked "cancel" and went to the Finder, where I accessed the files iTunes had burned onto the CD.) If the songs are corrupt on the CD, then you'll have to replace your music. But if the songs are okay on the backup CDs, then repeat the process of restoring from backup in iTunes, but this time make sure iTunes doesn't have many processes to compete for resources with.
I have been having a similar problem. The song skips to the next one right in the middle of a song! The files are fine, not corrupt, play fine on my ipod(s) and blackberry. When I go back to the song, and I advance it past the point at which it skipped, it plays the rest. But, if I start it again from the beginning, it skips again at the same spot. This is NOT an issue with the playback position or start/stop time.
This isn't happening in every song, but on a LOT of them. Usually it's at about the halfway mark.
Try to play the song with QuickTime (right-click on the offending song and choose Show in Finder. Then right-click on the file and Open with QuickTime). If there's a period of oscillation beginning at the point where the song ends early in iTunes, then the file IS corrupt. You'll have to replace it -- from original, iPod, or Blackberry. (And don't let iTunes transfer the corrupted files to the other devices, because then they'll end early there, too.)
Ok well, my songs that are skipping (usually the last 10 or so seconds) aren't from the iTunes store. I did the check with QuickTime and what it did was shorten the song. Basically it cut 10 seconds off the end so instead of it being 3:23 it was 3:13. I re-imported the song but that didn't do it either.
I don't get it. It used to play fine. It played fine when I used it on Windows. It used to be in WMA format and when I got my Mac, I used Tunebite to re-record it into MP3. Do you think Tunebite may be the file corrupting culprit here?
Check the Stop Time for each song in the Options tab of each song. Check to see if there's been any change. If not, then try checking the box without changing the data.
I don't know what the problem might be. I just played one of the songs for which I have a Start Time programmed in iTunes using QuickTime, and QT played the file straight.
Maybe your 3rd-party program is the culprit. When you say you re-imported it, do you mean from the CD?
I have he same issue and when played back with Quicktime I hear a chirp at the point were iTunes skips to the next song. These are old recordings of radio shows from the 20's and 30' I'm wondering if its some kind of artifact created during the encoding process that iTunes mis-interrupts? I'll try removing it with ??
Here is what i did. Burned new cd on a CDRW 4x (used memorex 700mb 80min). I deleted my original copy in Itunes library and dragged the 4x copy to the library then dragged that to my ipod. The original cd i used was a 52x speed. I think by loading the slower 4x speed into itunes and dragging that to my ipod is what fixed it.
I have the exact same problem, alot of my songs skip to the next one when there is still 30-40 seconds to go. But it doesnt happen on my ipod (4th gen)? Only on itunes - and ive tried this on my macbook and my new macbook pro with the newest itunes on it?
Any ideas, its driving me crazy!
