iTunes 9.1 not connecting to iTunes Store

Are you running any of Symantec's (Norton) or McAfee's Internet security products or anything similar, or an antivirus/antispyware application? There have been reports that some such utilities treat an upgrade to iTunes as a new application and can block the application from connecting. So you have to go in and reset the utility to allow iTunes. The same thing can happen if you upgrade the security product (this has particularly been a problem with recent McAfee upgrades).

Check the settings for your utility. If iTunes is still listed, remove and re-enable the exception for iTunes. Consult your utility's documentation for the appropriate procedure. If you have Norton, you can find instructions for that utility on Symantec's web page for iTunes. You may also need to check the built-in Windows firewall as well.

Hope this helps.

Yes, it most certainly could. The subscription expiring just means that you can't get updates to the threat database (which make having Norton on your system less and less useful every day that passes).

Consult Symantec's documentation. You can start with the link I posted above; it may apply to Norton 360 as well as their other products.

If it's completely uninstalled, yes, I would presume so if it is indeed Norton that's at fault. You absolutely do not, though, want to run any Windows system without antivirus and antispyware protection. So do not remove Norton unless you have another antivirus/antispyware solution you can install. Otherwise you're running a very high risk of major problems with your computer.

I would instead just find out how to re-add iTunes as an allowed application in Norton.

If you're basing that on posts you see here, that's not a "lot" when you figure that millions of people are using iTunes. There could be a problem in iTunes 9.1, but the vast majority of the issues with connecting to the iTunes Store come from some third-party software blocking it, so that's the place to start.