iTunes Keeps Telling Me To Log In

Just upgraded to iTunes 10... When I open iTunes, it asks me to log in. I click cancel... Then I clicked on Ping to see what it was and it asked me to log in again - this time I did. Then it asked me to log in AGAIN. I clicked cancel and the login prompt keeps popping up. I finally get out of that loop and go to the store and lo & behold, I am already logged in. Why do I keep getting login prompts when I am already logged in? I am very concerned because my account has already been hacked into once and I had to remove my credit card from the store so that no one can make unauthorized purchases (yes, I already changed my password, secret question, etc.). What is all this about?