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itunes randomly skipping during playback

tiger 10.4.3
quicktime 7.0.3
itunes 6.0.1
powerbook 1.67ghz with 1gb ram

I have two powerbooks, a 1.5ghz/512mb/10.3.9 and this 1.67ghz/1gb/10.4.3

Both systems have the same MP3 library and the same itunes.xml file. On the newer/faster system, periodically while using it (though not intensely at all) playback will begin to skip and get louder (so on a 1-10 scale, if I was listening to it at a 4 for volume, it starts skipping and becomes a 5 or a 6 in loudness). This lasts about 5-10 seconds and the song continues (but not at the point it started skipping, the counter keeps moving and play resumes after the skip). Playing the same song over again, no skipping. I have never had this problem on the older Powerbook, and the only obvious difference is the spotlight indexing service that isn't on both systems, but that seems odd to me. This happens 5-10 times a day, and the only tech notes I've seen for this topic relate to Windows.

Thanks

15" G4 Powerbook Mac OS X (10.4.3) Shiny

Posted on Dec 5, 2005 7:16 AM

Reply
53 replies

Dec 7, 2005 3:18 PM in response to jweisen

I have something similar to the behaviour you describe, also on a PB 1.67 running 10.4.3. Its like a short portion of the music repeats rapidly on top of itself, with the result that it gets louder and louder, whlst also appearing to echo. Then it starts playing normally, a little bit further on.

I have another system running 10.4.2, so I don't think it's spotlight. I wonder if it is something to do with quicktime 7.0.3, which I also am running, possibly combined with 10.4.3? Anyone else have this problem. I do hope it is not specific to the PB 1.67!

Dec 7, 2005 8:51 PM in response to jweisen

tiger 10.4.3
quicktime 7.0.3
itunes 6.0.1


I've got a similar issue. Running the same OS/Quicktime version/Itunes version, but on a G4 Tower, 500 mhz, with 512M.

I don't have any volume increase, just a pause of about 2 secs. every few minutes. I've got nothing else running. Just itunes.

I've tossed all of my itunes prefs, but that didn't help.

Should I downgrade quicktime? Or itunes?

G4 Tower 500mhz Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Dec 9, 2005 2:30 PM in response to jweisen

Sorry to hear of others w/ the skipping but I'm glad I'm not the only one! Maybe Apple will come up w/ a solution ASAP! I'm w/ an iMac G5, OS 10.4.2, 1.8 gHz, 1.25 meg RAM, etc. iTunes 5.0.1 (4) and skipping started a few weeks ago, aparently not in connection w/ anything new I had installed! It also cuts off a few seconds (on some tunes) before they're finished. Sure would like to solve this...makes for lousy listening, doesn't it? BTW, I repaired permissions and no difference.... TIA for any help! Jack

Dec 9, 2005 8:54 PM in response to jweisen

All... this may be worse than you think. I've had very similar symptoms- I'll explain.

I was sharing my iTunes library between a new G5 Quad and an older G4 500 via ethernet. Suddenly some of my tracks started to either skip altogether or only play through partially before iTunes would move to the next track. I tried running from a backed up library, same problem. I tried reimporting the song files, same issues (the tracks would stop playing at the very same place as before- even if the song was just reburned from CD). My last ditch effort was to reimport my entire 35K song library into a fresh install of iTunes (ditched the full iTunes folder and pref file), and still, the songs don't play right.

So, I opened a few of the troubled files in Bias Peak and discovered that the song files are now trashed- they either have intermittent gaps that are added into the song or the ending is cut off. Some files have tons of gaps, others have just a few, but the files are screwed up. The bizarre thing is that the modification date on these m4a or mp3 files wasn't changed in the past few weeks when the trouble started. I have no clue why this happened. It looks very doubtful that the files can be repaired.

Those of you with similar problems, can you please open your song files in a sound editor and see if there are gaps now? I'm very interested to know. What I want to know is why the **** iTunes is altering my song files!!!! I didn't even change the tags on these files since this happened, so I know it wasn't my error/fault.

FYI, running 10.4.3 on both machines, and iTunes/Quicktime are current updates.

Someone please help! This *****! I'm now VERY afraid to use iTunes at all, lest my collection grows more corruption.

core4

Dec 10, 2005 10:23 PM in response to Jeff Pollard

Add me to the list of users with the
skipping/stuttering iTunes problem.

I'm on a brand new (hi-res) PowerBook 1.67 with 1GB
RAM running 10.4.3, iTunes 6.01 and Quicktime 7.03.



Hi, all I can say is ditto. I have a brand new PB 1.67 with 10.4.3, iTunes 6.01 and Quicktime 7.03. However, I have a new twist to add to this sad story. Last night I was watching a DVD on my laptop when the DVD did the same skipping, with increasing volume. Touching the track pad stopped it, but it did it about 5 times. This is clearly not just an itunes issue as it was playing off a DVD not a saved sound file.

G5 dual 2 gig, 2 gig ram, PB 1.67gig 120 HD 17", PB 1gig 60 gig HD 15" Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Dec 12, 2005 5:18 PM in response to jweisen

Besides happening with iTunes, this very same problem has happened with streaming audio using Media Player - where I first noticed it, and just thought it would be an interruption on the transmission due to slowdown on connection to the internet. Bad surprise when it happned when playing music with iTunes aswell.


New PB G4 1.67 High-res Mac OS X (10.4.3) 1GB RAM, 100GB HD

Dec 14, 2005 5:27 PM in response to jweisen

Some days I don't get any skipping. Others, like today, I get it many times per hour.

This is with a new powerbook 15". It basically renders the powerbook useless for music. The distraction when working with headphones on is severe.

Apple better fix this with the next update or I will seek a return on my powerbook. This isn't really a new model so much as a speed bump. I thought I would be safe from Apple Early Adopter Burn.

Dec 14, 2005 6:23 PM in response to jweisen

My 15" Powerbook 1.67 just started doing this (with both the most current versions of 10.4.3 and iTunes 6 running). But the problem seems to be RAM related for me. iTunes only seems to skip while the RAM is under high load. Tonight I was using a beta version of Google Earth for OS X. I did a search for a location and the app kicked into high gear (with both high RAM and network usage) and that's when the skipping started. When the app finished loading its location and things settled down, iTunes continued on just fine. I'm not sure if this would explain it for everyone. But I'd ask you all to consider whatever else you are running on your systems and if multitasking may be causing the issue. There seems to be nothing wrong with the actual AAC files.

itunes randomly skipping during playback

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