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10.1 Update - Lost ability to view music videos on Mac

Since upgrading to 10.1 I have lost the ability to view videos i iTunes on my Mac - the Now Playing window just shows a static image. If I change the preferences to view the videos in another window or full screen, iTunes still just shows a static mage in the Now Playing window.

I know the videos are still there - I can download new ones to itunes, sync and then play them in my iPhone and iPad - and the video icon still appears next to those songs in iTunes, but will not play in iTunes.

My podcasts and movies are still playing fine in ITunes - it's just the music videos that appear in my Music Library which no longer work.

imac 2.8 Core 2 Duo, ipad 3.2.1, iPhone 4.1, Mac OS X (10.6.5), 3 GB RAM

Posted on Nov 14, 2010 7:40 AM

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27 replies

Nov 26, 2010 10:36 AM in response to pberk

Having SIMILAR problem. Mac OS 0.6.5 with iTunes 10.1 (build54) SOME of my purchased videos will not play within iTunes, but WILL play using QuickTime Player 10.0 and WILL play on my iPad and iPhone.

iTunes WILL play non-protected MPEG-4 video files normally and WILL play ‘Purchased MPEG video‘ files normally. WILL only play ‘Protected MPEG-4 video‘ dated 2009 and later. However, will only play audo portion of ‘Protected MPEG-4 video’ dated 2008 and earlier. Does NOT play any video labelled ‘QuickTime movie file.’

Hope this info gets passed on to the engineers for correction.

Nov 26, 2010 7:10 PM in response to pberk

just to let everyone know I have been working with a senior analyst about this issue directly at apple all this week. He called me today and said he does think it is in fact the older protected files are exactly the issue. I sent him copies of the info from some of the videos that do play and some that will not.. a fix will soon be coming out. I had the same problem as everyone is discussing here.. stream to apple tv, play on iphone and ipod if i would want.. also all play on quicktime. no loss of movies or tv shows. I do believe some still watch music videos since you cannot see them anywhere else like the good ole days.. otherwise why would they make them??? I have over 800 videos... 95% of them do not play. hope this helps..

Nov 27, 2010 4:35 PM in response to soundexpressions

I have run into the exact same problem. Spent hours with Apple support which included a complete erase of my computer and reinstall of Snow Leopard and then a restore of my user files. Still none of my music videos show video in the player window. I then downloaded a new music video from iTunes store and it plays fine. So, it appears that the problem is with the old music videos not being compatible with the new iTunes 10.1.

Nov 27, 2010 5:03 PM in response to Randers

Where did you obtain these old videos?

As long as I turn off Multiple Speakers (i.e., Airport Express streaming) all of my videos are playing perfectly including those I have been purchasing for years from the iTunes store as well as a few of which I had on CDs and ripped myself....

If it was an general incompatibility with 10.1, I don't think they would be playing on some users' machines and not on others... it would have to be local to your set up, unless the videos you are trying to play came from a source that encoded them in a manner that is not compatible??

Nov 27, 2010 5:14 PM in response to pberk

even though I think my Senior Analyst is trying his best I did a work around that works well... I bought a little program that converts them to .mov files which play just fine in iTunes... Still converting though.. As I said I have have a bunch. The poster above is incorrect in saying or hinting that the ones that dont play must of come from a source such as limewire etc... all of mine came straight from iTunes and I have tried 3 different configurations with Apple to get them to work. I am not complaining as I could never imagine anyone calling from Dell as this guy has from Texas on some days at least 3-4 times.. I figure I will get other uses besides just this with this program but for now it solves this issue until a fix is made... here is a link

http://www.tune4mac.com/mac-video-converter/

good luck

Nov 27, 2010 5:31 PM in response to soundexpressions

soundexpressions wrote:
The poster above is incorrect in saying or hinting that the ones that dont play must of come from a source such as limewire etc...


I don't know what limewire is, but I wasn't implying that they came form any source in particular - lots of recording artists have short videos you can download from their web sites and there are many "give-aways" around the web where you can get music videos.... my point is that not everyone is going to encode things so that they work with iTunes and will be forever compatible as the iTunes program evolves.... so if they weren't from iTunes, that would suggest that something else had to be looked at...

Am sorry to hear that you are having those problems too with iTunes videos - hopefully it will get figured out soon for oyu...

Nov 27, 2010 5:43 PM in response to pberk

limewire is what the kids were using up until a few weeks ago when they got shut down just like napster did... needless to say my point was that all I know about is the one that I purchased over the years with my hard earned money should still play no matter what... with over 9k in songs and 100 movies and well over 800 videos i expect all of them to work without a hitch.. i do believe however this was a big miss on apples part.. i do agree with what you were referring to with other videos.. just never know but they really all should play.. all of mine still play in quicktime with no problem but who wants to do that... i for one enjoy when i have the free time to watch the videos old and new... the music channels on tv never show them except at the wee hours of the morning.. YUK!!!

Nov 27, 2010 6:04 PM in response to soundexpressions

it's so weird that they played for a bit and then didn't play again.... really does suggest something local going on.... have you tried creating a new user account and seeing if they play from that account? Are you still using the same iTunes account as you had when you purchased them?

One person on another thread reported that if you delete them from iTunes (but don't trash them) and reimport them that he got them playing again... have you tried that?

You must be really frustrated at this point...

Nov 27, 2010 6:09 PM in response to pberk

very frustrating YES YES.... been like this for over a week... i keep my library stored on 2 separate external hard drives for which I update often because of buying.. I also use a Classic iPod 160gb for videos and music as another way of backing up... to answer your questions.. yes.. we have tried a TEST account.. we also partitioned my hard drive and reinstalled snow leopard..then all updates and then just a few videos.. some do work most dont... really a 95% that dont... if you look at the info on the ones that do work they are not protected just like the ones they sell now.. alot of mine are protected though..
ironically if you load leopard or snow leopard and do not update and use the old iTunes 9 they all play just fine.. that in itself tells me and the apple guys that it must be itunes 10

10.1 Update - Lost ability to view music videos on Mac

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