iTunes is only playing the first few seconds of each song

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Level 1

8 points

iTunes is only playing the first few seconds of each song

Hi,

I've searched high and low and cannot seem to find a resolution to my problem. When I'm listening to many of the songs in my library, iTunes will just stop playing and move to the next song after about 10-15 seconds. If I slide the progress bar at the top, the song plays from that point on for a few more seconds and skips. It seems that many people have had this trouble throughout the last few years, but in each of the instances where I've found someone talking about it, there is never a solution. The discussion just goes cold. I've tried checking the start/stop boxes for an affected song, but they won't stay checked. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Windows 7

Posted on Feb 23, 2011 7:00 AM

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Answer 1

polydorus

Level 6

11,967 points

Feb 23, 2011 7:26 AM in response to Peyton M

Yes this seems to have cropped up a few times recently without a definite solution.

Assuming that the files play Ok in another player and you have checked that the start stop boxes look OK in get Info, here a couple of things you could try.

Rebuild your library:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1451
I would modify the method as follows, drag iTunes Library.itl to the desktop as well as iTunes Library.xml. Then you can put it back if this doesn't work.

Then try deleting your preference files, this causes iTunes to create new ones with default values so any custom preferences are lost.

First make hidden files visible in Folder Options>>View
Delete iTunesPrefs.xml in:
C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Apple Computer\iTunes
And
C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes

Message was edited by: polydorus

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Answer 2

Peyton M Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 23, 2011 8:17 AM in response to polydorus

Thanks for your suggestions, but they didn't do the trick. Do you have any other ideas? Does anyone know what happened to the people that had the same problems along the way?

As for the start stop time boxes that can be found in the "get info" section in itunes, they will not stay checked on the affected songs. Any ideas on what is causing this?

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Answer 3

Peyton M Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 23, 2011 8:21 AM in response to polydorus

Thanks for your help. I regret to say that the suggestions you gave me didn't help. Do you have any other ideas? Does anyone know what became of the others' similar issue?

As for the start/stop check boxes, I'd like to clarify by mentioning again that they will not stay checked when I check them. That is to say, when I go in to see their status on the affected tracks, they are not checked. When I check them and ok out of the menu, they will revert back to being unchecked. Any ideas on this?

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Answer 4

Peyton M Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 23, 2011 8:22 AM in response to polydorus

Thanks for your help. I regret to say that the suggestions you gave me didn't help. Do you have any other ideas? Does anyone know what became of the others' similar issue?

As for the start/stop check boxes, I'd like to clarify by mentioning again that they will not stay checked when I check them. That is to say, when I go in to see their status on the affected tracks, they are not checked. When I check them and ok out of the menu, they will revert back to being unchecked. Any ideas on this?

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Answer 5

Peyton M Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 23, 2011 8:25 AM in response to polydorus

Thanks for your help. I regret to say that the suggestions you gave me didn't help. Do you have any other ideas? Does anyone know what became of the others' similar issue?

As for the start/stop check boxes, I'd like to clarify by mentioning again that they will not stay checked when I check them. That is to say, when I go in to see their status on the affected tracks, they are not checked. When I check them and ok out of the menu, they will revert back to being unchecked. Any ideas on this?

Reply

Answer 6

Peyton M Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 23, 2011 9:00 AM in response to polydorus

Thanks for your help. I regret to say that the suggestions you gave me didn't help. Do you have any other ideas? Does anyone know what became of the others' similar issue?

As for the start/stop check boxes, I'd like to clarify by mentioning again that they will not stay checked when I check them. That is to say, when I go in to see their status on the affected tracks, they are not checked. When I check them and ok out of the menu, they will revert back to being unchecked. Any ideas on this?

Reply

Answer 7

polydorus

Level 6

11,967 points

Feb 23, 2011 9:15 AM in response to Peyton M

On the check boxes, can you alter other information in Get Info such as artist/ album or is stuff greyed out. If so there may be a permission issue on your iTunes media folder.

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Answer 8

Peyton M Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 23, 2011 11:16 AM in response to polydorus

All of the info in "get info" can be changed without any problem. Weird thing I just found out is that I have some duplicate files where one has the problem and the other plays all the way through with no issue. Is there any way to compare two files byte for byte to see if there is a difference that may be the cause?

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Answer 9

Peyton M Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 28, 2011 9:18 AM in response to Peyton M

Does anyone have any ideas here? Is apple just not concerned about this problem?

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Answer 10

polydorus

Level 6

11,967 points

Mar 4, 2011 7:42 AM in response to Peyton M

I don't think anyone has a definite solution for this, but in another thread someone has discovered that adding artwork can cause the problem, so it appears there may be some problem with iTunes handling of tags and artwork. Although whether it is the artwork or something to do with the tag version or something else is not clear at this stage.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2768600&tstart=0

It would be interesting to know if you find something similar, We are taking about MP3s?

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