Cheers Mike. Hadn't realised it was a 32/64 bit issue - thought it was purely a Lion upgrade issue. Thanks for the nod in right direction, all is now well. To be honest, the 32 bit mode iTunes seems more stable than the 64 bit - I'll run with it in 32 until SRS introduce 64 bit compatible iWoW plugin.
I'd advice against upgrading to Lion for a while, it messes with Snow Leopard functionality that was near perfect and truly responsive. Apple are really intent on this multi-device wireless hubbed computing (where ipod talks to iphone to ipad to macbook to the world - with either airport or icloud as hub) - but it erodes the solo ability of each device - Lion represents a dumbing down of user control of the OS (like hiding the User Library because we're to stupid to manage it, amongst other changes). I'd go back to snow leopard, if it weren't for my Pioneering spirit (I love a good rant and tinker, plus I'm back browsing the community forums, which I never visited with Snow...)
Again, thanks.