After fresh installation of itunes on win7 it is stuck at "Accessing iTunes store..."

Hello All,

This is my first apple device and a first exposure to IPAD. so pardon me for stupid queries.

I installed ITunes for my win7 x74 box and tried to download some itunes/apps.

Every time i try that it tries to open the same in Itunes (installed locally on by computer) and is stuck at the point "Access iTunes Store..." I tried exploring the Itunes app where it asked for AppleID Signin, did that but no help.

Can anyone please guide me why it is taking so much time to access the iTunes Store.

Is there anything that I am expected to do before trying this.