satrn

Q: Choppy audio music playback after Itunes 12.1 update on Windows 8.1

Hardware


Intel Core i7-2600 CPU @3.40GHz

RAM 12.0

64bit OS x64-based processor

GC: AMD Radeon HD 5700 Series

Windows 8.1 Pro

 

 

iTunes 12.1.0.71

64bit

 

 

After updating iTunes to their latest and greatest update, that was on Jan 31, 2015, i have noticed a great deal of choppy/small amount of skipping/popcorn popping in the back ground of all the songs. (keep in mind i only use iTunes purely for music and nothing else)

I have tried the good old Google search but only seemed to run into old articles dating back to 2009, that didn't help at all.

 

I also noticed that only when using Google Chrome extensively, (many tabs open and surfing), is when it was at its worse, other then that if i just have iTunes running alone with nothing else happening the choppy popcorn distortion is minimized.

 

any help would be greatly appreciated. thank you for your time.

Posted on Feb 3, 2015 2:49 PM

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Q: Choppy audio music playback after Itunes 12.1 update on Windows 8.1

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  • by buzzie1969,

    buzzie1969 buzzie1969 Feb 15, 2015 2:04 PM in response to satrn
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 15, 2015 2:04 PM in response to satrn

    thanks for the solution, it worked for me too - that was an annoying issue

  • by Marvin Martianul,

    Marvin Martianul Marvin Martianul Feb 15, 2015 4:09 PM in response to ralphiebaby
    Level 2 (405 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 15, 2015 4:09 PM in response to ralphiebaby

    Maybe Apple will finally fire the guy who never told his boss that compatibility with Vista has been broken for 9 months?

  • by fokrab,

    fokrab fokrab Mar 1, 2015 6:28 AM in response to hhgttg27
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mar 1, 2015 6:28 AM in response to hhgttg27

    iTunes 12.1.1.4 Win 7. I switched playback preference to "windows audio" and it did the trick for 10 minutes. Now cutting out again. Oh well ..

  • by hhgttg27,

    hhgttg27 hhgttg27 Mar 1, 2015 7:43 AM in response to fokrab
    Level 5 (5,407 points)
    iTunes
    Mar 1, 2015 7:43 AM in response to fokrab

    Note that when you change the Play Audio Using setting in Edit > Preferences > Playback you must restart iTunes for the change to take effect.  Assuming you've done that:

     

    • Check that you have the latest version of QuickTime installed (7.7.6) - that's been cited as a possible fix, though in most cases related to playback problems with Bluetooth devices.
    • As with the 12.1.0.71 release, there is an alternative installer here: iTunes 12.1.1 for Windows (64-bit — for older video cards) which may address playback issues that are not addressed by the full 64-bit version of 12.1.1.4
  • by smihanetzis,

    smihanetzis smihanetzis Mar 1, 2015 8:18 AM in response to satrn
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 1, 2015 8:18 AM in response to satrn

    iTunes 12.1.1.4 full 64bit fixes the issue and provides DirectX support which is what I am using. Thanks Apple!

  • by fokrab,

    fokrab fokrab Mar 1, 2015 10:49 AM in response to hhgttg27
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mar 1, 2015 10:49 AM in response to hhgttg27

    I installed the link provided (win 7) however, its not installing 12.1.1 but rather 12.1.1.4. And still have the problem obviously. any suggestions how to back up to 12.1.1 ?

  • by hhgttg27,

    hhgttg27 hhgttg27 Mar 1, 2015 11:16 AM in response to fokrab
    Level 5 (5,407 points)
    iTunes
    Mar 1, 2015 11:16 AM in response to fokrab

    There is no other "12.1.1".  All Apple releases include a build number as part of their identification, so the three releases of iTunes 12 (so far) are:

     

    • iTunes 12.0 - build 12.0.1.26  - 32- and 64-bit versions - dated Oct 16, 2014 (there were various 12.0.0.x builds but these were limited beta-test distributions)
    • iTunes 12.1 - build 12.1.0.71 - 32-, full 64-bit, and "for older video cards" 64-bit versions - dated Jan 28, 2015
    • iTunes 12.1.1 - build 12.1.1.4 - 32-, full 64-bit, and "for older video cards" 64-bit versions - dated Feb 17 (full 64-bit) or Feb 18, 2015

     

    If none of the 12.1 variants are working for you the only short-term solution may be to roll back to 12.0.  See turingtest2's user tip on Troubleshooting issues with iTunes for Windows updates for details on how to do a complete uninstall of all iTunes components, and for links to the 12.0.1.26 installers.  The good news is that there has been no database change between 12.0 and 12.1, so your library will be fine if you do roll back (this is more problematic if you go back to an even older version such as 11.4).  Although updates / rollbacks shouldn't affect the content of your library, its always a good idea to make sure that you have a current backup of it before starting,

  • by fokrab,

    fokrab fokrab Mar 1, 2015 2:41 PM in response to hhgttg27
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Mar 1, 2015 2:41 PM in response to hhgttg27

    Thank you hh for all your assistance. For now I have found an easier quick fix ... I'm using Windows Media Player. Working just fine. I listen to music most of the time using my iPhone so I'm good for now. Thanks again.

  • by Johnny DEP,

    Johnny DEP Johnny DEP Mar 9, 2015 12:07 PM in response to hhgttg27
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 9, 2015 12:07 PM in response to hhgttg27

    If anyone reading this is still running the full 64-bit version of 12.1.0, it's possible that Apple Software Update is crashing when it tries to run automatically, and running it manually might give incorrect results: Apple Software Update for Windows crashes or returns incorrect/incompatible updates.

  • by bfrank229,

    bfrank229 bfrank229 Mar 25, 2015 12:35 PM in response to satrn
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mar 25, 2015 12:35 PM in response to satrn

    I also installed the suggested "iTunes 12.1.1 for Windows (64-bit — for older video cards)" in my 1 year-old Dell laptop. I also tried different bitrate playback settings. Didn't help.

    The last thing I tried was switching FROM 'Direct Sound' TO 'Windows Audio Session' - the opposite of what worked for most people. So far it seems to be working.

  • by bojang32,

    bojang32 bojang32 May 9, 2015 8:42 AM in response to satrn
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 9, 2015 8:42 AM in response to satrn

    TDLR: Updating the bios on my motherboard fixed the issue

     

    Took me forever to fix this so I figured I would share and hopefully help someone else out. Choppy audio began after I upgraded to Windows 8.1 64bit from Windows 7 64bit and installed iTunes 12.1.1.4. Music would pause 2-3 times per song. Sooooo frustrating. I tried to install the alternate version of iTunes and perform the various troubleshooting I found on the web but nothing worked. I tried Windows Media Player thinking it was an iTunes issue, but WMP had the same audio issue. So I figured it had to be a hardware/driver issue. I updated audio and video drivers, optimized my disk drive, tried different speakers/headphones, messed with various settings, etc. Finally, I updated the bios on my motherboard (ASUS P8Z68-V GEN3) to the latest version. This solved my issue! Also solved a similar issue I was having with video playback. Thank goodness.

  • by simpoldotnet,

    simpoldotnet simpoldotnet May 11, 2015 4:06 AM in response to bojang32
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 11, 2015 4:06 AM in response to bojang32

    I have also tried everything and nothing worked until I read bojang32's post. I also have an Asus motherboard, a Z-97 Deluxe. I updated the BIOS and no more choppy audio!

     

    Thank you so much, this have finally solved the problem!

  • by WrexNfx,

    WrexNfx WrexNfx May 26, 2015 12:39 PM in response to simpoldotnet
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 26, 2015 12:39 PM in response to simpoldotnet

    I have tried all above to no avail. There are over 11K reads to this issue. Dear apple.... Please have your engineers fix this bug> i should not have to reload drivers and play Bios games to play iTunes..

     

    The sooner the better.

  • by simpoldotnet,

    simpoldotnet simpoldotnet May 29, 2015 3:59 AM in response to WrexNfx
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 29, 2015 3:59 AM in response to WrexNfx

    BIOS update worked for about a day, choppy audio is back. Nothing has worked at all.

     

    Please sort this out.

  • by satrn,

    satrn satrn Jun 1, 2015 1:05 PM in response to WrexNfx
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 1, 2015 1:05 PM in response to WrexNfx

    I am not quite sure why some people are still having this issue, they released a fix to this after a month or so from this update I spoke about, but the solution I picked worked for me before they released a "fix".

     

    If they even fixed it. what are you running?

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