iTunes won't play songs - cursor just stays at 0.0

Since updating to iTunes 12.2.1, it won't play any songs. Yes, I have tried toggling back and forth from play to pause. I've tried moving the cursor to the middle the song. It won't even play music CDs - the cursor just stays at 0.0. It also won't play samples of music from the iTunes Store. I have repaired iTunes, removed it and re-installed it about 10 times with no improvements or changes.

I found a You Tube video that suggested going into Quick Time, clicking on Edit - Preferences - Quick Time Preferences, and then choosing the "Select Audio Playback & Recording Devices" off the audio tab. I did not receive an error message as he did in the tutorial and that made no difference.

Any other suggestions?

Thank you!