iTunes problems

After buying a new PC (Windows 10) I could no longer transfer music and audiobooks to iPods via iTunes - all I got was a dialogue box informing me that iTunes did not ‘recognise’ my ‘device’. Apple Help were useless and, having spent countless hours trying every solution posted on various forums and on YouTube, I paid the local computer shop to fix it for me ($85). Now the same thing has happened on my laptop (Windows 8.1) only worse this time because it wiped the iPod before informing me it is not recognised. There are a lot of ‘iTunes problems’ blogs, iTunes apparently causes despair to a lot of people. I would be interested to hear whether others in the Choice community have had similar experiences.

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I wish I could help you with your problem with Win 8.1 .I went from Win 7 to Win 10 . The PC running Win 10 could certainly do the same thing again even though a tech fixed it . It is called a Code 38 and is inherent to Win 10 although the Anniversary update taking place over the last 2 weeks should rectify it . Make sure you have that Update . Easiest way to tell is that the action centre icon is now on the right not the left of the time and date if the update has taken place . If not updated go to settings and check update and security and install it .
Make sure everything is connected up and turned on when you do this. Ok to make your Win 10 Comp recognise a device 1) Right click on Windows flag bottom left of desk top screen and bring up menu 2) Left click on control panel .3) On the page you bring up go to the top right and you will see "view by"Left click on large icons . 4) On the lists you bring up look for Troubleshoot and left click on it 5) On the page you bring up look at the top left and left click on " View all " 6) The computer will go through a brief scan and then bring up a list 7 ) On the list left click on "Hardware and devices " It will now scan all hardware and devices in and those connected to the computer . When it comes to the device that is not being recognised click on trouble shoot and repair . You will probably see a window come up asking you to restart the computer . Do that and you will find your device recognised . Windows 10 is I believe the only Windows operating system that will self repair . I hope this helps you if you have problems in the future

My post was not so much to seek solutions as to open a forum for people who have problems with iTunes. Nonetheless, I am most grateful that you took the time and trouble to provide such a comprehensive response. When, as you predict, the problem recurs on my PC running Windows 10 I will have your instructions to follow.

Meanwhile, iTunes and Windows continue to cause so many problems and waste so much of users’ time and money. Companies with their expertise and resources can surely do better, but they have the monopoly on downloads so they don’t really have to try.

Thanks again for your help, much appreciated.

Hi Nescio. After having had problems with ITunes in the past I have stopped using it recently because I was sick of losing songs I had added from sources other than iTunes every time I synced my iPhone. I now use Spotify which I love, as do my wife and daughter. Sure you don’t strictly “own” the songs as you do with ITunes but the platform is so versatile- you have access to a massive library from which you can create your own playlists. To get access to all the features you need to pay about $12 a month for a premium account but there is a family account which is only $17/mth & gives access to 5 or 6 (can’t remember which) family members. There are other platforms which are probably similar but having had experience with Spotify I highly recommend it. Cheers.

Hi mngamble, thanks for your post. Yes, various people I know are using Spotify and are very happy with it so I must make the move.

Sad to say it is more of a problem with using windows than using iTunes.

Itunes was originally developed and is part of the MacOS environment and had to be ported to windoze when iPods started to get popular. As such it is built around the Unix kernel that MacOS X uses. As Apple control both hardware and software on their machines as there is no cloning allowed they can be sure it is stable under all upgrades and hardware configs they produce.

To work in PC land they they have basically emulated,patched and ported iTunes to the windoze environment and with literally thousands of hardware configs they have no control over IMO its a wonder that it works at all on PCs

I’m trying to make a presentation of our recent holiday photos to show family and friends using the convenience of the iPad. However, I have found it impossible to assemble photos from mixed sources (iPad, iPhone and digital camera) on the iPad using iTunes and a Win 10 laptop. Hours spent with Apple Help staff still leaves me with multiple copies of many photos on the iPad. It is so easy to to do it in Windows

You do not have to use iTunes, there are many other programs which do the same thing, but Apple will not tell you about these. See: https://tunesgo.wondershare.com/itunes-transfer/free-alternatives-to-itunes.html I am not sure if this page is sponsored, you can also search “Alternatives to itunes”. There are plenty of free programs out there.
On a slightly differsnt topic, a friend has lost her music itunes, it “steals” the music from your device, then you have to download if you want to listen. I’d say it’s time Choice and the Regulator has a look at this issue.

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I have an old iPod I keep well away from iTunes these days - sucks not being able to update the music but at least it stills works - sorry for your experience nescio2010.

I’ve been a dedicated iTunes user for more than 10 years but I am now seriously searching for alternatives. I have a large music library that I keep well organised and these days I listen to music mostly on my iPhone. However I continue to have annoying problems that never seem to get fixed, despite updates and new features and new hardware and everything else Apple devotes its time to. I get they are trying to move us to Apple music and away from music libraries but I’ve invested thousands of hours and dollars making the library to my my liking. It sucks that Apple can just change the stakes like this especially when we pay handsomely for their services. I keep all my devices and computers (all Apple) up to do software-wise and nothing is jailbroken or otherwise tampered with.

The main problems are:

  • playlists I’ve had (and worked on) for years suddenly emptying themselves of songs with no warning or explanation;
  • my iphone 5 needing to be restored from scratch (this takes ages when you have a lot of music on the device) about 1 sync in 4 because of cryptic iTunes sync errors that can only be resolved by a full restore;
  • files copying incorrectly to the phone so when playing the song stops half way through so you have to delete the individual file and reload it;
  • the iphone music player randomly switching between playlists and between shuffle on and off again with no reason or warning;
  • playlists duplicating themselves on the phone and then the macbook for no reason.

Plus the interface for listening to music on the phone is now so cluttered with buttons I don’t wish to use (e.g. share (srsly why would I want this??), Apple Music links, apple radio, genius playlist, “love”, etc). It’s also too easy to actually delete songs from your phone when you mean to just remove them from a playlist.

Oh for the iPod classic. That was some good design.

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Very interesting post, consumer, it makes sad reading. Your list of woes is as long as mine. I too have an old iPod that I keep well away from everything except the charger - all old stuff but safe from iTunes. Once, when my entire library of hundreds of audible.com audiobooks disappeared from iTunes, I had to download the whole lot again - working on it on and off, it took 8 days to complete.

It seems this will take some huge mass international campaign to jolt this business into providing a decent easy-to-use working system for downloading and organising music and books.

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I still use my ipod classic and I still can’t believe they’ve discontinued it. It is a great music player.

I am sick of iTunes, and every update just fiddles at the edges of a dreadful piece of software without any improvement for the user. Tracks left off or duplicated when transferring to my iPod, and relentless hair pulling when trying to load different groups of tracks onto different devices are my pet gripes. In frustration I bought a neat piece of software called Skysoft iMusic, which loads with iTunes, but allows me to do whatever I like with my music in my iTunes library. Brilliant. Now I can enjoy my music my way without getting into an arm wrestle with iTunes.

Thanks for the lead billandlyn99 - going to give SkySoft a try today! :slight_smile: