iPod iPod Skipping iTMS Songs Fixed!...But I Still Need Your Help!!!

[Jay42]

My iPod mini was having what seems to be a common problem of skipping all the songs purchased on iTMS. This is a 6gig iPod mini hooked up to a mac mini via USB 2. I tried every fix that I could find on the web, and even went to the genius bar with little success. Finally, I burned a few of the purchased songs onto an audio cd, and then re-imported them using generic mp3 files without the copyright junk attached (borderline legal, but its for personal use). Re-synced the iPod mini, and they worked! Very relieving to say the least, except that its more of a work-around rather than a fix.

So...here's the big question. How do I get my iPod mini to recognize these protected songs and play them rather than just skipping over them. I obviously dont to want to burn/rip a cd every time I buy music (apple sure doesn't want me to do that either) and I would prefer some sort of clean iTunes fix rather than stripping the protection with third-party software (not much better than CD work-around). Hopefully this will help the other poor souls with this problem, and thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[mkrishnan]

Can you please provide more information about your system and what you've tried so far? What OS version, what iTunes version, how many total computers are authorized to the iTunes account? What fixes "from the web" have you tried? Have you reformatted the iPod with the software updater? Have you repaired permissions on the Mac? Have the Genius bar folks tried syncing another iPod to your Mac to see if the problem is with your iPod or your iTunes?

 

[Jay42]

Its a 1.42 Ghz mac mini running 10.3.9 with three different user accounts. Two of them have separate iTunes (v 4.9) libraries and both use iPods. On the other account, iTMS songs sync and play with a 3g ipod. However, on the other user account (with a separate iTunes library and iTMS account), the iPod mini begins to play the purchased song, but quickly skips to the next song just before the first second is about to elapse on the progress bar. These purchased songs play fine in iTunes, the mac mini is the only comp. authorized for this iTMS account (1 out of 5). The iPod mini has the latest firmware (1.4) and has been restored.

As for attempted fixes (off the top of my head), I have restored the iPod mini, repaired OS X permissions, de-authorized and reauthorized the account, tried iTMS songs from the other user account (with the 3g iPod) -- still skipped, and tried selecting all the songs on the iPod mini, go to "get info" and click okay (as suggested by someone on the apple support discussions). At the genius bar, the Mac guy restored the mini and loaded the store "test music" and it played fine. The genius claimed that some of these songs were iTMS purchased. As I have said before, the iPod plays the purchased music once it has been stripped of its copyright protection and reimported as a generic mp3 files. So obviously it has to do with the iPod mini not "playing well" with the protected music. I don't know a whole lot about these protected AAC files, how they are assigned, what their limits are, etc. etc. Hopefully someone knows how to "assign" protected music from an account to an iPod. Thanks.

 

[Applespider]

Restoring used to make mine work for a while until it started skipping again. Eventually it got so it skipped more frequently. Can you try the 'mini' account with the 3G iPod?

The Genius at my local Apple Store told me that it was a software problem with something being corrupted. After I told him that my Powerbook had been A&I'd in between the problems and the purchased songs were downloading and playing on my Shuffle without any problem, he replaced my iPod (it was still under warranty)

He did tell me that if the problem continued with the new iPod, it was more likely something to do with iTunes itself and I should bring in the Powerbook. I asked what it might be (so that I could do it myself rather than hang around the Genius Bar) but he told me that it would be safer just to bring it in.

 

[Sharewaredemon]

As we have talked about this before a few weeks ago I am able to reproduce my problem.

The only time my iPod has ever skipped an iTMS song is when I have connected it to my computer at work. Which runs a different OS (Panter as opposed to Tiger) and isn't authorized to play my purchased music.

Though you say that that isn't your problem, I can't fix mine by resetting the iPod, I have to connect it to my home computer.
I sent feedback to Apple but I never actually got word back so I am going to have to send some more.

 

[Jay42]

Its seems as though my problem is slightly different from most others since its not intermittent (many people seem to have it temporarily), and many of the other fixes that have worked for others (namely de-authorizing and reauthorizing and resetting the iPod) haven't worked. Seems to be a pretty serious problem, so I'm surprised Apple hasn't announced something more official.