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iTunes alt grey & white song list lines gone?

G

Greenjeens

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 25, 2005
158
0
California
I'm stumped. You know the lines that each song title is listed on in iTunes, how the lines alternate grey and white so you can easily read long horizontal columns of track, album, etc info, without confusing it for the line above or below?

Well, all the grey lines are gone and it's just black text on a white background. I've checked my monitor and that's not it. I don't see any option in itunes.

I might have been messing with fonts and lost those grey lines there. I don't even know what it's called or where to start looking.

Any clues? It's probably something stupid and simple....

Thanks,
Dave
 
Reinstall iTunes... It doesn't take that long, and you shouldn't lose anything.
 
Edot said:
Reinstall iTunes... It doesn't take that long, and you shouldn't lose anything.
Click to expand...

I have everything backed up on another drive. Checked that itunes and it still shows the lines.

I'm not sure exactly how to transfer one copy of the itunes application over to another drive. It's not just the application but it's integration with the huge data base and all the songs I'm concerned about messing up.

So far I copied the iTunes application from the back up but that copied the song data base too?
I put it in the shared users folder but, I'm reluctant to proceed, since I'm not sure I've manipulated the replacement itunes Application correctly.

Any tips to copy the "good " itunes application from the back up hard drive, copy it succesfully in the main HD and still retain the data base integrity?

Thanks,
Dave
 
Download the installer from apple.com and re-install it. It shouldn't mess up your library or playlists. And if you have everything backed up anyway what are you worried about. This is the easiet and best solution.
 
Edot said:
Download the installer from apple.com and re-install it. It shouldn't mess up your library or playlists. And if you have everything backed up anyway what are you worried about. This is the easiet and best solution.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I get the big picture, but I'm still a newb when it comes to doing some tasks I've never done before.

I also rebuilt the directory and defraged the drive with Tech Tools that I keep all the itunes songs on...no difference.

Dave
 
Another problem/question...
I threw away my itunes app and then emptied the garbage (made a copy first and put it on another drive).

Got itunes 6.0.5 from apple, yet after going through the download routine, it says "O bytes to install" and the actual download page says itunes is "disabled". I've been hunting around for an answer, but I don't know what's keeping the itunes download from happening?

I'm also running itunes library manager script.
 
you won't be able to reinstall iTunes until you trash the recipt file that it leaves behind, this is why the installer you downloaded says that you don't need to install anything, it checked and thinks its all okay.

do a spotlight/search for itunes and just trash the recipt file.
 
PlaceofDis said:
you won't be able to reinstall iTunes until you trash the recipt file that it leaves behind, this is why the installer you downloaded says that you don't need to install anything, it checked and thinks its all okay.

do a spotlight/search for itunes and just trash the recipt file.
Click to expand...

AHA! That works. Thanks, tha's a valuable lesson I won't forget.

Problem is the grey lines still don't show up.
Afraid there is something else that was interacting with itunes that makes this reoccur, even with a new copy of the application.

I could always go and replace my HD with the complete backup from a week ago that doesn't have the missing lines, but I don't want to create any more problems.
Maybe I will try deleting any other stuff I've put on my HD lately and then try reinstalling itunes again.

Itunes still works just fine, it's just not quite as easy to read.

Thanks for everyone's patient help, it's really appreciated.

Dave
 
If you create a new user, does this problem happen for that "dummy" user as well?
 
fwhh said:
Could it be that the brightness or contrast on your monitor ist too high/low?
That may causes the grey lines to "disappear"...
Click to expand...

I thought that first thing and checked monitor settings.
I've just played again with monitor setting and got the lines to show up, but only faintly, by setting the contrast very low. To low to use. Went through and adjusted just about everything possible and barely got them to show up.

I checked my other "dummy" user, which has a stripped down number of active applications in the dock, compared to the large number of applications ~50, itunes scripts, etc, on my main account and the grey lines ARE there and displayed normally. I keep the other user account to store just MP3 itunes.

As I look very closely, there is a subtle difference in the itunes backgound, just very dim. So the grey bars are kind of there, though very faint, not being displayed normally.

When I use expose', the greyed out smaller screen itunes window shows bars.
It's like it's not getting enough black pixels for the grey background to show up?

Addendum: I played with every possible monitor setting, both from the Sony monitor and within the System pref, and as a last resort, selected an old global setting on the Sony and the greys are BETTER, at least visible, if kinda dim, and can still see have normal screen viewing, but that still doesn't explain why my main account itunes is so difficult to display the grey bars?

-
Dave
 
Greenjeens said:
I checked my other "dummy" user, which has a stripped down number of active applications in the dock, compared to the large number of applications ~50, itunes scripts, etc, on my main account and the grey lines ARE there and displayed normally. I keep the other user account to store just MP3 itunes.
Click to expand...
If iTunes of "dummy" user is fine, then it must be one of your preferences or scripts causing this. Disk permissions, deleting and reinstalling of iTunes was almost certainly a waste of time. Trash your iTunes preferences and if there are scripts that run automatically when you start iTunes, deactivate them. BTW, I am assuming this issue is only with iTunes and nothing else in your "regular" user account.
 
I have exactly the same problem! So greenjeens, you're not alone!

Wondering what to do as well...
 
Hajaman said:
I have exactly the same problem! So greenjeens, you're not alone!

Wondering what to do as well...
Click to expand...

That's good to know. I've been going through and throwing out itunes .plist items. No change.

Messing with the monitor has made the backgound display items bearable. Was just noticing the background highlight for the day, in iCal was very faint. Luckily, the day shows up elsewhere, or it would be very difficult to see.

I'm not surprised at ANY strange behavoirs, I'm just thankful they are so benign, considering the piles of third party software, displayed by a dock completely full of icons.
must... stay... away... from versiontracker...arg!

-Dave
 
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