Safe to Uninstall and Reinstall iTunes?

[o'glory]

Hey guys! Well I've been having this recurring problem with iTunes ever since I downloaded it to my Mac (years ago!).. The Cover Flow option refuses to work with me, as rather than showing cover art for each album, it shows it for each song. This causes several duplicates showing up for each album, while browsing on Cover Flow only!

I've gone through my Music - iTunes folder multiple times, cleaning through duplicates items and so on. I don't know if iTunes Libraries stored on my Mac is causing this (iTunes Database File).

The only solution I can think of is starting all over with iTunes. I'm thinking of uninstalling iTunes, and then reinstalling iTunes again. Hopefully this will get rid of the bug that I can't find myself.. The only problem is: will this have harmful side-effects such as erasing my iTunes library and not installing properly? I've looked this up, and found one result: Yes, it's safe.

I would like a little more ensurance. Thanks for reading!

Edit: I've uploaded this screenshot of my iTunes Library. There are 48 albums on it, but on Cover Flow... it shows so many more. Hopefully this will clear up some of your concerns.

 

[roadbloc]

Just drag the iTunes app to the trash (and enter your password I think). Then download iTunes off the Apple website and run the installer. Your library will be untouched and as long as you deselect the 'add everything in your home folder to the library' tick box when iTunes first starts, your library will be exactly how you left it.

Hopefully, it should also fix your problem.

 

[o'glory]

Just drag the iTunes app to the trash (and enter your password I think). Then download iTunes off the Apple website and run the installer. Your library will be untouched and as long as you deselect the 'add everything in your home folder to the library' tick box when iTunes first starts, your library will be exactly how you left it.

Hopefully, it should also fix your problem.

Ok I think that will work, I don't want to completely remove iTunes off of my computer anyways. As for the 'Add Everything in your Home Folder to the Library' option, do I tick that when I reinstall iTunes, or before I delete it?

One last thing, I have all of my music in my iTunes Music folder, when I delete iTunes... would this folder be gone?

Edit: I successfully deleted iTunes (just dragged it to the Trash Can, I didn't empty it until after I reinstalled it), and downloaded it back. Unfortunately... nothing has changed. Everything is the same. I guess this is a problem I will have to deal with as long as I have this computer.

 

[roadbloc]

Empty your trash and restart your mac between uninstalling and reinstalling iTunes. Dont worry, your library will remain the same.

If that doesnt work, it's looking like a problem with your library files. In which case, I will reply with a possible solution if that is the case.

 

[Nermal]

Apple's official uninstallation instructions go into more detail, but unfortunately the support site is down for maintenance at the moment.

 

[old-wiz]

One thing to remember is that if you are running, for example, iTunes 10.1 and you want to uninstall and then install iTunes 9.x, you might be able to install it, but the iTunes data file might not work. If you try to down install software the data files might not work with earlier versions. When you go from, for example, iPhoto 8 to iPhoto 9, the first thing it does is update the library, and after that you can only access the library from iPhoto 9 or greater.

 

[o'glory]

Ok thank you for the suggestions. I followed the tutorial on the Apple Support site to remove iTunes from my computer (Disk Utility, dragging to trash, restarting computer, etc), and I re-downloaded iTunes. Once I opened iTunes, it gave me the first-install options and gave me the welcome video as well. So I know the install went successfully, as well as removing it from my computer in the first place.

I guess this can only mean that there is a problem with my iTunes library. I don't know what else to do! I even followed the instructions for resetting your iTunes Library (dragging .xml file to Desktop, deleting iTunes Library file, etc). Any suggestions?