Why does iTunes 7 for Windows suck?

[thefiddler]

I love the changes/enhancements that were made for iTunes 7, but I can't figure out why it has such a hard time playing back music in comparison to iTunes 6? I used to be able to play music while surfing the web and doing a dozen things at once and the music would play back consistently and smoothly. Now, with iTunes 7 (and I just got the very latest version today in hopes of solving this problem, but no such luck) I open one instance or IE 7 or some little thing and the music starts getting choppy and stuff. What the heck is wrong with Apple? Why would you make an upgrade that does a worse job of it's most basic function?

[caernavon]

Sounds like your connection or your system. I have iTunes 7 here at work, and it's streaming smoothly right now with 12 windows open on my deadktop.

[lordsmurf]

iTunes is a greedy beast when it comes to the PC verson. I thought iTunes 6 was crap too. Everything played back really choppy, especially the craptastic Apple H264 iTunes Videos. It's not my system, it's iTunes software and their DRM-raped formats.

[thefiddler]

Its not my system. For a couple reasons 1) worked fine with previous versions (previous to 7.0) 2) it's a pretty good machine even in spite of being a year old now. 3) I've got an Audigy 2 soundcard to do lots of the work, I just don't think iTunes uses it well.

[mats.hogberg]

Well, I'm still on v 4.9.0.17 - I see no reason for me to upgrade, and my downloads can still be desinfected with jHymn. Only annoyance is the upgrade reminder popup that keeps showing up even if I've told it not to countless of times.

/Mats

[ethersurfer]

Hello All...
From time to time I have shrunk and converted movies I bought on DVD and loaded them up on the ipod for my kids to watch on road trips. I just dropped the converted files into itunes (upto ver 6...) and all was fine. Since the software updated to ver 7 i tried it and it will not upload to the ipod and not even appear in itunes.
These are DVD's I bought in a store so there shouldnt be a DR problem...Should there? Can anyone help?
Thanks

[Guiboche]

iTunes 7 is VERY picky as to what it lets imported. If it hasn't been converted with QuickTime7 or itself, it doesn't allow it to be import (even if the iPod is fully capable of playing it).

I believe this would be with older versions as well. So if you converted with iTunes 6 or QT6 iTunes would force unrecongnition.

It sucks, but it's the truth....

[thefiddler]

NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL IRONIC!

I just downloaded Windows Media Player 11, and it runs way better than both its own previous version, and iTunes 7. It's quick, responsive, and fixes many of the little annoyances of previous versions. Not to mention it looks sweet! If only I didn't love my iPod so much....

ethersurfer, there should be converters coming out for XP soon that will allow you to convert your movies into the new higher-res ipod format. Nero Recode, and SUPER should have this ability soon. Both can convert your movies into synchable videos currently, but only in the old, lower-res format (which is what iTunes was converting it into for you before).

EDIT: Here's an option for going back to a previous version: http://www.oldapps.com/itunes.htm
I'm seriously considering going back to version 6. I'm also not alone in my views:
http://news.com.com/2300-1041_3-6124962-5.html?tag=ne.gall.pg
http://news.com.com/2061-10793_3-6115882.html