This happened to me when I tried to upgrade to 9.2. You need to uninstall every single piece of software Apple has on your computer and install a fresh installation of iTunes.

This is why I don't upgrade iTunes until I ABSOLUTELY have to (for instance, 9.2 that was required for iOS4).

Join the club! I'm getting pretty annoyed with iTunes too. When I purchase an album from the iTunes store, iTunes has to "process" each song after downloading it. This "processing" takes up to 3-4 minutes per song (!!!) and it uses 99% of my CPU power. So downloading an album containing 10 songs takes about 30-40 minutes and I can't do anything else because iTunes is eating up my CPU.

Apparently this is a pretty common problem that's been around for quite some time but Apple doesn't seem to do anything about it. I've read that this "processing" only happens when downloading 256kbps songs. The "processing" is actually iTunes converting the songs to 128kbps for iPod compatibilty. How stupid is that?

Hmm I gave up on ITunes about 5 years ago after it renamed thousands of my carefully named files without asking me - looks like I haven't missed much.

@Oren,

You might want to look for a guide that explains how to obliterate EVERYTHING Apple from your specific OS, do that, restart and try again. Otherwise, I can't help you there.

I wouldn't try their support, though. Apart from calling me Robert, they haven't said anything worth noting.

Ahhh the joys of....

Ahhh the pains of Apple products.

Same as Andrew, haven't touched ITunes since i got rid of my iPood.

iTunes "needs" QuickTime like Windows "needed" Internet Explorer.

It's utter bollocks.

@Kristof

It was my understanding that the "Processing" was actually the point where it encodes your personal details in the file so that you can be caught if you share your files:

gizmodo.com/.../yep-itunes-embeds-your-email-ad...

Better hope your iPod doesn't get stolen by someone who likes to share music tracks.

@JKP: So iTunes needs 3-4 minutes to encode my personal details in a song? That's even more ridiculous :)

Never had this problem myself fortunately, but crap cleaner has done wonders for me before

1. Uninstall as described by apple: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1923

2. Run Crap Cleaner http://www.mrbass.org/freeware/crapcleaner/. Optionally do a couple searches in registry to ensure everything is gone.

3. Lit magic iCandles and do your weekly blood sacrifice to Steve.

4. Reinstall

Looks like a Windows installer issue. Never had a problem on OS X.

I just patently refuse to install quicktime. There is no reason I would ever install that crapware product. In the 0.01% chance I need to view a quicktime video I have quicktime alternative installed with VLC.

Steve (implicit) says: Buy a Mac and your troubles are over.. ;-)

Ha! I was just reading Hamlet this weekend. "X thy name is Y!"

JKP is talking out of his ass. Kristof was right in the first place, but just needs to open the iTunes preferences and turn off recompression for iPods. That and maybe buy a computer from this millennium. :)

Dumped iTunes for good about 2 weeks ago. Should have done it 2 years ago!

@Jeremy: Thanks man, I will try that when I get home this evening!

I've been saying that for YEARS. I manage a mixed Mac/Windows IT infrastructure for a small business. We encounter issues on both platforms just as frequently. The difference is: on a Windows machine, you can fix it if you dig deep enough. On a Mac, if at first it doesn't work, all you can do is try-try again... which gets you nowhere...

@Jeremy: I can't find that option anywhere :(

Noone likes iTunes. Not even fanboys. It's not Cocoa after all.