Apple just dropped iTunes 7.5...

7.5 right? If that's what you meant I can fix the typo in your subject for you.

I'm going to do a back up and then install.

So is this going to take care of the battery bug for the 6th gen's?

So far so good with 7.5 and the 160GB classic. NO freezing--I can actually make playlists now! A few very minor slowdowns, mostly when dealing with video but nothing even close to the pain we've been living with for a month. Bravo. Now one more good firmware update and we should be in business.

Anybody have any thoughts on the new game yet? I'm curious to see how it turns out.

Wow! Looks as if iTunes is very usable now!!! Oh Yea!!!

Agree how quick it is now, done adding a new cd in less than a minute instead of 5!

I don't think this new game is released yet.

I don't see any new game either.

I think that he meant "new toy" ?

So far iTunes is running well and when my classic is connected response time is decent. Not super, but decent. I find iTunes much more usable now.

So the ultimate question is there lag/freezing when syncing with a nearly full 80GB classic/160gb classic?

The other question is - if we pay $5 for the new game, downlaod it and play it, will it then screw up playcounts etc as other games do on the classic??

Yep, the continual minute-long freezes have gone. There are now 3-4 second freezes at the same point but it's much more usable. A couple more tweaks should eradicate the problem completely.

I'd say that the Classic was now a viable product.

That almost makes me want to tick 'yes' to their little message I usually click 'no' to for about 2 - 3 weeks until everyone has been the little guinea pigs in the latest iTunes experiment. :D

Join the experiment Mel! It's just not a party without you ;) :p

Thank you Jesus... I can actually add a new album to my ipod without waiting 5 minutes.

I'm glad to see everyone else is happy with the update. It's been nothing but trouble for me so far.

After installing 7.5 last night, I plugged in my old Video 60 for a routine sync - one that would have taken a couple minutes with 7.4. iTunes froze up more completely than I've ever seen it do. (It would respond to the occasional mouse movement or click, but those responses were few and far between.) And it did not indicate that it was actually doing anything. After about 20 minutes, I unplugged the iPod and re-booted the computer.

I tried again and it did the same thing. (I used Task Manager to close iTunes after about 10 minutes this time.) Then I thought maybe it's actually doing something, so I decided to plug the 60 in again and leave it alone. At somewhere around 20-30 minutes, it sprang to life, did its quick sync, and it was finished. I'm hopin gthe lang delay was a one time thing.

So expecting something weird like that, I plugged in my Classic 160 and waited. It froze for a long time and took somewhere around 20 minutes to sync - something that would have taken about 5 minutes with all the freezing in 7.4.

When I plugged in my 160 this morning, it told me I need to set up my new iPod. I clicked ok (the only option), and it gave me an error -48 and said the iPod couldn't be synced. In the background, while it's displaying this message, I could see that it was syncing, displaying all the files as they sync. It popped up that error about 5 more times over the next few minutes, until it finished. It updated the files I wanted it to, but it did not sync play counts for anything played today, and it deleted about 20 GB of TV shows and other videos. I'm in the process of putting those videos back on right now, and iTunes is very unresponsive, but it is syncing.

So far for me, the freezing is worse than ever. I hope after the current sync, it will stabilize, but it's been the worst update ever so far. I hope I'm the only one...

People have noted that on initial connection there is installation of some drivers for the newer iPods, it might explain the first lag, but I haven't heard anyone else report this yet. What kind of internet connection do you have?

People have noted that on initial connection there is installation of some drivers for the newer iPods, it might explain the first lag, but I haven't heard anyone else report this yet. What kind of internet connection do you have?
The computer didn't say it was installing new drivers, although it may have been doing just that. My Internet connection is Comcast high speed cable, so I'm sure that's not an issue.

The weird part is that the first sync (last night) was fine, other than the very long delay. It's today that iTunes keeps telling me to set up my iPod. When I click on "Done" (it's either that or cancel and don't connect), it immediately deletes all the TV show episodes I've already watched (because it reset the preference to only sync unwatched ones). And it keeps giving me that error -48 and saying it can't sync (while it is syncing).

I got all my videos restored a couple hours ago. I just plugged in the iPod to see what would happen. It should have just updated a couple play counts, but instead, it went through the whole setup - error - delete watched TV shows cycle. I'm currently restoring the 94 TV shows it just deleted. It's almost 20 GB and takes the better part of an hour to restore. I can't go through this every time. Why can't iTunes recognize my iPod and it's preferences any more? Especially when it was fine last night (the first time I synced with the new version).

It's at times like these that I have to remind myself that the iPod is the coolest invention in the history of mankind, and that it's worth the trouble...

Where is this option? I've been searching since I read this last night, and I find no such option.
That option is under Prefernces / Syncing.

That option is under Prefernces / Syncing.
Thank you. I don't know why I kept skipping that tab. I guess I figured it was just for the iPhone.

As noted in the iLounge feature, iTunes now supports Events (from iPhoto 08) syncing.
That's nice - however - I think it would be much more useful if the iPod would support tags (as available in Adobe and many other imaging programs...)

Wow iTunes is much faster than its been in the past..even with the 5th gen.

I'm still gonna wait a few weeks till I update. Last time I updated (from iTunes 6 to 7) the bug where youre whole libarary is deleted randomly appeared and I wasnt happy. It hasnt happened lately tho.

so is the classic's buggy problems over?
The only thing fixed is the freezing with iTunes problems - every other bug is intact.

Apple doesn't always update their AAC encoder with newer releases of iTunes/QuickTime. A bunch of the updates are simple patch jobs to fix any bugs. There appears to be a newer version of the AAC encoder though as you can rip a song with iTunes 7.3 and it will have a different file size than iTunes 7.5. I don't know if the quality improved but the encoder has been updated. The encoder updates actually come from QuickTime updates as iTunes is nothing more than a graphical front-end for QuickTime. iTunes uses QuickTime for everything from playing videos, audio, encoding videos, encoding audio, etc. There is normally a new AAC encoder anytime Apple updates QuickTime to a whole new version (like the transition from QuickTime 6 to QuickTime 7). The smaller updates are hard to tell and you have to encode a file with the older version and newer version to see if it has any affect.

The corrupt preferences files strike again. Interesting find.

Good Job.

The corrupt preferences files strike again. Interesting find.But not the silver bullet I was hoping for, at least not in my case. Picked up a brand new 160GB Classic over the weekend and experienced the same "Register your iPod" endless loop. I'd register the iPod, set all my sync preferences, let it sync, eject the iPod, then when I'd connect to re-sync later I'd be prompted to register all over again. After about 5 registrations (apparently successful) I gave up and selected "Never Register", but registered manually through Apple:

https://register.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/GlobaliReg.woa (https://register.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/GlobaliReg.woa)

So far so good, seems to sync just fine and no more registration prompts.