found_drama

CONCLUSION: Something about that version. Well, maybe it’s not a conclusion b/c I can’t say that I was 100% thorough or exhaustive in this troubleshooting process. Sometimes you just have to take things on faith, I guess…

Based on the fact that KetelOne and BloodyNinja could talk the talk to each other and share music … and based on the fact that I’d disabled my software firewall, anti-virus software, and half the system services known to man, the only route I could see left was with the version. So I uninstalled iTunes from Detonator-3 (much to my chagrin) and re-installed the most recent version from Apple.com/iTunes (after a reboot) and breathed a sigh of relief when it still recognized all my songs with all their metadata. However (comma) still no dice on the Library sharing. So I took a gamble on the iTunes installer app I had stored from a while back — totally unsure if (1) it was the 4.5 version I needed and (2) whether/not it would need to hot-D/L anything from an Apple server to run at all. Crossing my fingers, I re-installed the “old” version and … got … exactly … what … I … needed:

Finally, the musical lovin’ I deserve.

Let that be a lesson to you: Don’t fucking upgrade.

Let that be a lesson to Apple: Fucking up the Windows version isn’t going to sell more G5s.

They did it. Apple sold 100 million songs via the iTunes Music store. It’s neat to see all the songs that ppl d/l’d to help them win iPods. I have to say though… It’s nice to see that a song with a little class was the winning track. And does anyone else find it appropriately ironic that it was the Dangermouse remix?

Still more on this issue with iTunes… This time zero’ing in on — SURPRISE!! — not the network but something about that particular version iTunes (4.6.0.15).

Observed last night that not only can the iTunes library on Detonator-3 not get shared to the other clients, it can’t seem to connect to the iTunes Music Store. Found some similar gripes on the Apple discussion boards… There were mostly centered around the iTunes Music Store but the thread was the same:I cannot connect to…

So to rule out the network config once and for all, I disabled the Airport card on KetelOne and connected it strictly via the cat-5 into the Netgear router. Then I fired up BloodyNinja and connected via 802.11g. I figured IF ANY CONFIGURATION IS GOING TO BREAK OVER THE BRIDGED NETWORK, IT’S GOING TO BE THIS ONE!! Then low-and-forking-behold we can see each other!

So the network is out. 99.999% out.

Checking the iTunes (PC) versions on BloodyNinja vs. Detonator-3? 4.5.0.31 vs. 4.6.0.15 (respectively). Fitting with the pattern in the discussion boards mentioned above.

Current hypothesis: Something is fishy with this newest PC-version of iTunes. Or else it somehow doesn’t play nice with… what?

Now I’m on an uninstall/reinstall/patch/update/delete/disable/back-up/document/freak-out rampage trying to track down what app(s) and/or service(s) are causing the conflict and/or failure and/or … you get the picture. HOPING that I do not have to uninstall/reinstall iTunes itself b/c that’s almost 5,000 songs worth of meta-data that will be lost if it doesn’t read back the xml like I’m hypothesizing it won’t. And now for a snapshot of my brain:

Is it some terminal service fucking it up? A firewall I don’t know I have? Cygwin? Howl? Rendezvous for Windows? Is VNC running on the same port? Did the upgrade not go successfully? Does iTunes 4.6.0.15 for Windows not play nice with iTunes 4.6 (15) on the Mac? Am I all wrong about the network being ruled out? Will I need to reinstall? Can I get a back-copy of iTunes if I need to?