Tip #3174 - iTunes Skips
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Q:
Every once in awhile, my iTunes music skips. It's fine when I'm listening
to the music on my iPod, but if I'm just using my computer, it all skips.
What's going on?
A:
Well, first of all, that's an excellent question. Many of us have turned
to the iTunes way of listening to music, when before, we may have used
Windows Media Player or Winamp. Switching over to iTunes makes perfect
sense too. It holds a lot of music files, it's easy to use and if you
have an iPod, you can transfer you music in a matter of seconds.
Okay, so we have established
that iTunes is a great musical discovery, but it leaves much to be desired
when it starts to skip. Nobody likes to listen to their music with a bunch
of stutters in between, am I right?! So, let's look at some reasons why
iTunes might be doing this to you.
First of all, you'll
want to check and see how much RAM you have on your computer. Depending
on how many songs you have in your iTunes library, it is a very memory
hungry program. If you don't have enough RAM to support all you're doing
on your computer at the time, it's going to start skipping and you won't
be able to fully enjoy your music. Now, if you close out every other application
you're using along with your iTunes, it might work properly. You can use
the task manager to shut down other programs to see if that stops the
skipping, but that's not really too convenient for anyone.
When we're listening
to our music, we're usually doing something else as well, like playing
a game or working on a document. If you're doing something away from your
computer and just want the music to keep you company, then this suggestion
makes sense, but otherwise, it may not work for you. You may just have
to break down and have some more RAM installed on your PC. But, before
you do that, let's look at one other option you might be able to take
advantage of.
A lot of times, the
skipping problem lies within the QuickTime program that you need to have
in order for iTunes to work. There are a couple settings you can change
in QuickTime to combat the stuttering issue. To do this, make sure your
iTunes is shut down and go to Start, Control
Panel. Once in there, double click on the QuickTime
icon. (You must be in the classic
Control Panel view for this to work).
Once in there, use
the drop down menu at the very top of the dialogue box and choose Sound
Out. This will allow you to work within the sound output elements
of your QuickTime.
Now, under the choice
that says "Choose a device for playback," use
the drop down menu and select "waveOut." You
can then just close the QuickTime window. You don't need to press OK or
anything, just completely close it out.
Next, restart your
iTunes and your skipping problem should be resolved. You can start listening
to your music again, while doing your other work as well, without any
further problems. Like I said before, you should try this little suggestion
before you go out and get more RAM, but if the problem persists, that
may be just what you'll have to do. Either way, it's worth it for your
music, right?!
~ Erin
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