Dell....iTunes.......iPhone music issue!

Hi Mike,

Yup, that's a good one all right!

So let me understand the problem a bit further. You're saying that music files added to the phone from the Dell desktop have the "20-second glitch". Does the "20-second glitch" occur on the phone or on the desktop or both? What format at the files themselves (AAC, MP3, AIFF, etc.)? Have you tried a different player on the desktop?

I have an iPhone 5 (iOS 8.1) and a Studio XPS 8100 running Win 7-64. All of my music is ripped to MP3 or WMA from CDs or downloaded as MP3s from Amazon. I do not have any files purchased from the iTunes store.

By the way, yours is really not a desktop hardware question, but I'm too intrigued to forward the thread to the software forums.

I have a feeling that it has something to do with Dell's proprietary pre-installed software(Dell Update, One Drive, etc.)

I don't use Apple products, but this pre-installed software, has caused me nothing but grief since I got this machine. It's my first Dell, and I can't wait for the warranty period to be up, so I can uninstall it all!

Hardware wise, it's a fantastic computer for the money, BTW, it's a Inspiron 3000 small desktop(3647)

This maybe the common denominator to your problem with only Dell computers!

Hi CharlyM,

Thanks for posting. I can certainly understand your frustration. I can assure you that your warranty is not affected by any software configuration you choose. You are welcome to install and uninstall anything, up to and including a complete reinstallation of the operating system, with no impact on the warranty.

Whether this is the cause of the OP's issue, however, is doubtful.

First of all, sorry for the crazy formatting of my question. I did it on my ipad and all looked fine until I hit post?

So let me do a correction......I was working from memory. The actual time of the "skip" is 42 seconds. So the beginning of the song starts at 0 but it is actually the 42 second point in the song.....then it will play the "real" start of the song.....then continue with the rest of the song. This is the same for EVERY song put on the phone from either Dell.

The files on the kitchen computer (all mp3) play fine in iTunes and any other player I have. The exact mp3's play fine on my iPhone 6 and iPad 2 but are synced from a different non-Dell computer.

Today I looked at what is loading at startup on both computers, amazingly nothing is the same except for the 2 iTunes startup items????? I did not look at services but could compare if you think it would be helpful.

Sorry for the hardware post. I was (and still am) confused about hardware or software causing the issue.

Looking forward to any suggestions.

Mike

"Whether this is the cause of the OP's issue, however, is doubtful."

But not impossible? It should be interesting to see if this problem is ever resolved!

Thanks for the info regarding the Warranty!

It will be easier to resolve the problem once I understand it. That's half the battle on this forum.

If I may...

What version of Windows and iTunes are on the Inspiron, the new XPS and on the non-Dell PC...?

I thought this question was directed to me

Dell Inspiron: Win 7 home premium SP1 64 bit iTunes 12.1.1.4
Dell XPS: Win 7 professional SP1 64 bit iTunes 12.1.1.4
Work computer worked fine: Win XP SP3? 32 bit iTunes 12.1.1.4
My non-Dell computer that works just fine: Win 7 professional SP1 64 bit iTunes 12.1.1.4

Just an idea to try... Open iTunes, Edit > Preferences > Playback > see if Crossfade Songs, Sound Enhancer and Soundcheck are checked. If they are, try UNchecking them. One other thing you might try. Copy the iTunes database located in the Music folder from your system at work that functions correctly, to the Dell system with the issue.

rreddon....... I looked & nothing is checked.

Not sure what the database would do as it would seem that it would still force me to put the songs on at work. I did a sync to the kitchen computer when I got home and songs still work correctly. Would the databases now be the same? Am I missing something?

Actually at work I had to use a third party program to put the songs on because iTunes wanted to wipe her library if I did it in iTunes. Which from experience I know would have wiped all of her custom ringtones and those were a nightmare to get on there to begin with! I really despise Apple to begin with. The third party program required that you have iTunes installed and I seen it "updating" the library, not sure if it was on the phone or the iTunes though?

FYI I tried the third party program on the Dell with the same bad result :(

Any thoughts?

Mike

Actually at work I had to use a third party program to put the songs on...

osprey4

I mentioned the 3rd party program to give detail about not using iTunes at work to over write the library or the database. I can't remember which one until I go to work tomorrow. I feel like we are getting a little off topic.

My wife and I and my two children all have iPhone 6's. We all use iTunes on four different computers. Only my wife's computer and her kitchen computer are Dells. The 3 of us "non-Dell" users have no issues putting music (mp3's rip from CD's....some recorded off vinyl etc.) and the same mp3's play fine for us regardless of. the source.

The very same exact files, regardless of the source, put on (both attempting "sync" or "manually manage music") in iTunes with the Dell computers have the "42 second" issue. In fact any attempt to put those very same exact files on her phone with a Dell computer using iTunes or a third party program produces the "42 second" issue.

I was just stating that I was successful at putting songs on her phone at work with a non-Dell computer to demonstrate that it has nothing to do with her phone. Did not intend to complicate the issue with 3rd party software. Just was a fact that it worked on a non-Dell computer but not on either Dell computer.

What truly amazes me is that apparently no one in this whole world has experienced this issue except me?????? I thought maybe someone here had found a solution? Hardware (USB etc.) or software (a driver or software installed on Dells that messes with the transfer of songs)?

I will go as deep as anyone wishes to solve this but.......I think we need to establish that there is nothing wrong with the phone, iTunes or the music as it is ONLY on Dell computers that the "42 second" issue rears it's ugly head.

Thanks

Mike

Truncated audio files is apparently a fairly common problem with iTunes with varying solutions. If the truncated music was purchased from iTunes, I've read one solution is to delete the affected songs and redownload them from iTunes. Not having purchased many things from iTunes, I am assuming they allow re-downloads of already purchased items? Definitely verify that assumption, before deleting any audio files from your system.

One other possibility is a corrupt library and one solution is to back up the original library folder in iTunes, and then create a new library, by holding down the left-shift key while opening iTunes and have it create a new library then import all the audio files into the new library.