Brief: Apple Ships Fix For ITunes 7

Apple Computer on Thursday released fixes for iTunes 7, the latest version of the company's music- and video-playing software that hundreds of users reported as having performance problems and other issues.

In a brief note on the iTunes support page, Apple said version 7.0.1 "addresses stability and performance issues with cover flow, CD importing, iPod syncing and more." Cover flow refers to the ability of the software to show artwork record labels ship with songs.

These problems were among a stream of complaints on Apple discussion boards following the Sept. 12 release of iTunes 7. The product was released the same day Apple unveiled three iPod models and a movie download service accessible through the online store embedded in iTunes.

People who upgraded to iTunes 7, which Apple had crowed was the "most significant enhancement" since the software's 2001 debut, reported sound distortion, songs skipping, 3-second delays in playing tunes and lost tracks. In addition, some users reported they were unable to download songs from the iTunes store, and could only get audio during video playback.

While other factors, such as a person's computer system or other software, could be responsible in some cases, the hundreds of users posting complaints and responses to problems was an indication fixes would probably be necessary.