Filed under: Internet Tools, iTunes
LimeWire reportedly unhappy with iTunes 7.1
A TUAW tipster who prefers to remain anonymous sent us a quick warning about a possible bad interaction between iTunes 7.1 and the P2P sharing app LimeWire:"I work at [an Apple service provider]. Today we saw [multiple] iTunes libraries completely corrupted; looks like the culprit was Limewire not playing well with the newest version of iTunes.
All had just updated to the new version of iTunes and all had Limewire set to automatically update their iTunes library with new songs. One [library] was not salvageable, though the other two were (after much pain and suffering)."
Get a WordPress.com Blog
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Pedro said 9:51AM on 3-14-2007
Maybe - just maybe its because of that little sticker on the front of the ipod that said - dont steal music.
Reply
Dave Chartier said 9:58AM on 3-14-2007
#1: Zing! Well said.
Reply
Mike said 10:42AM on 3-14-2007
I haven't encountered this problem, but recent versions of Limewire for Macs are causing a big headache here at the college I work at. Seems the new version(s) is/are sending out orphaned fin packets over port 0 to IPs both on and off campus. While we can't ban P2P apps outright, we've revoked the offending users' network access until they bring their Macs in and remove Limewire. I've also heard reports that Ares Galaxy (on Windows) is exhibiting the same behavior, but I haven't confirmed that.
Reply
Ryan said 3:03PM on 3-14-2007
Wow, I'm suprised anybody is using LimeWire on the Mac. I tried it once several years ago and found it quite unusable. OTOH, Acqlite, which is based on LimeWire code is great.
Reply
Dimebag said 10:38AM on 3-14-2007
Just curious, is it wrong to download songs from Limewire if I own the cassette or vinyl? Do I own the song or just that particular version of the song/album. I don't think I've seen this addressed before…Imean I guess I could always digitize them myself, but man that's gonna take a while!
Reply
Zadl said 10:40AM on 3-14-2007
I also work for an Apple Service Provider, and am an ex Mac Genius. Limewire causes all sorts of trouble anyway, usually severe directory corruption that results in a non-bootable system. Usually only DiskWarrior is needed to fix the issues, but sometimes files get so corrupted as to be unusable.
Bit Torrent does the same kind of damage over time, usually pretty severe.
Steal at your own risk, and remember I charge $100 an hour to fix your broken stuff. It can sometimes be more expensive to fix the problem than it would have been if you'd just bought the music or movie in the first place.
Reply
ars_workerbee said 10:42AM on 3-14-2007
LimeWire has always been and will always be a poorly written application that does much more harm than good to its users.
I can't tell you the number of time I've seen corrupted iTunes libraries, corrupted iPods, all sorts of nastiness, all from our little yellow-and-green friend.
If you really wany p2p software, there are plenty of other choices, and choices that didn't think that it was a good idea to bundle spyware with their application[1].
[1] Yes, LimeWire used to come bundled with spyware (under Windows). They don't anymore, but that just goes to show what kind of people run that show.
Reply
Tracy said 10:46AM on 3-14-2007
I noticed that the two threads linked to were both XP users.
Is this only a problem on XP or does it affect OS X users also?
Reply
Zachary Hinchliffe said 10:49AM on 3-14-2007
LimeWire. Pfffffft.
Acquisition = where it's at
Reply
Michael Rose said 11:02AM on 3-14-2007
The initial tip was on Mac users.
Reply
Rich said 11:04AM on 3-14-2007
Ahhh...this news does the heart good...
Reply
Mark S said 11:23AM on 3-14-2007
And this, folks, is why you shouldn't steal music.
Reply
robere said 11:25AM on 3-14-2007
Is it OK to start celebrating ....?
Reply
Mikey Vuitton said 11:57AM on 3-14-2007
That happened to me a while ago. My little brother installed Limewire on my 24" iMac and when i went to use it all my songs were gone. I had to reinstall itunes and redownload most of my music.
Reply
James said 12:04PM on 3-14-2007
@4
While I will agree about the junkware that is limewire, would like to call you out on the whole bittorrent thing. I can say, with absolute certainty, and with hours and hours of experience, there is not a damn thing wrong with bittorrents. You might, on a Windows system, occasionally dl a rogue application laced with a virus, but the transport system it self is mostly harmless. Yes, under certain situations, running a BT client can open you up to various port related attacks, but that is far and few between. Most of the intelligent people out there only download from members-only sites (no not pay for access, but invitation only situations) where you must keep a ratio.
And also granted there are some nefarious BT clients out there, but most of them are banned on BT sites, and the ones with any level of intelligence in the matter use one of the 5 big clients, which don't have a single line of nefarious code.
So before you go bashing BT as a whole (which, unlike Limewire, does have legit uses) do some research.
Reply
Damien said 12:07PM on 3-14-2007
I stopped using LimeWire a few years ago because it was reeking havoc. I was finding more & more corrupted files that had come from LimeWire. One day, I stopped using it all together, and my system problems stopped as well.
Reply
Anon said 12:35PM on 3-14-2007
This appears to have happened to me :( is there anything I can do?
If any one can help me I will repent my sins and never download music again.
Reply
Greg said 1:14PM on 3-14-2007
Those that use Limewire should burn in eternal hellfire.
Not for downloading music, but for using such an atrocious program.
Reply
Zadl said 1:36PM on 3-14-2007
James - Regarding Bit Torrent: As I said above, I work for an ASP, and I was a Mac Genius for Apple for several years. This is my profession, my job. I have over a decade of experience repairing or supporting Macs for 40 hours a week or more. I am an expert.
That said, yes Bit Torrent can cause directory corruption and file loss. It's not as prevalent as LimeWire, but when it happens, it usually happens to frequent users and it's usually pretty devastating to the system. I finished repairing / restoring data to a stricken Mac just last week, and it cost a couple of hundred dollars to set right. I make a fair chunk of my earnings in this way, so please trust me. I'm not trying to BS you.
That said, all you need to do to prevent issues from cropping up is run Disk Warrior from time to time. Problem solved. And no, I don't work for Alsoft.
Reply
Matt Grover said 1:45PM on 3-14-2007
I've had ZERO limewire probs over the past year or so of using it (if not slightly longer)
Yet i've only successfully downloaded 1 thing from bittorrent, not sure what all the fuss is about.
Apart from that, thanks for the HU on the potential prob with iTunes :)
Reply