This article is taken from TechWeb - view original here.Apple iTunes 7 Draws Complaints By Antone Gonsalves, TechWeb Technology News Apple Computer believes it has a winner with the new iTunes 7, but many users dealing with poor sound quality, sluggish performance and other problems are giving thumbs down to the music and video playing software that also connects to Apple's online store. The stream of complaints that followed the Tuesday release continued Thursday with no official response coming from the computer maker. Problems listed on Apple discussion forums were posted by PC users, as well as Apple's Mac customers. 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 may be necessary. Apple officials were not immediately available for comment. "The difference between iTunes 6.0.5 and iTunes 7 is frighteningly bad considering the normal iTunes functions have been severely compromised," a user who identified himself as NYC Saint wrote. "After a day of frustration -- this thing is sooo slow ... This truly sucks," Kpod1 of New York said. On Thursday, Microsoft released details of Zune, a portable player and online store the software maker hopes will topple Apple's market-dominating iTunes and tightly integrated iPod player. At least one user jokingly made reference to Microsoft's would-be Apple killer. "Man i thought this was going to be a cool/simple update ... any one heard of the zune ---- !!!! lol (laugh out loud)," digitalmaddog01 of Florida said. The advice many users gave to avoid the problems was to wait for Apple to release patches for the software. "Unless it is absolutely necessary for you to upgrade to iTunes 7 right now, I would advise holding off until a correct version is released - these forums are full of members who have spent hours trying to work out fixes - just stick with 6.0.3," Jay said. (back to writing by me)So you can see... there's huge problems with the program. So for anyone who thought "You're an idiot because you have a PC..." Read between the lines. Type "Itunes 7 problems" into http://news.google.com and read for yourself how bad Apple dropped the ball. I just need to show this side of apple. Too many people buy their product and just assume that everything about it is perfect. No technology is perfect, and stop making fun of people with PC's."Hi All - Just to say this upgrade has really upset me, having watched the iTunes propaganda video from San Francisco where they revealed iTunes 7 I was all excited etc etc...My issue is with "AirTunes", it used to work perfectly and now with iTunes 7 songs play like a scratched record, randomly cutting out. This is a real issue, which I would love to see fixed asap!"--quote from a user with iMAC running Mac OS X (10.4.7)" I can't scroll anymore in Itunes I have scratchy sound when playing music when my pod is plugged into the computer and in itunes the backlight won't go off on the pod album art isn't even close to rightnew itunes interface is very confusing. It was so much easier to click and drag files to my pod. how do I downgrade itunes?this thing is a messJason"-- Imac G5 running Mac OS X (10.4.7)Other articles on this issue:http://blogs.zdnet.com/Apple/index.php?p=291http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/index.blog?entry_id=1560678