Really Bad Playback Issue w/iTunes

I really hope there's someone who can help with this issue! Sorry for the long post but
I wanted to cover as many possible questions right away.
While working on photoshop files or switching between apps or windows, opening
finder windows, basically doing anything outside of itunes seems to cause itunes
to cut out briefly or completely stop OR the audio stops but the song keeps
playing. Other times a song will stop and then only a loud HISS comes from the
speakers.
I have unplugged the 3rd party speakers and played just through the small
speaker in the G5 and the issues remain.
I've done a fairly thorough search for this issue and have found a few postings
(http://tinyurl.com/yajdg6z) (<--windows version) about it but no answers offered except for one that
suggested:
"right click on the song and go to 'Convert ID3 Tags...'then from the drop down
menu pick one, mine works with v1.1
after that the song should start working again."
I converted my entire library to 1.0 and the problem remained. _I do not_ recommend anyone
do this as itunes will duplicate your entire library!
*This is a brand new (month or so) install of 10.5.8 on a 300GB drive w/tons of*
*space in a Dual 2.0 G5 w/8GB's or RAM. itunes 9.0.3 (15)*
This issue was there w/10.4.11 using the OEM boot drive and I'm still having
this issue even having done a new installation on a NEW, bigger freakin drive.
The itunes library resides on an external 500GB firewire drive with 39 GB of
space available, so no airtunes or network to contend with.
I've also deleted my entire song list twice. Once re-importing the original
files and finding the issue remained, then deleted again and imported the backup
of the songs from my backup drive in case the 1st drive the originals reside on
was having issues. I guess it isn't!
When working w/Photoshop, the maximum amount of RAM being used by all processes
is a little over 4GB. Since I have 8GB (that's the max amount of RAM this
machine can hold) AND a completely empty 160GB internal drive for Photoshop
scratch disk space, I should be well within tolerances, but I could be wrong for
unknown reasons. I have allotted CS3 it's maximum amount of RAM which is
3072MB.
I have MenuMeters in the toolbar which gives me a constant readout of processor
and RAM usage, so I'll see it if there is a spike or maxing out of the
processor at any given time. I usually never see that unless I am applying an
effect that requires that much, but the iTunes issue comes when just using a
very small healing brush and I'm cleaning up a scan.
BUT, and this is a big "but", the problem is not isolated to just when I'm using
CS3. CS3 might be running and doing nothing, and I'll be switching windows or
to a different app or just advancing to the next song in iTunes itself and bad
things will happen.
With iTunes being the only app running the problemwas minimized. I tried
opening a lot of finder windows with coverflow andscrolling and the problem
wasn't too bad, occurring ONLY when I did a title change of
a song in iTunes. As soon as Safari was opened and I had multiple windows open,
the problem was back with no CS3 running. Basically if I run any app with itunes,
itunes has problems.
I had left itunes running with some Safari windows open to some CNN pages and wasn't
even at the keyboard and heard itunes cutting in and out.
I do all the necessary utilities (DiskUtility, Disk Warrior, iDefrag, Applejack, and CleanMyMac)
to keep everything up and running so why is this going on? I have also uninstalled Perian just
+in case+ that might help. It didn't.
This is driving me nuts!
Help!
Eric

Yep, unfortunately.
I have 2 500GB FW drives that are clones of each other.
One drive I work from and the other is the backup.
I have deleted the library from itunes and loaded the +clone drives+ copies of the music instead, in case working on images while playing music from the same drive was causing the issue.
Also I switched FW ports the drives are plugged into; switching from the PCI FW card they were plugged into, to the built-in FW port on the G5.
Worst case I will just play music through the wired network on my G4 and plug in the good speakers into the headphone/speaker jack on the G4. I've tested this out using +itunes 6+ which is what is on my G4. I'll update itunes on the G4 eventually if no other suggestions come in. I may try downgrading to itunes 8.2 on the G5 unless I hear otherwise.
You're right this shouldn't happen but seems to be specific to this particular machine as a previous G5 that died on me had no problems. I bought this one used so I can't speak to it's previous history, but it demoed just fine w/final cut and HD movies that were being edited by the previous owner.
I've had this issue since getting this G5. It occurred using the boot drive from my original G5, the boot drive that came with this G5, and the present brand new 300GB boot drive that I'm gonna stay with.
Things that have come to mind as possible culprits have been bad memory and the application switcher if that's still used in Leopard.
Eric

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Message was edited by: burakkuchi - Added problem 6.

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Bump! Sounds the same as my problem, but maybe no one but us are having the issue since no one will answer any of my posts

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http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/:
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Having issues with music playback on iPhone. Red circles now appear. Cannot playback any non-iTunes downloaded material on iPhone.

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You have posted your issue in Using Apple Support Communities whose topic is 'How to use this forum software's interface, features and/or how to find what you wish'. It is a relatively low traffic and inappropriate forum for your problem. I will ask our Hosts to move it to Using IiPhone where it may get a more rapid response from your fellow users.
ÇÇÇ

Really Bad Playback Issue w/iTunes

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