Very Strange and nasty iTunes (not iPod) Album Art Problem

Question

Hi,
I have the latest version of iTunes for Windows and I have never noticed this before on a previous version, but when I try to add album art to most (over 90%) of songs, the addition won't stay if I select another song.
Even worse, if I try to add art while the song is playing, not only will the addition dissappear, the song corrupts in the process. It's as if the jpeg file is inserted into the audio data itself, as the song will grow by a number of seconds (the growth consists of skips and repeats.)
I'm using iTunes with Windows Media Center. I have iTunes maintain my music folder, while Media Player / MCE monitors nothing. I also have a Media Center Extender setup (an Xbox360) that accesses my music as well (through the media player / MCE database.)
None of my music files are tagged as read-only. I have a suspicion that the cause of the problem may be along similar lines (file permissions, access, etc.) but nothing I've
tried works (including resetting all file permissions.)
In addition, none of the iTunes Art Importers work. In using the most popular one (iTunes Art Importer,) the program crashes to a .NET/CLR debugger when I try to import art. Looking at the stack trace, it appears as if the error concerns DLL access.
Any help on this issue would be greatly appreciated, as this is a pretty horrible bug (as it has ruined several songs.)
Thanks,
Mark Roboff
Dell w/ Windows MCE 2005 Rollup 2     Connected to xbox 360 Media Center Extender

Answer 1

Use the SHIFT-Launch iTunes method to get iTunes waiting for a library. Stick the iPod in disk mode and connect to the computer. Browse *My Computer* and right-click on the drive for the iPod, click Properties, then click Tools. Under Error-checking, click *Check Now*. Under Check disk options, select *Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors* (Optional - takes ages but a good idea if you've reason to suspect physical damage). Click Start. Mac users should run *Disk Utility / Repair Disk* for the equivalent process. This should find and correct any errors in the logical & physical structures of your iPod's hard drive which may be causing the problem. When the process is complete disconnect the iPod and then reset it (hold Menu+Select ). Cancel the waiting iTunes dialog and then try to connect in the normal way.
If that still doesn't work you could try Erase your iPod - The Super Fix for most iPod Problems. Basically a low level format of the iPod’s hard drive to get around whatever problems are stopping iTunes from working with it.
Have you tried connecting the iPod to another computer to see if the issues is focused on the iPod or iTunes?
tt2