Need help with two iTunes annoyances

December 11, 2006 11:33 AM

Any way around these two (Mac) iTunes annoyances? First, iTunes apparently cannot remember my password for "Check for Purchases". Second, iTunes always jumps the focus back to the next song it's playing despite how much further down I'm browsing and adding songs to playlists.

I take it that the first one has something to do with security, but given that my Mac is willing to remember every other password it comes across, how do I get it to remember the password for "Check for purchases"?

posted by ontic to Computers & Internet (11 answers total)

They seem to have deliberatly programmed it to ask for your password again, presumably so you can check for purchases on a second account, so I don't think there's any getting round it.

More to the point, why are you selecting Check for purchases often enough to care?
posted by cillit bang at 11:50 AM on December 11, 2006

Hm... Mine prompts for the info but always remembers the password.

The password is under the Keychain Access application. The name is the email address, the kind is "iTunes Store password", the account is the mail address, and the where is "iTunes Music Store". I'd double check all that in KA first, and manually add the password there if it is missing.

What version of MacOS are you running?

I can't help you with the jumping part, sorry.
posted by chairface at 12:00 PM on December 11, 2006

Response by poster: Running the latest everything here, OS X 10.4.8, iTunes 7.0.2.

Unless I'm wrong (very possible), the only way to get television shows you have a season pass for (like the Daily Show) is to do "Check for Purchases", and they frequently come out at different times each day.

I'll try manually adding it.
posted by ontic at 12:18 PM on December 11, 2006

Response by poster: Huh, it's in the keychain exactly as it should be, but no automatic password entry.
posted by ontic at 12:23 PM on December 11, 2006

Best answer: Regarding the second annoyance you list, the only way I know of to avoid the focus change is to use the party shuffle or another playlist to play from, not the library.
posted by olecranon at 2:03 PM on December 11, 2006

Best answer: Focus problem.

Try double clicking the playlist that you're using and see if it ignores it. Alternately try double clicking the playing play list. Hopefully with it being a 2nd window it ought to ignroe what you're doing.
posted by filmgeek at 2:04 PM on December 11, 2006

Best answer: I'm also running 10.4.8 and 7.0.2. The only other difference I can think of is that I'm using an Apple ID and you're using an AOL ID.

Also, it's supposed to check automatically every 24 hours for new purchases but if it isn't remembering your password then it probably won't.
posted by chairface at 2:20 PM on December 11, 2006

Oops. Should say "you MIGHT be using an AOL ID".
posted by chairface at 2:20 PM on December 11, 2006

Unless I'm wrong (very possible), the only way to get television shows you have a season pass for (like the Daily Show) is to do "Check for Purchases", and they frequently come out at different times each day.

You can get them to email you as soon as they're put up. There's a setting in the account section of the iTunes store.
posted by cillit bang at 2:55 PM on December 11, 2006

Response by poster: Unfortunately not using an AOL ID. This is really mysterious. None of my three Macs remember the password, but it looks like some Macs do...?

cilit bang: Yes, I get emails several times a week telling me that new shows are available for download. It would speed up the process of getting them to my computer to not have to provide the password every time I download them.
posted by ontic at 3:12 PM on December 11, 2006

Best answer: Ah, so if you turn on the "Automatically Check" option in preferences, then it remembers your password. You'd think then it wouldn't need it...

Thanks for everyone's help!
posted by ontic at 3:16 PM on December 11, 2006