One of the first things I wanted to do after installing MusicBee was get rid of iTUNES. In fact, that was the whole purpose of this exercise.
I eventually did it, but it was not as simple as I thought. Following is a list of bumps in the road that others might avoid to have a smoother ride.
1. Revouninstaller
Whenever I remove something, I like to use Revo instead of the Control Panel "Add or Remove Programs" applet. Revo digs registry remnants out, whereas the Control Panel method does not (and if the program comes with it's own uninstall function, that's the same thing that CP uses).
So I removed iTUNES with Revo. No problems running Revo, but the problems came afterward.
2. QuickTime and the iTUNES program
iTUNES installs with QuickTime as part of it. QuickTime is a separate app, but apparently the QuickTime code in the iTUNES program is so entwined in the registry that when you remove iTUNES you remove QuickTime from the registry. That wouldn't normally be a problem, except MusicBee requires QuickTime to play tunes bought from the Apple iTUNES store (I don't know about other tunes because my playlists are ALL Apple 99 cent tunes bought from the Apple iTUNES store). I found this out when I double clicked on a tune in MusicBee and got a message that it wouldn't play without QuickTime.
3. Firefox
So I needed to install the standalone version of QuickTime. But when I went to fire up my default browser, Firefox, it wouldn't start. Double clicking it on the desktop just did nothing. I got sidetracked on this FF thing. I tried to start it in Safe Mode, but same result. I tried to start it with a clean profile, but same result. I tried several other maneuvers, but all ended in the same result.
So I fired up IE7 and that worked. My guess is that since iTUNES and QuickTime had been plugins in FF, FF was looking for them and since it couldn't find them, it wouldn't start. But if that's why, then maybe it should have started with a clean profile or in Safe Mode. Bottom line, I really don't know why it wouldn't start, but removing iTUNES seemed to be the proximate cause
Now here's where some planning is needed, because a reinstall of FF (which I did eventually, and which was successful) has to be done with installed plugins in mind. So we'll come back to this later.
4. Installing and then removing the standalone of QuickTime
There is a standalone version of QuickTime available from Apple. So I installed it. But FF still wouldn't start. So my assumption was that FF needed iTUNES to start (I hadn't yet decided to reinstall FF, which ended up to be the ultimate solution to this FF thing . . . had I done this at this point it would have saved more headaches).
So since I was going to reinstall iTUNES at this point just to see if that would get my FF back, I wanted to remove the standalone version of QuickTime . . . my thinking being that maybe the standalone of QuickTime might interfere with the installation of iTUNES with QuickTime as part of the iTUNES app (I didn't want to take the risk of complicating things more than they already were . . . which actually happened anyway).
When I went to remove QuickTime with Revo, I got a notice that QuickTime "couldn't" be removed: "this action is only valid for products that are currently installed", which was odd since I knew QT was on my machine (and since Revo uses the CP method in it's first step, that meant that the CP method wouldn't work . . . but I tried it anyway, along with the built in QT uninstaller, though as I expected these methods didn't work either).
I was getting angry with Apple now (see the blog at
http://adamzhang.com/ipod-shuffle-charging-problem/ for others that are also mad at Apple) because it appeared as though I installed one of their apps and now I couldn't get it off my machine.
So I did a Google search on it, and found that a possible solution was the "Windows Installer Clean Up utility". There are some risks using this utility (The utility "will make permanent changes to your system. You may need to reinstall some or all applications on your system that used the Windows Installer technology to be installed. If you do not want to proceed, please press the 'Exit' button now. Choosing 'Remove' will make the permanent changes").
Now I was getting even madder at Apple, because I would be taking a risk of messing up my entire system just to get their crap off my machine.
Nevertheless I tried it anyway, and it worked . . . QT was gone, and my system wasn't messed up.
5. Reinstalling QT
I reinstalled QT, and this time the uninstaller worked . . . so it must have been a corrupted install on the first try.
Now QT was installed properly, but FF still wouldn't start. This is the point where I was really angry at Apple because I thought here I was bound to iTUNES and the whole purpose of installing MusicBee was to be able to get rid of iTUNES (and it still hadn't occurred to me that all I needed to do was remove and reinstall FF).
So I removed QT because installing it properly didn't solve my FF problem. (I had forgotten by now that MusicBee needed QT to play my iTUNES, but it was beginning to look like I was going to have to use iTUNES anyway).
Confused at this point? So was I after having gone through so many iterations of install and uninstall.
6. Reinstalling iTUNES (to see if that would get FF working).
The iTUNES installer package is a humongous 60+ MB, but the reinstall went fine.
However, FF STILL WOULDN'T START.
It was at this point that I decided to try a reinstall of FF.
7. Reinstall of FF
If you recall, I mentioned in point #3 that the reinstall of FF needed some planning. If FF wouldn't start because the plugins it would be looking for weren't there (an assumption on my part), I wanted my reinstall of FF to ONLY see the plugins that were installed.
Since I still had hopes of using MusicBee instead of iTUNES, I didn't want FF to see iTUNES as a plugin.
So now I'm unisnstalling iTUNES again (and with all these uninstalls and reinstalls, I knew I was going to have to clean up my temp files when all this was over and defrag . . . more cursing Apple). iTUNES however ALSO installs a lot of other Apple crap, like Bonjour, that Mobile CP applet, and the "Apple update" program. At this point, I wasn't using Revo anymore because I didn't want to take the risk of digging QT out of the registry.
I uninstalled not only iTUNES, but also all that other Apple software.
Then I installed QT (again), ONLY because it was necessary to get MusicBee to play my iTunes playlists.
Finally, I uninstalled FF and reinstalled it. It picked up my profile, which includes bookmarks and add ons, and worked just fine.
8. CD-ROM Driver.
Somewhere in all these install and uninstall iterations, I somehow lost my CD-ROM driver . . . I noticed this when I was trying to do the last install of iTUNES and the CD tray wouldn't open, nor was my CD drive shown in MY Computer. A look at Device Manager showed that ominous yellow exclamation point beside it.
Sidetracked again and more anger at Apple!!!!
The windows library normally has a CD driver, but it didn't. However the driver is built in to Windows, so all I had to do was a simple registry hack:
Using the command "regedit" (without the quotes) in "Run", open the Registry Editor and locate the UpperFilters value under the following key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click OK.
Locate the LowerFilters value under the same key in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click OK.
Quit Registry Editor.
NOTE: As usual, you should back up the registry before messing with it. I use ERUNT, but a Restore Point will suffice if you don't use ERUNT. After you remove the Upperfilters value and the Lowerfilters value, if you notice lost functionality in a particular program, such as CD recording software, you may need to reinstall that software.
So now I got FF and the CD Drive working . . . phewwww . . . now back to the main issue: getting MusicBee to work without iTUNES.
9. MusicBee
In all the install/uninstall iterations I had MusicBee on my machine and sometimes I didn't (it too was subject to my install/uninstall insults).
But after I installed it that last time, it worked just fine with iTUNES GONE and the standalone QT installed.
So, for anyone wanting to do this BECAUSE YOU WANT TO PLAY iTUNES IN MUSICBEE, let me summarize:
1. Uninstall iTUNES. (If you use FF, disable the iTUNES and QT plugins FIRST).
2. Install the standalone version of QT. (AFTERWARDS, enable the QT plugin if you use FF)
3. Install MusicBee
And if you get sidetracked somewhere, maybe my experiences will help.
Topic: Details of iTUNES removal (Read 30552 times)