The release of some new software from Apple is usually followed by some obsessive playing with new features, pressing new buttons, and generally being a geek. However, ever since iTunes 8′s release, I’ve had a problem. When I tried to switch the Genius features on, I would get an “unknown error (4010)”.
Frustratingly, my iPhone was also updated today with the ability to create Genius playlists… if it’s enabled in iTunes.
Today, however, I found a solution on the Apple forums: Check your library for dead tracks (i.e. ones that are listed in the library but not available to play), streaming audio, and other odd media.
I had no dead tracks, but I did delete a PDF document and several audio streams. I also deleted the Genius database for good measure and allowed it to rebuild from scratch. After doing that I was able to switch Genius on no problem, and am now enjoying the benefits of having iTunes remind me of tracks I’d forgotten I had :)
Just a word of caution, though: this solution worked for me and at least one other person… but I haven’t done any in-depth troubleshooting and can’t guarantee that it will work for everyone. Still, worth a shot, isn’t it?
This solution worked on a Mac. If you try this and it also works on iTunes for PC, please let me know!
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Don’t forget, if you have any questions you can post them here. I can’t promise to know the answers, but perhaps I can clarify if I’ve left anything unclear :)
Both the Validator attempt as well as removing dead tracks did nothing to solve the problem. I suspect that the server is just under tremendous load right now — but all of these “fixes” are just speculation at this point…
Thanks for letting us know Glenn: that’s more than a little frustrating.
You’re right, these fixes are speculation. It would be very handy to get a more detailed error message :)
I’ll tell you why I think this was the solution for me: I’d been trying to activate genius several times a day for about 4 days when I came across this “fix”. I deleted all the audio streams I could find and tried again but still got the error. I then found that I’d missed a stream, deleted it, tried again, and the process went through first time.
I’m wondering if there are actually several different problems tied up in the 4010 error though, given that this didn’t work for you.
The final trick for me was to validate the iTunes.xml file. I could not get Validator to work in Windows, however, so I used the free trial of Stylus Studio 2008:
basic overview: http://www.stylusstudio.com/open_xsd_validation.html
download: http://www.stylusstudio.com/xml_download.html
Thanks! I finally got it to work after validating the xml, removing dead tracks, and removing the streaming audio links. Appreciate the help!
The final trick for me was to validate the iTunes.xml file. I could not get Validator to work in Windows, however, so I used the free trial of Stylus Studio 2008:
basic overview: http://www.stylusstudio.com/open_xsd_validation…
download: http://www.stylusstudio.com/xml_download.html
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