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iTunes 10 bug: wacky Sonix SN9C201 WebCam plug-in error (updated 2x)

By | September 2, 2010, 5:30am PDT

Summary: I rushed to download the iTunes 10 release last night but I can’t launch the software due to a bizarre “Sonix SN9C201 WebCam plug-in” error message. Updated with some fixes.

Like any self-respecting Machead, I rushed to download the iTunes 10 release last night so that I could play with its new social networking feature, Ping. I downloaded it directly from the iTunes Web site and skipped the the Software Update version.

To my dismay I can’t launch the software and am getting this bizarre error message.

“iTunes quit unexpectedly while using the Sonix SN9C201 WebCam plug-in”

“Reopen” doesn’t work (same error) and I’m left high and dry without my iTunes library.

The bizarre thing is that I’ve never installed the “Sonix SN9C201 WebCam plug-in” nor can I understand why iTunes 10 would need to access a WebCam plug-in.

A little searching revealed that others are suffering from the same bug. This thread on the Apple Discussion boards has 32 replies and 3 pages (at press time). An Apple Employee (Roy B) is asking afflicted customers to email him their crash logs — which I did.

Are you getting the same error?

Update: iTunes 10 is now running for me in Safe Mode (no extensions). Hold down Command and Option when launching the app.

Update2: Removing “Sonix SN9C201 WebCam.component” from HDD/Library/QuickTime folder allows iTunes 10 to launch and run normally for me. Some in the Apple thread have reported that removing ”DesktopVideoOut.component” from the same folder fixed the problem for them. The Sonix SN9C201 WebCam.component may have been installed by Skype (which I use regularly) but this hasn’t been confirmed.

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Apple iTunes, Plug-in, Jason D. O'Grady

Jason O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.

Disclosure

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady is the creator and editor of O'Grady's PowerPage, which has been publishing mobile technology news since 1995. He maintains an advertising relationship with the following legacy advertisers on the PowerPage:

  • Amazon Associates
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  • Tekserve

    • Advertising on the PowerPage is brokered by a third-party agency (BackBeat Media) and he recuses himself from these negotiations.

Biography

Jason D. O'Grady

Jason D. O'Grady developed an affinity for Apple computers after using the original Lisa, and this affinity turned into a bona-fide obsession when he got the original 128 KB Macintosh in 1984.

He started writing one of the first Web sites about Apple (O'Grady's PowerPage) in 1995 and is considered to be one of the fathers of blogging. He has been a frequent speaker at the Macworld Expo conference and a member of the conference faculty. He also co-founded the first dedicated PowerBook User Group (PPUG) in the United States.

After winning a major legal battle with Apple in 2006, he set the precedent that independent journalists are entitled to the same protections under the First Amendment as members of the mainstream media.

O'Grady is the author of The Nexus One Pocket Guide, The Droid Pocket Guide, The Google Phone Pocket Guide, and The Garmin nuvi Pocket Guide (Peachpit Press), the author of Corporations That Changed the World: Apple Inc. (Greenwood Press), and a contributor to The Mac Bible (Peachpit Press). In addition, he has contributed to numerous Mac publications over the years, including MacWEEK, Macworld, and MacPower (Japan).

When he's not writing about Apple for ZDNet at The Apple Core, he enjoys spending time with his family in New Jersey.

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This is a popular webcam driver???
adam.prall@... 15th Dec
If you own a webcam of any number of certain different brands (in my case, a Hue HD webcam was the culprit), you will get this error as the software is buggy and crashes a lot, especially under Lion (where I'm using it). I know this because I had to install this driver manually. I suffer through the random crashes as it's necessary to the functioning of this old and ready-to-be-replaced camera. If you have one of those cams and want it to work, for now you will have to put up with having this error occasionally. Aloha and good luck!
View in thread
0 Votes
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I can't help myself.
Cylon Centurion 2nd Sep 2010
But are you holding it the wrong way?

/Joke happy
0 Votes
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No, he doesn't seem to understand the Apple software stack
RationalGuy 2nd Sep 2010
The bizarre thing is that I?ve never installed the ?Sonix SN9C201 WebCam plug-in? nor can I understand why iTunes 10 would need to access a WebCam plug-in.

If the WebCam plug-in is not in the /Library/iTunes/iTunes Plug-ins or user/Library/iTunes/iTunes Plug-ins directories, then it's a QuickTime component, since iTunes sits on top of QuickTime.

Since that's not a default QuickTime plug-in, it must be something that you installed (probably as part of some other software package). iTunes doesn't "need" to run a webcam plug-in. It needs to initialize QuickTime and this plug-in is probably garbage code.
0 Votes
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RE: iTunes 10 bug: wacky Sonix SN9C201 WebCam plug-in error
Zoraster 2nd Sep 2010
From Apple Support Forum here;

http://discussions.info.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2564900&start=15&tstart=0

Move home folder/Library/Quicktime/DesktopVideoOut.component
0 Votes
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But, but, but...
wizard57m@... 2nd Sep 2010
Flash is buggy and full of security holes!!
"Pot, meet kettle, kettle, meet pot"
Apple should go ahead and support Flash, they deserve each other!
0 Votes
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RE: iTunes 10 bug: wacky Sonix SN9C201 WebCam plug-in error
Pete "athynz" Athens 2nd Sep 2010
@wizard57m@... 1 bug in iTunes 10 vs a lot more bugs in Flash - bugs that STILL aren't fixed and weren't for 6 months prior... so yeah, Flash DOES suck. And BTW your village is calling, something about a missing troll?
0 Votes
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FAIL!
wizard57m@... 2nd Sep 2010
@athynz
This is a new bug in iTunes. I won't stoop to your level with the name calling though. Don't forget, you can only use iTunes in "Safe Mode" now! Have a good one!
0 Votes
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Oops, did we miss something?
Pete "athynz" Athens 3rd Sep 2010
@wizard57m@... Per update #2 above the "bug" in iTunes was caused by a webcam component that might have been installed by Skype. Funny thing is I do NOT have skype, I DO have iTunes 10 and I have no bugs. So no safe mode needed. Thanks for playing.
0 Votes
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Works for me but it dumped all my playlists
bws605 3rd Sep 2010
I updated to iTunes 10, my library is still there but all the playlist (except the default apple provided ones) are gone. Anyone know how to restore without messing up my library or the version of iTunes? Also why did Apple mess this up.
0 Votes
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No problems here on either of our two Macs
Laraine Anne Barker 3rd Sep 2010
one G5 and one Intel, the first running Leopard and the other Snow Leopard.
0 Votes
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Seems you've got some idiots posting here, Jason
Laraine Anne Barker 3rd Sep 2010
but I guess you're used to that. Wish I could help but I honestly didn't have any problems and didn't expect any.
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RE: iTunes 10 bug: wacky Sonix SN9C201 WebCam plug-in error
Timty3 Updated - 14th Jun
OS x 10.6.7/Itunes 10.3.1: I have a Dino-Eye camera that stopped working after I moved the Sonix SN9C201 Webcam.Component file out of the Quicktime Library folder. When I moved the file, the iTunes problem stopped, but I need my microscope camera!
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RE: iTunes 10 bug: wacky Sonix SN9C201 WebCam plug-in error
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RE: iTunes 10 bug: wacky Sonix SN9C201 WebCam plug-in error
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This is a popular webcam driver???
adam.prall@... 15th Dec
If you own a webcam of any number of certain different brands (in my case, a Hue HD webcam was the culprit), you will get this error as the software is buggy and crashes a lot, especially under Lion (where I'm using it). I know this because I had to install this driver manually. I suffer through the random crashes as it's necessary to the functioning of this old and ready-to-be-replaced camera. If you have one of those cams and want it to work, for now you will have to put up with having this error occasionally. Aloha and good luck!

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