I have been a long time user of iTunes (started around version 3), and openly admit that in the past it has been a much better product than Windows Media Player and other media player applications ... at least for me.  But, a few weeks ago I heard Scott Hanselman mention in one of his podcasts, that iTunes has been on a downhill spiral since the release of version 7.  There are constant, sometimes daily, updates that prompt me download a new 50MB install file (not just a patch), and really 99% of the changes in those updates are for the new iPhone functionality that Apple thought would be a good idea to tightly bind to iTunes.  But those aren't the only issues. 

I can't remember the native burning software in iTunes ever working on my Dell Precision M90 laptop.  I have read some forum posts that said Apple simply doesn't have 64 bit drivers yet.  Whatever the reason, after I installed iTunes on a clean machine I got an error saying:

iTunes was not property installed. If you wish to import or burn CDs, you need to reinstall iTunes.

There is a 64 bit driver available from Gear Software that I was able to download and install, and it fixed this issue.  However, from that point on every time I opened iTunes I got the error message shown below:

After searching and reading a few more forums, I figured out this folder was "missing" from C:\Program Files (x86)\iTunes.  I don't usually make it a habit to go in and delete random folders from the Program Files directory ... so I am thinking this folder was never really there.  Luckily, I had a friend who was able to make a copy of his "CD Configuration" directory from one of his machines.  I copied it into the iTunes directory, and viola ... no more error messages, and CD ripping and burning actually work in iTunes.  You can download a copy of that folder here.  Thanks for the painful process Apple.