iTunes Crashing on Playing CDs

[sunier2]

iTunes began crashing when I updated from 10.5.6 (now have 10.5.8 on my ppc G5 iMac 20"). Have since tried both an external superdrive and a replacement internal one - both crash constantly. I read about bugs with iTunes 9.0.1 and so got 8.0.2 and after deleting everything iTunes I reinstalled 8.0.2. I've also done Disk Warrior, Tech Tools Pro 5, Onynx, many Repair Permissions and reset the SMU. The crashes continue - on first playing a CD, frequently on changing volume or pausing, and always when CD concludes last track. DVDs and my list of audio files play back perfectly. AppleCare has run out on my iMac but all they suggested earlier was reinstalling the OS, which seemed absurd to me.