iTunes 7 Slow Interface? Try This.

If you are having slow response from iTunes when doing things like maximizing, minimizing, changing views and clicking playback controls, go to your preferences under the “General” tab and de-select “Automatically download missing album artwork”. It should look like this (on a Mac):

061006_misingart.png

Makes a huge difference in how the interface responds to clicks. I upgraded to 7.0.1 and I was still having major slowness from the simplest tasks. I found this solution in the Apple discussion boards, mentioned offhandedly and obtusely but my acute powers of deduction and logic allowed me to try the de-selecting trick. I kind of like iTunes again.

In other news, a friend of mine on a PC is having songs disappear from his hard drive. I want to help him out, but haven’t the foggiest where to start (besides scouring the discussion boards). Any suggestions or help will be appreciated.

UPDATE 2:50 PM: This only worked for a bit. Back to crappy GUI speeds. iTunes 7 is a POS. I scanned the boards and discovered a bug that I’m afflicted with. If you click something and wait, iTunes will take 2–3 seconds to respond. If you click and then move your mouse, it’s instantaneous. C R A Z Y.

  • Tek

    he should check to see if he has Itunes organize the folders. Then search for m4v files just in case the files aren’t gone but maybe in an unexpected place. (i know it seems obvious but sometimes you just have to start with the obvious)

  • Leah Penn

    has you friend checked for a virus? What about hidden files? I once had a virus that hid all my mp3s and left me with corrupted versions. That was a bitch to figure out.

  • http://www.nortonink.com/weblog kerewin

    I have resisted downloading the new version of iTunes based on what you talked about before. Now I am even less certain I want the new version.

  • http://scabpicker.blogspot.com leaveacomment

    That explains a few things! I am very disapointed with ITunes 7, I hope they can fix it soon! Thanks!

  • Rob

    Hmmmm, very odd.

    I’ve got a 450Mhz G3 Mac, which is below the minimum spec for iTunes 7 (min = 500Mhz) and it’s running fine here.

    This may be down to the 760Mb RAM on board.

    I’ve not got an iTunes account — I use it to play MP3 files obtained elsewhere.

    Have you tried locking out the iTunes account in the Parental Controls to see whether this will speed things up?

  • http://gonadfan.blogspot.com Doublejack

    “If you click something and wait, iTunes will take 2–3 seconds to respond. If you click and then move your mouse, itís instantaneous. C R A Z Y.”

    I’ve noticed the same thing in Safari forever — drives me nuts. I still hadn’t quite convinced myself I wasn’t imagining things until I read the above. Now I want to know WHY??? Grrr.

  • http://evokenz.blogspot.com Evoke

    I started losing all my MP3s when I enabled the auto-organisation option from iTunes — it just renames them all and moves them to the appropriate folders as it sees fit. Not a problem if you keep using the iTunes, a bit of a ‘mare if you want to actually see the files themselves.

  • http://www.solistella.com Solistella

    Do you use a scrobbler? I was noticing a little hang up here and there in iTunes and it was driving me nuts… until it dawned on me that my scrobbler was updating my lastfm feed.

    Next time I’m going to try moving my trackball and see if it works!

  • http://Http://www.monkeydojo.net Miko Monkey

    yea, it doth suck. Thank you for the turn-off-art hint…it also runs more slowly if you have the album art visible (in the nearly-full-screen view especially). Have you had issues syncing to your ipod? My podcasts became invisible on my ipod when I upgraded…

  • http://deepthoughtsfuzzymemories.blogspot.com/ tksinclair

    I love my iPod but have NO computer/technical skills so you’ve convinced me to stay away from iTunes 7. I’ll wait until they get the bugs worked out. I haven’t had a problem yet so why “fix” something that isn’t broken?

  • http://tastethehappy.wordpress.com monkeyaker

    Huh, I’ve never had a problem with it. And all my iTunes data is stored on an external hardrive too– that has to be constantly accessed. Seems like that would slow it down too, but it’s still lightning fast on my iBook.

    iTunes just came out with a small update, 7.0.1 or something, maybe some of the issues are resolved in it.

  • http://www.casualhex.com/ G

    The issue here is Windows version of iTunes versus OS X version.

    I *love* the OS X version. The Windows version needs a lot of work. Same goes for QuickTime Player, but not so extreme.

  • http://www.gordonmclean.co.uk/ Gordon

    But if you are using iTunes why do you CARE where files are stored?

    I used to be very very anal about file naming and folder locations, spending hours mucking about with MP3 tagging apps then sorting filenames… blah blah… then I was in a rush to burn some new music, just dumped it into iTunes and haven’t looked back since.

    It’s not lost if iTunes can find it people!!

    As for the response thing, iTunes has ALWAYS been ‘sluggish’ on the PC, since version 5 at least (and that’s on a P4 3.x with 1GB RAM). I don’t notice much speed difference with 7 but I guess I’m just used to it taking a few seconds to do stuff.

    Thinking about it now, though, Im’ not sure why I put up with it…

  • http://www.jemima.blogspot.com jemima

    Ever since I upgraded, I’ve had nothing but trouble from iTunes AND iPhoto, and i’m on a Mac. iTunes no longer recognizes my purchased music, which is extremely unfortunate. And iPhoto freezes every time I convert a photo and requires a force quit.

  • http://Http://www.monkeydojo.net Miko Monkey

    Gordon: hear hear! I was very anal about my files on my old computer, but I recently changed drives and said, “to hell with it, scan my drive & find ‘em!” Haven’t looked back!

  • ptha

    If you want to know the location of a song, just right-click a song, select “Show in Windows Explorer” and that will open an explorer window with the actual file selected. That’s for Windows iTunes 7.0.1, there must be something similar for the Mac version.

  • foxforcefive

    I have the same problem as your friend’s — I use a PC and store mp3s in my hard drive, which randomly disappear! (I’m computer literate, but not much more, and use musicmatch jukebox to organize my music). Everyone tells me I must be downloading songs (xometimes from file sharing programs, oooooh bad) that are promotional and have expiration dates. But that definitely is not the case, as some files are ones I transferred from CDs I own. My insight? None, none at all. But your friend may like to know he’s not alone and there are people out there who can commiserate :)