Topic: iTunes / Apple Performance Issues

[acidjack]

My main machine is a late-2009 MacBook Pro with an upgraded HDD and the maximum allowable RAM (I think it's 4GB on that model).

Lately, the performance of the machine has been abysmal, especially when iTunes is open.  With iTunes and iPhoto, it really drags. 

I have seen people complaining on the Internet about iTunes "freezing" their computer and similar things with much greater frequency than normal and am wondering if it is Apple's software that is the problem.  The tests I have run on my machine suggest that the machine itself is fine; in fact it was fully serviced less than a year ago when I had the new HDD put in. 

I have a very large music library in iTunes, and I have Match and Genius turned on. I'm going to guess these suck resources too. 
 
Do others have this problem with their Macs and iTunes?  I realize my machine is not brand new, but it was a top of the line MBP and I would think should still be pretty solid.  But for example, my MacBook Air is running circles around it now in terms of performance. It's a newer machine, but I think it specs out worse than the MBP.  The only difference I see is that the Air doesn't have the huge music library.

I feel like I am probably due for a refresh of my computer anyway, but at the same time, I don't really want to believe I'm on a 2-3yr upgrade cycle on computers, especially given how expensive Macs are. 

[And, while I appreciate these suggestions, "Use Linux", "Stop using iTunes" etc. are probably not viable options at this point]

[Brian Skalinder]

Defragged lately?

[ashevillain]

I have a Fall 2009 MBP as well and while I haven't experienced the problem you describe (my iTunes library might not be that large and I don't use Genius or Match) I can suggest something that might help you diagnose the problem.

http://islayer.com/apps/istatpro/

This is a very useful widget that gives all sorts of stats including CPU usage.

[scb]

Defragged lately?

os x has pretty good defragging built in

[scb]

But for example, my MacBook Air is running circles around it now in terms of performance. It's a newer machine, but I think it specs out worse than the MBP.  The only difference I see is that the Air doesn't have the huge music library.

the Air has a solid state drive, while the mbp doesn't. that's a very large difference

[scb]

how large is the music library, and has everything already uploaded to iTunes match?  my initial iTunes match upload took over a week.  if yours is uploading your music, that could explain something...

[acidjack]

how large is the music library, and has everything already uploaded to iTunes match?  my initial iTunes match upload took over a week.  if yours is uploading your music, that could explain something...

Everything has uploaded to iTunes Match.  Actually, I've hit the upper limit of what it will allow, so now that "feature" has been rendered useless as well.  But yeah, my initial upload also took like a week.  The library is 250GB+; haven't checked the latest figure.

I haven't defragged recently; that's probably a good idea, both for the main drive and my external HDD I'm currently using for mixing. 

So should I take from this that others have NOT had general problems with iTunes being extremely slow and/or slowing down the machine in general while running? 

[scb]

open up Activity Monitor (/Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor) and see what the cpu and/or disk is doing when iTunes is open.  you should be able to get a good idea if iTunes is doing something to your machine when it's open

I haven't noticed anything bad just by having iTunes open.

[page]

My wife's macbook has this problem every now and then, seasonally almost. I can run top and watch it eat almost half of the CPU sitting while it idles (no podcast download, no cd ripping or music playing). We kill the app and reboot the machine, works for a while and then does it again.

She has probably 80gb of random aac stuff she's pulled from itunes and her massive country music collection (maybe that's why it's slow, it's choking on all that Rascal Flatts)

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

Sounds like it might be your hard drive dying. 3-4 years is the normal amount of time for a HD to kick the bucket.

I haven't used a Mac in years, but I'm pretty sure that Drive Utility (under Utilities if I remember correctly) can scan your drive for errors. Also you might be able to look to see what kind of HD it is, and then get that manufacturers drive utility. ...of course there is always the Apple Store to help check that.

Basically what happens is your drive has so many errors that it has to re-read a lot of data. Obviously if it has to read the data multiple times...it's going to feel slower.

No need to buy a new computer if it's just the HD. Most 3 year old Macbooks are way faster than the average person needs.

Toss a SSD drive in there if you really want it to go fast. If you use that computer to store all of your data (or need access to large amounts of storage all the time), then you're probably better off with a regular HD.

[Matt Quinn]

I am not a Mac user, but I *do* use iTunes on my Windows machines, and I've *always* found iTunes to slow them down considerably. My newest computer (Dell with an i7 quad core & 8GB RAM) seems to handle it the best, but it's still there. I is actually so bad that I only use iTunes for the purpose of cataloging my music. I play things in Winamp for the most part. But yeah, I would say your experience is not uncommon, definitely happens to a lot of people.

[scb]

iTunes on Windows is totally different from iTunes on the mac. 

iTunes should not slow down anyone's mac

[acidjack]

FYI, the culprit appears to be (primarily) Google Chrome.  Horrendous resource hog after I checked the CPU activity.  iTunes and iPhoto, especially when doing all the cross-machine updating, are definitely resource-intensive, but Chrome seems to be the thing giving the machine heartburn.

Thanks for the help, all.

[rhinowing]

I am not a Mac user, but I *do* use iTunes on my Windows machines, and I've *always* found iTunes to slow them down considerably. My newest computer (Dell with an i7 quad core & 8GB RAM) seems to handle it the best, but it's still there. I is actually so bad that I only use iTunes for the purpose of cataloging my music. I play things in Winamp for the most part. But yeah, I would say your experience is not uncommon, definitely happens to a lot of people.

yeah, the windows ports of itunes are AWFUL. refuse to use it anymore.

[robeti]

foobar2000 is the way to go.
(*not an apple fan*  )

[rhinowing]

foobar2000 is the way to go.
(*not an apple fan*  )

I forget what it's called - but there is an extension/dll that will sort it into a library sorta like itunes.

lately I'm using google play though -- really nice to not have to replace my whole collection when a HD dies