Importing Cd's With iTunes 8.1 - Taking forever

I've followed a sugestion and turned the bit rate from 256 back to 128 and the memory space went back to usual. The problem is that now I will have to convert all imports I've made using iTunes 8.1

It's incredible that such an important matter - double time and memory consuption - was not notice to no one by Apple when launching a new iTunes version. Shame on Apple

I've followed a sugestion and turned the bit rate from 256 back to 128 and the memory space went back to usual.

(that would be drive space, not memory) but this really has nothing to do with this topic.

The problem is that now I will have to convert all imports I've made using iTunes 8.1

Sounds like you do not want songs at 256 kbps.

as not notice to no one by Apple when launching a new iTunes version.

It was announced all over that teh new import options default was iTunes Plus (which has always been 256 kbps AAC).

Ok everyone, this worked for me. It's not perfect, but a lot better than 30 minutes a song! I found 2 things that worked. #1 "Minimize I tunes while you are importing" "Stretch your legs,go get another beer or whatever"When you come back, your cd will be done(I saw speeds of 10-20x) The weird thing is that as soon as you return to the import screen, it stops! So minimize,check on the progress by using ctrl and tab. #2 As soon as you start importing, go to another i tunes screen (I used the music library) Again, worked pretty fast,here i got 7.0-10.0 speed.
Again, this works for me,not guaranteeing but a lot better than what i had a few hours ago!
Skren

Roy,

No speed up at all using *Command Option*.
As others have noted, it does speed up if you do something else (open iTunes prefs, then close them). It jumps from ~2x to +8x import speed.
It did NOT do this when using *Command Option* but when I quit iTunes and restarted it, then opened iTunes prefs and closed them, it jumped up pretty quick.

New to Itunes and Apple Ipod nano I am glad to see this is a problem for other users. I am setting the import for MP3 encoder and leaving all controls as per default. It is taking 30 minutes at least per TRACK to import to Itunes. This must be wrong. I tried to minimise the window but it froze the import!
Has anyone made contact with Apple about this? I seethey will only take calls from USA and Canada. I am in the UK.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Regards
Simon

Has anyone made contact with Apple about this?

Roy B from Apple has posted in this thread asking for reports.

I seethey will only take calls from USA and Canada

Where do you see this at?

http://www.apple.com/uk/contact/
"Phone
To get technical support over the phone, please call 0870 876 0753. Lines are open Monday-Friday 0800-1945 and Saturday 1000-1745. If your product is within its 90-day complimentary support period or covered by an AppleCare Protection Plan, you will not have to pay for the support. Otherwise, you may purchase per-incident support for £35."

Hi Roy, Have taken your tip and sadly no difference at all. Import speed is showing 0.1x. So each track takes up to 35 minutes to import! I spoke to the UK support team, they say the new 8.1 programme is very complex and this speed is OK. Be patient! Surely this can not be right.
My friend who uses the previous itunes programme imports a 25 track CD in MP3 encoder in under 5 minutes.
Any further advice please?
Regards Simon (Linehill)

Hi,Chris. Thanks for your reply. I have tried Roy's suggestion opening in safe made. No difference. Still importing at 0.1x. I spoke to the UK helpline, they tell me this new 8.1 programme is very complex and sophisticated and the speed is correct, just be patient!
I have been comparing notes with a friend who uses an Itunes programme 8.0.2.20 and he imports a 24 track CD to MP3 encoder is under 5 minutes. Interesting. Being an old cynic I wonder if Apple have done this to encourage one to buy from Itunes store. My computer is fine on everything else. In windows media player I can rip a CD in MP3 format in 5-8 minutes.
What do you think? Regards Simon (Linehill)

Is this only a problem on iTunes for Widows?. I still rip at 4.7x-11x using iTunes for Mac 8.1 (I just did it again last night). I think that is about the same as it has always been for me.

Message was edited by: danny whittington

Ah ha!
On my computer it seems that the go-slow is only when you're on the import screen. Click on 'Music' once the CD starts importing and I get speeds of 9x (old computer). Before that, I get 0.1x. Yesterday it took 9 hours to import one CD!!
Hope this helps someone else...

Hi Roy,

I have the same problem with the slow import. I use 192 kbs VBR AAC, in i-Tunes 8.1.0.52. Starting in safe mode didn't do much. Minimizing while importing makes it a little faster (about 5-6 speed in stead of 0.1 - 1 speed).

Can you tell us if this problem will be solved in an update soon? I just bought my 4th iPod and I hope to use i-Tunes for some years in the future...

Thanks

Frank (The Netherlands)

Danny, i don't think that this is only a problem with iTunes 8.1 for windows, because i am running Mac OSX Leopard, and since updating iTunes, CDs that would have imported at around 20~25x speed are now importing at 2~5x. It takes forever, and is so frustrating! I also noticed that the iTunes Store seems to have gotten slower with loading and finding search results, and i never noticed this in the previous version of iTunes. I think we all need a quick fix of 8.1.1!! (and soon....)

There is something odd with the 8.1 programme. Yes, I also followed the same advice and the import speed does improve.
On initial import track 1 shows 42 minutes @ 0.1x. Click Music, click minimise, click back to enlarge and the import speed is now 2.9x - 3.6x.
This surely must be a programme problem. If Apple can manufacture such an amazing piece of technology like the Ipod, it should be a piece of cake for them to rectify this glitch. Come on Apple, do your best!!

Roy -
Nothing helps. CD takes roughly the same amount of time to import as its play time. Had no trouble at all prior to move to 8.1. I'd go back to my old version, but Apple doesn't offer this option.

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I changed it to 128 as well and saw slight improvement. This is for sure a bug and I agree with the earlier statement that it is ridiculous that there is not contact information for us that we could use to help Apple solve this problem.