iTunes Hang Up during song download - 100% of CPU used.

Yeah I had the same problem, I tried downloading the new Bullet for my Valentine Album but iTunes kept freezing and task manager says 100% CPU usage like you,after about an hour the download finished but I'm missing the album only songs and the artwork.

Message was edited by: Andrewonfire

I had the same problem...it's driving me crazy. Can't really do anything on iTunes (8.2) without 100% CPU usage and basically hanging up my machine. So that's three of us and no solutions...great.

Try temporarily disabling your security software and see if it downloads any faster.

Changes to virus software don't work.
I'm also having a similar problem but after doing hours of research I stil have not been able to find a fix.
My computer grinds to a halt (almost) when trying to download cds into iTunes. CPU runs at 98% - 100%.
I have 2G RAM.
Does anyone know how to fix?
(P.S. Just started recently - after last update perhaps?)

+(P.S. Just started recently - after last update perhaps?)+



This is almost always due to pre-installed Norton/Syamntec blocking the new version of iTunes. Even if you never used that trial version of Norton, it can block iTunes. Get the Norton uninstaller and really get rid of it - uninstalling from the Control Panel does NOT remove it from your PC.

Hi Katrina, this is not ONLY related to Norton/Symantec AV products.... even if it was, if everything else is downloading at good speeds but iTunes it is an iTunes compatibility issue. I for one had no issues up until the last update. I run Avast AV and have for many years without any issues. I downloaded a "iTunes +" album and noticed it hung on "processing file" for 2-3 minutes each this time... no real reason why. I have a powerful machine with 4GB of ram so it basically pegged my machine with iTunes.exe taking 60% CPU time for about 30 minutes. The only Norton product I have on this machine (an have had for over a year now without issues) is Ghost 14.

One thing for sure, it is positively not good for business when people are plagued with issues downloading music they purchased! They will eventually find alternative means of getting their music! 🙂

True, DMILETTE , it can be other reasons. Verizon's VCAST software also conflicts with itunes, especially with making it hang on the processing file part at the end. Sony Vaio users have problems with some Sony software deleting their library files, etc and so on....
Sony has come out with a patch, I'm not sure about Verizon, and from what I hear the newer versions of Norton/Symantec are not as bad as the older ones. I guess my point is that Apple cannot "fix" another program that directly conflicts with itunes. You're right - some folks will figure out what is conflicting on their systems, others will just buy elsewhere.

Oddly enough, all was working fine for me up until the latest iTunes update... I installed nothing new and have none of the apps you mentionned. This is why I say it's an Apple issue.... if it worked fine prior to the update and no other variable changed, it should continue to work fine after. 😉

Well, a quick check would be to temporarily turn off Avast, then...if nothing else has changed but the newest itunes install and perhaps some avast updates... Kaspersky, Eset NOD, pretty much all of the AV software have posts here on AD where they were conflicting with itunes for some users.



Somebody else just posted about a program called Process Lasso that was causing problems....not with downloads, but with itunes in general.

Thanks Katrina, no such luck however.... disabling Avast causes no change to "processing" speed. only update to Avast was virus definitions (no actual program updates)

Luckily, because I have a fast CPU AND 4 GB of memory, it never uses more that 60% CPU (still very high) and eventually processes all songs correctly. It just takes 3-5 minutes per song, whixh is a bit absurde! 🙂

That is too long. Mr crummy laptop only takesabout 2 minutes per song, tops.

I am having the same issue on 2 of my systems. Both are Vista Ultimate X64, one of which is a brand new install and the other is my main rig which has been working fine with itunes for the past 4 years until 8.2. I have searched all over the net and no one has a fix.

Whenever I load itunes it will hang for 2 minutes with 50% cpu utilization (dual core) and then magically start working like nothing is wrong. On my main system I completely removed iTunes from the system and re-installed it, but with no fix.

But for what its worth, the iBook, despite its pre-historic age works just fine. And for the record, I have never had any anti-virus software and have made no changes to the system other than standard windows updates when this happened. And on the second system (Toshiba Laptop) it is using a completely clean install with the latest drivers and updates.

I figured it out. It was a video file mislabelled to .mp3 extension burried in my "Daft Punk" folder. I figured it out when i realized that the system would not hang when i had no music in the library. so i removed everything from the library and then added the music back in, one letter (artists begning with a certain letter) at a time until I found the problem.

This is exactly the same symptoms I've been experiencing since "upgrading" to 8.2 itunes. I am not running any of the "problem" software and have been unable to get other resolution. Has anyone else solved this problem or is it time to fire up the rhapsody and amazon accounts for mp3s?

As a strange side symptom, whenever I click on "about itunes" from the help drop down in itunes, I get the same effect. 100% CPU usage and application no longer responding... Does anyone know what itunes is doing when you click on "about itunes?"

Message was edited by: t.w.dunn