My iTunes 12.9.4 keeps freezing

Ever since I updated my iTunes to the new version yesterday, it keeps freezing. I can play a few songs but it will always freeze in the middle or toward the end of a song and then you can't bring it back to life. When you force quit on cntrl-alt-delete it shows that iTunes is not responding. This happened a number of times on both Windows 10 and Windows 11 machines.


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Windows, Windows 10

Posted on May 26, 2023 5:53 PM

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90 replies

Sep 27, 2023 2:43 AM in response to turingtest2

I've had this issue for years. Literally started 5-6 years ago, and itunes would freeze completely needing a force close, only when I played a movie.


Now today, I thought I'd listen to some music on it, and opened it up for the first time in years. Upgraded to new version. And freeze almost immediately, just browsing the options in the tool bar.

Sep 27, 2023 4:12 PM in response to Garth Issett - Canada

Hi Garth,


I wanted to inform you that I've found a solution to the problem, at least in my case. Like you, I have numerous playlists, but the majority of them are automated. I enjoy using the star rating system in combination with music genres to generate automated playlists.


However, I do have a few manual playlists, one of which was quite extensive, containing more than 2000 songs. I decided to delete this particular list since it was essentially a duplicate of an automated one. I preferred using the manual list so I could adjust song ratings without interrupting the music.


In any case, after deleting this manual playlist, the problem disappeared. My automated playlists remain stable and are quite useful to me.


So, it's possible that the issue may be related to lengthy manual playlists for some reason.


I hope this information is helpful!

Sep 28, 2023 6:08 AM in response to alexandrefromlemoyne

I search for this issue a couple of times a year hoping someone has a solution. It's been 3-4 years and itunes still freezes between 5 minutes and 30 minutes after opening. I don't want to delete my manual playlists because that is the whole reason I use iTunes. The web application is worthless. Anyhow, maybe someday. But for all of you out there don't waste too much time trying to fix this with all the solutions proposed. None work. The only thing I recommend is to leave "Task Manager" open so you save yourself a few clicks when it's time to "End Task" of the iTunes process and restart it. I do this about 10-15 times per day. This happens on all of my family computers, so I know it's not something with just my system.

Oct 6, 2023 7:32 AM in response to aon1961

Hello,


I had a long conversation with Apple support today. I was recommended to enter high performance for iTunes under System/Monitor/Graphic.


I will test this the next few days and hope that this is a workaround. This workaround is only to be used until Apple fixes the problem. According to the employee the problem is known and we are working on the solution.


Many greetings from Germany

Rainer :)


Oct 7, 2023 1:00 AM in response to aon1961

Hello,


the changes I made yesterday to the system settings did nothing. This morning iTunes hangs as usual. I have the feeling that with the new version everything has become much worse - with the previous version iTunes only hung when you actively did something in the program. With the new version, iTunes hangs even when it's running in the background.


Many greetings from Germany

Rainer :)

Oct 24, 2023 2:46 AM in response to Kfoxranger

Update from my previous post a few months ago. For other reasons I have had to change PC so now on Windows 11. For a while I just used Apple Music Preview - which at least allowed me to listen to my playlists etc. from the cloud, but it has it's own problems and froze a few times (but much less than iTunes). Also, I couldn't get it to link to my iPods (classic and shuffle) using the Apple Devices Preview - didn't recognise them at all.

So I have downloaded the latest iTunes (12.12.10.1) and so far it does seem to be more stable. However, to sync to my iPods I'll have to download all the matched / purchased music from the cloud (or backup which I have) and I'm not sure whether to bother if iTunes is going to be discontinued, and wait for Apple Music and Apple Devices to work.

Oct 29, 2023 12:52 AM in response to tollbridge

Hello and good morning,


I can only confirm that it seems that with each new version the problem gets worse. Now it happens all the time that iTunes freezes right after startup - I've never had that before; until now it always seemed to be related to a previous action.


Apple is getting on my nerves - there must be a capable mind among the highly paid developers to find the problem and finally solve it?


Greetings from Germany

Rainer :(


Nov 13, 2023 10:58 AM in response to aon1961

Same problem here, started right after I switched from my old Windows 10 computer to my new Windows 11 machine. Problems galore. In the past I always refused to update iTunes out of habit because I disliked the installer, seems like I unconsciously made the right choice there. This is a broken mess and I find it infuriating that they are apparently not able or willing to fix it.

Nov 14, 2023 2:34 PM in response to veravinifera

I have the same issue with my WIN11 laptop.. started a few years ago. iTunes either (1.) completely locks up when I connect my iPhone via USB to my laptop or (2.) simply won't recognize my iPhone. My iPhone asks me to "Trust This Computer" and asks me to type in my passcode. I am trying to add some songs to my iPhone but this obviously can't be done until Apple fixes this issue. Glad I am not the only one with this problem but it's been going on for a few years.. C'mon Apple! Fix this.

My iTunes 12.9.4 keeps freezing

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