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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Posted on May 29, 2023 9:53 PM

I have the same problem on Windows 11 since upgrading to 12.9.4. After a few minutes of working with my library (usually editing a Playlist) iTunes freezes and I'm forced to do an End Task. Interestingly, while the screen freezes, if I have a song playing, it keeps playing. I've read a bunch of articles online and tried Safe Mode, Administrator Mode, disabling anti-virus, running Repair, auto-sync is disabled, cleared iTunes cache, disabled APSDaemon.exe, etc, but nothing fixes the problem and I really DO NOT want to have to re-install iTunes. HELP!

100 replies

Sep 23, 2023 9:11 PM in response to Garth Issett - Canada

you might be able to move the playlists out of the folder temporarily for backup and move them back in again after itunes have regenerated the folders on startup, but I can't say for sure it will work, and you would need to figure out what files are the playlists, I have no idea really.


Also, what I deleted and worked for me was located in Roaming folder


And I just realized I have my playlist still, sorry about that. I guess playlists aren't saved there. Ignore everything above xD You should be good to delete those.At least roaming if you have anything there.

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 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.

Dec 1, 2023 6:01 AM in response to veravinifera

Been happening to me for many months too. Not a laptop memory issue as far as I can see, and have the same issue even after upgrading to a new laptop. As others mentioned, often happens when trying to build a playlist. Songs keep playing on iTunes, but iTunes won't respond to anything, so have to cancel task. Using Windows 11. Using iTunes 12.13.0.9, which I downloaded from Microsoft.

Dec 5, 2023 8:08 AM in response to veravinifera

Also having this issue. Switched to Apple Music and then switched RIGHT back to Spotify. Apple Music is severely lacking in ALL features almost compared to Spotify. Get Spotify instead. Had it for years and ONLY switched due to a promotion from Apple and boy do I regret it. I’ve listened to less music because of freezing problems than ever before. Apple Music / iTunes is something you should definitely avoid.

Jan 30, 2024 4:46 PM in response to veravinifera

Recently, as of maybe 3-4 months ago (coinciding with the release of either version 12.12.10.1 on September 13 or 12.13.0.9 on October 24), I started experiencing this consistently after playing only 3-5 songs. VERY frustrating needing to Ctrl-Shift-Del to close it through Task Manager every time. However, I noticed that one of the things I always did was extend the window length to show more songs.


iTunes no longer freezes on my Windows 11 desktop ever since I stopped changing the window size. I did also change my library name to exclude any characters other than lower-case letters, hoping this would fix it, but it did not... but it may have contributed. Hopefully this helps for someone!!

Jan 31, 2024 7:30 AM in response to JMCT

I've reported freezing issues, and it's been happening for quite some time, probably over a year now. I'd increased memory and even purchased a new laptop as well as trying all the suggested workarounds, but it still happens.

A further action that will gaurantee a freeze for me is if I add a song to a playlist after starting itunes on Win11.

Ctrl-Alt-Delete to cancel the task is used numerous times per session.

My iTunes 12.9.4 keeps freezing

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