Q: iTunes stuck on last stage of sync, "Waiting for items to copy", NEVER COMPLETES??

Deleting the artwork cache worked for me. Many thanks.

How does one delete the artwork cache?

FWIW, mine was stuck there forever as well. I resolved my issue by resetting and restoring the phone, then when it got stuck on podcasts, I unchecked one of the podcasts and that made the syncing work.

Thanks everyone, it finally started working after trying a bunch of random stuff

I simply dragged (My iTunes Root)/iTunes/Album Artwork/Cache/ into the trash.

I've got the same issue, I guess I'll try a restore.

Thanks to all who suggested deleting Voice Memos--that fixed the problem for me.

One week, nineteen thousand views, one hundred twenty five replies. Apple...WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!! Are you listening?

I have the same problem on my iphone 4s and it's very frustrating!!!! 

Looks like either the artwork or the voice message did the trick. At least I came far further than the last time. Now it just needs to sync the books properly, maybe another sync will help. This problem is really annoying.

I tried everything listed above and all it would do is get stuck on a different step.  This morning I decided to do a full restore.  That worked with my iPhone 4.

Deleting the artwork cache did nothing for me, and I don't have any voice messages.

Very little artwork, no voice memos, syncing still never finishes. Genius is off. It's forever stuck in waiting for changes to apply.

iOS5 Mac OS 10.7.2.

It just DOESN'T work ! ! !

Wow! What an utter disappointment!

I have put off switching to the Apple ("Mac") platform for a very long time.

I finally bit the bullet and bought TWO of the 4S iPhones.

Received them on DAY ONE.

A WHOLE WEEK NOW has passed.

NOTHING.

iTunes won't sync.

iTunes database also became corrupt (a frequent problem, I am learning).

But, the biggest thing is, I have tried for a WHOLE WEEK to SYNC!

I have tried EVERY "fix" or "workaround" listed. NO JOY !

I am now doing a "restore" on my phone (RE-INSTALLS THE OS?)

What I want to know is, HOW... HOW, did Apple get a good reputation?

It just DOESN'T work ! ! !

So, I've spent over $1,000.00 on two phones that are prettier than clamshells, but, I can't use them for all that "other stuff"

Thanks, Apple.

The restore will work, is pretty painless and shouldn't take too long. It's not ideal but after that everything should work fine.

To Tomferrari:

Here's hoping that restoring your phones resolved the problem, and that you are gaining an appreciation of your new phone's features and power. It seems that restore works for most people. It did the trick for me. Still, there are far too many people hitting this thread to believe that the problem can be resolved simply by doing a restore.

As a recent "convert" to the cult that is Apple myself, it took me some time to understand why the brand enjoys such fierce loyalty, but now I wish I could ditch my PC's entirely. Do not doubt your leap of faith!

I don't  consider this problem as representative of the Mac platform in general. In fact, the issue of syncing the phones is way overblown in my opinion. Until the upgrade to iOS5, I bet I didn't sync my phone more than once a month at the most. Yes, it's important when you're setting up the phone, but unless you're updating software, the phone can pretty much do everything as a standalone device.

One would have to think that Apple has its platform configured to flag these threads and is already working on a solution. Let's hope so!

Good luck!