Q: itunes 10.6 freezes when syncing to 5th gen nano. Any solutions?

I was having the same issue. I did a restore on my nano, and after that it syncs fine.

I have the same problem with 6th Gen Nano.

Same problem here with 6th gen Nano.  It acts like it syncs when I plug in, but none of my runs have synced.  Any changes I make and try to sync, itunes then beachballs and I have to force quit.

Same problem here. When I attempt to sync my iPod Nano (6th gen), iTunes 10.6 freezes.

This is a new problem, just started after I updated to iTunes 10.6 on Saturday. I've tried turning everything off and on again, restoring the Nano, attempting to update or sync different kinds of items, etc. Nothing seems to work. As soon as I hit the "apply" button to sync the Nano in iTunes, everything hangs. I ultimately force quit to get out of the problem, but it means that I can't make any changes to the contents of my Nano.

Does anyone have a solution that is known to work?

P.S. I've tried "restore." It didn't work.

27" iMac (3.6 GHz Intel Core i5, 16GB RAM) | OS X 10.7.3 | iTunes 10.6 | iPod Nano (6th gen., software 1.2)

I also experienced the same problem with my 6th generation ipod nano.  I finally gave up and uninstalled version 10.6 and went back to version 10.5.3.3.  Be aware that if you do this, version 10.5.3.3 will not be able to read your "itunes library.itl" file, so in order to open itunes 10.5.3.3 you will need to substitute an itunes library.itl file from your previous itunes libraries, which you can retrieve under the itunes > Previous itunes Libraries folder.  Each of these is given a date as to when the backup occured, and I simply moved the latest one (that I knew was applicable to version 10.5.3.3) directly to the itunes folder.  I then moved the 10.6 "itunes library.itl" file from the itunes folder to the "Previous itunes Libraries" folder and added the date and a reference to version 10.6, just so I could clearly tell the particular library file was related to the newest version -- just in case this procedure failed.  Fortunately, this process worked perfectly, and my ipod nano 6th gen is now synching normally again.  Luckily, I found a link to itunes 10.5.3.3 on one of the Apple support pages:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1426

Also, here's some information on the purpose of the itl file.  They also explain the purpose of the xml file, although I didn't need to do anything with that particular file:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660

One last footnote that may be important:  when I moved the most recent "itunes library.itl" file that I knew was compatible with 10.5.3.3., I made sure to remove the date in the file name - to ensure itunes would recognize it as the new "itunes library.itl" file.  It worked.

Same problem with 6th gen Nano.  Beachball for hours, have to force quit.  Seems like something that should easily have been caught in Quality Assurance before release.  Isn't every release of iTunes at least tested with every version of iPod?  If not, major fail on Apple's part.

Same here with my current-gen Nano, same symptoms as everone else. Beachball, force quits, restoring does nothing. As a side note I noticed that while iTunes is beachballing the temperature of my iMac shoots up. Needless to say I am really ticked off and I am not even going to try syncing my Nano again until a bug-fix version of iTunes is released. Come on, Apple!

Just tried once more on a lark - seemed to work this time.  The only thing different I did was uncheck the "enable disk use" option first.  Then I hit "sync" and, lo and behold, it actually worked.  Worth trying if you haven't already.

Doesn't work for me. Sigh.

Found this on another thread:  from webguy:

"""This procedure is only works on a Mac, but it does work.

1. Open iTunes

2. Plugin iPod

3. Attempt to sync playlist

4. Wait until iTunes goes into 'beachball mode'

5. Open Terminal

6. Type in cd /Volumes/"NAME OF iPod"/ (Do Not Close Terminal)

7. Force Quit iTunes

8. Re-open iTunes.

9. Unplug and re-plugin in iPod (if Necessary)

10. Sync new Playlist.

11. Go back to Terminal window

12. Type 'exit' in Terminal window

13. Quit Terminal

14. Eject iPod.

15. Quit iTunes to allow iPod to be automatically ejected after syncing.

16. Re-open iTunes.

"""

I had previously unchecked the "enable disk use" while I was on 10.5.3, so after doing the above steps I was able to recheck "enable disk use" and can now sync normally again, i.e. adding songs and playlists.

Here is the original thread where I found the solution:  https://discussions.apple.com/message/17948674#17948674

Thank you for finding this for us. This solution worked for me.

Do you have any better luck with that if you update to iTunes 10.6.1.7?

From the notes for the release:

iTunes 10.6.1 provides a number of improvements, including:

 

• Fixes several issues that may cause iTunes to unexpectedly quit while playing videos, changing artwork size in Grid view and syncing photos to devices.

 

• Addresses an issue where some iTunes interface elements are incorrectly described by VoiceOver and WindowEyes.

 

• Fixes a problem where iTunes may become unresponsive while syncing iPod nano or iPod shuffle.

 

 

• Resolves an ordering problem while browsing TV episodes in your iTunes library on Apple TV.

 

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/