iTunes is storing too much in my Windows 7 Users folder.

Does the actual media exist on the computer? If it does not, the only way to play it via iTunes is to download it from iTunes. That may explain why you're getting all these iCloud files on the system.

I do not have the CloudPurchasesPlayCache folder on my system, but then all of my content is actually on my computer.

There is a great write-up on this topic here: http://confusatory.org/post/14540668389/ituness-icloud-cache

The next question has to be...what good might it do us and how, in this SSD world, can we safely clear the directory?

I have found no native tools in iTunes that help.

The best solution I've found is to use SymLink Creator to create an NTFS junction that redirects the cloudpurchasesplaycache folder to another folder on an alternate disk. Even though my iTunes library is already on my second drive, (SSD for OS and Apps, HDD for media) I have to use a junction to get this ish stored on the media volume.

I have 4GB being used. What directory did you delete? Anymore information on keeping this cache to a minimum?

You can delete everything in the cache subfolder, but as soon as you stream media in iTunes (playing something from iCloud, without downloading it to your library first) the folder will grow. It's bad behavior for iTunes to be using the AppData folder to store persistent media cache when it already has a designated media library, particularly when the library is on a different volume from the OS / user folder (if you use an SSD you probably know what I mean).

The best thing to do is use SymLink Creator, as I've said. You delete the cache folder "cloudpurchasesplaycache", then create an NTFS directory junction (with SymLink Creator) called "cloudpurchasesplaycache" in its' place. The target location for the link is whatever folder on whatever drive you want iTunes to cache to. An NTFS junction isn't much different from a shortcut, in so far as double-clicking it will open the folder you've set as the target. The difference is that when a program reads the contents of a folder it does NOT see a junction as a shortcut; the junction appears to software as if it were a normal folder. So iTunes thinks its reading/writing to ~\AppData\Local\yaddayadda, but the data is transparently being routed to whatever disk the junction points to. It's similar to mounting an entire disk as a subfolder, only it's a folder of a disk mounted inside another disk's directory tree.

For those that use iTunes Match like me, this folder will keep filling up. To resolve this for me and my poor Windows laptop SSD, I set this VBS script to run on a schedule. I could do something similar for my Mac with Automator but I don't have a need on that machine.

Create this file in Notepad and save as ClearItunesCache.vbs. Note the bolded part. You may need to change that to whatever the folder name is on your system.Or you could do one level up but I'm not sure if the PlayCacheInfo.xml is important. This script could definitely be improved so feel free to reply back with changes. I just recycled someone else's cleanup script.

Set objFS = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

strFolder = "%LocalAppData%\Apple Computer\iTunes\PlayCache\00000000060E05B8" 'Path

numdays=2 'Number of Days

today=Now

Set objFolder = objFS.GetFolder(strFolder)

Go (objFolder)

Sub Go(objDIR)

If objDIR <> "\System Volume Information" Then

For Each eFolder in objDIR.SubFolders

Go eFolder

Next

For Each strFile In objDIR.Files

If DateDiff("d",strFile.DateLastModified,today) >= numdays Then

objFS.DeleteFile(strFile)

End If

Next

End If

End Sub