iTunes stutters when in background

Question

Level 1

12 points

iTunes stutters when in background

Upgraded to Mac OS 10.10.5/iTunes 12.2.x this morning. Now iTunes will not play when the screen saver comes on. Itunes also stutters when I had safari in full screen mode while it was playing but didn't stutter when Safari wasn't in full screen mode but iTunes was not the foreground application. Albeit this is on an older Mac but if the software isn't going to work, my Mac should not be supported by the upgrade.

iMac (20-inch Early 2009), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Aug 29, 2015 10:50 AM

Reply

Answer 1

gyolland Author

Level 1

12 points

Aug 30, 2015 4:12 PM in response to gyolland

I found this is only occurring when I connect to AirPlay devices. I have an Apple TV and an AirPort Express attached to audio systems in different parts of the house. This in how I generally listen to music, playing from iTunes on my Mac to one or more AirPlay devices. if any AirPlay device is involved iTunes will stall and stutter when playing music. And, for the record, the music is local in my iTunes library, not in the cloud.

The issue does not occur if playing through the Mac's speakers without an AirPlay session, even if the Mac's speakers are external connected via Bluetooth.

Reply

Answer 2

Aug 31, 2015 5:15 AM in response to gyolland

Hi gyolland,

Your iMac is about the same vintage as mine, and I'm definitely feeling the strain. I suspect there's nothing to be done about it, other than possibly reverting to an earlier version of the app.

I'm holding out some hope for the forthcoming El Capitan, which as I understand it is supposed to be a "Snow Leopard" type of upgrade, with an emphasis on performance and efficient code rather than new features.

Wish I could be more helpful!

Reply

Answer 3

TosaDeac

Level 1

37 points

Apr 28, 2016 12:39 PM in response to richard grant

Exact same behavior going on here in my house! My set up is an iMac running 10.11.4, iTunes 12.3.3.17, AppleTV version2 and the newest generation Airport Express. I've noticed that as I listen to music in my iTunes library all is well if the iTunes window is the main window open, but as soon as I have it in the background (like as I am typing this in Safari) the music will randomly drop out..but as soon as I bring iTunes to the front again, the music clicks back on without me doing anything other than having app open as main window on desktop. Same seems to happen if I leave my iMac with iTunes as main window open but then the screen saver comes on. Once I wake the computer the music starts right back up. Tried putting iTunes in another "desktop" as the only app open and still seems to happen (navigate to that window and music comes right back on).

Anyone have any thoughts? Is this a bug in the newest version of iTunes, don't ever recall this happening before but is making music listening unbearable!

Reply

Answer 4

TosaDeac

Level 1

37 points

Apr 28, 2016 2:03 PM in response to TosaDeac

Addendum: Found that if I let music play through the iMac at the same time as using Airplay to the Apple TV then no stuttering regardless if iTunes not main window open or iMac screensaver on. It's a work around, but not a solution to the original issue. Airplay hasn't been the answer to Sonos I had hoped it would be.

Reply