My iTunes library is very large and very slow to update tags and info!?!

Question

My iTunes library is very large and very slow to update tags and info!?!

Hello Friends,

I have a very large iTunes Library, and for the last 6 months or so, it seems that it takes forever to update information on files. Whether that be changing titles, reorganizing or adding files to my library. My library is stored on an external hard drive, a 3gb firewire 800 drive. My xml and itl library files are saved on my internal hard drive in the itunes folder. This was not always the case, and I do not normally experience delays in listening to music or playing video. normally just a half second as the drive spins up. Any thoughts on what might fix this? it is especially pronounced when I'm changing track information.

iMac (27-inch Late 2009), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on Aug 29, 2015 3:38 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Limnos

Level 10

411,193 points

Sep 6, 2015 3:02 PM in response to coffeenowdamnit

What is "very large"?

Quantify "forever".

Is the external used only for this purpose?

How many playlists?

How many smart playlists (this can definitely slow things down)?

How many nested folders?

The more items a library has the slower it gets.

The more smart playlists a library has the slower it gets.

The bigger the files are in a library the slower it can potentially get.

The more nested folders you have the slower it can get.

If the external is used for other things there could be traffic issues, if not so much with the connection but a drive trying to do a lot of things at once.

Depending upon the kind/model/brand of external drive there could be drive characteristics making it slow.

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Answer 2

Sep 3, 2015 3:39 AM in response to Limnos

Many years later, itunes

Why Is iTunes So Incredibly Slow?

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Answer 3

Sep 6, 2015 3:02 PM in response to coffeenowdamnit

I run my iTunes on a SD card with no latency issues. 183 gig of music and TV shows.

I have all my files on the SD card. Why - My xml and itl library files are saved on my internal hard drive in the itunes folder.

Why not keep them on the ext HD?

As noted by Limnos about Smart PL - turn of the 'live update' option on the Smart PL.

Yes I do have multiple b/u of my iTunes.

MJ

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Answer 4

Sep 6, 2015 3:02 PM in response to Limnos

Thank you for responding, sorry for the delay in my response. Real Life does get in the way friends,

What Is Large? - the audio portion of iTunes is 69,780 songs, 505.4 GB

Quantify Forever - for example, when I changed the Genre of a 30 track live album from 'Rock' to 'Rock & Roll' i timed it at 1 minute, 21 seconds. Results are similar if I am changing a few words of description in the get info categories or artwork for an entire album.

Is the External used only for this purpose? - No, I do have about 30-40 GB worth of miscellaneous stuff saved on there, which I will now move.

How Many Playlists? - probably 150-200

How Many Smart Playlists? - 13, most of which i can get rid of. Didn't know this could slow things down so much, expecially when I'm playing tracks that are not on those lists.

How Many nested folders? - roughly 6-7 playlist folders

I will be switching off live updating, and I pruned smart playlists down to about three. I will also do my best to make sure that my iTunes media libary is the only thing on that external, and hopefully be able to fix somethings. Thanks again for all the suggestions and I will let you know how it goes.

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Answer 5

Sep 6, 2015 3:27 PM in response to coffeenowdamnit

And a couple of steps later it looks like reducing the number of smart playlists I have and turning off live updating for all of them did the trick. My field test was to try changing the genre of the same 30 track record from rock & Roll back to Rock and it took a much more respectable 8 seconds. Thanks again to all for your help.

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Answer 6

Oct 1, 2015 9:23 AM in response to coffeenowdamnit

You shoud try Swinsian. I had the same issue 0.8TB Library. Software is paid, but it worth it, check the 30-day trial and see. AMAZING. I've bought it. Hope this at least be a good alternative for you as it has been to me. Check it out http://swinsian.com

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