I have a balky copy of iTunes consuming system resources, and to not respond to system commands

iTunes offers so many features these days it does not surprise me if something like Genius, or Apple music, or some other network feature is what is slowing things down. You can reinstall the application but with something that is getting progressively worse with time it is unlikely your installation is wearing out like tires on a car. It is more likely your library or features working with your library that is causing this.

One thing to try is hold down the option/alt key while starting iTunes and create a test library. Does it take the same amount of time to start? How about if you disable some of the new features such as turn off Apple Music?

If you really want to reinstall, download iTunes and delete the old copy (and I would recommend backing up first!!).

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

Apr. 2015 Niel post: Re-install iTunes application - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6990002?answerId=28055467022#28055467022 - delete the old application first, with instructions on how to do that.

April 2015 LincDavis post with a bit more detail on the method Niel outlines - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7002727?answerId=28101611022#28101611022

A similar technique by Ben.d using Terminal to delete the application - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6985231?answerId=28036630022#28036630022

Other things to look at are excessive playlists (some people make a playlist for every album 😟 ), many smart playlists (constantly recalculating), nested folders.

The system performance has been degrading over the past several months.

Only in iTunes, or in other ways as well?

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad and start typing the name.

The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select

SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages

from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

View ▹ Show Log List

from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then take an action that isn't working the way you expect. Select any lines that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.

The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.

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