iTunes won't open after updating to 12.3.1

This did it! Thank you so much!

I followed mehdieaubonne95 instructions using the Terminal to remove 12.3.1. It worked!!! Thank you very much.

I used TM to reinstall my own version of iTunes 12.3 (as I don't trust software downloaded from 3rd parties) and now iTunes is working fine again.

Still laggy, as version 12 is horrendous but at least I can use a frikin' music player again.

Lesson learned: I will never update Apple software until a few weeks have passed and checked here in the communities that the Apps are usable.

News for me: I do create a new user and all works perfectly (12.3.1). Problem remains with my old, administrator, user. Preferences already deleted...

I Thank everyone in this forum for coming up with a work around. It was a very frustrating 2 days but all is well again after reverting back to the previous version. Thanks again!

Agreed!

Terminal removal and reinstall worked perfectly for me, thanks again to all.

As an iTunes user since v1, this was honestly the worst issue I have ever encountered with the program. It's beyond a joke: the 'world's most sophisticated operating system' (TM) choking while trying to play an mp3, on top-spec hardware, in 2015.

And as usual, no acknowledgement, no apology, no fix. Time to think different, indeed.

I removed iTunes 12.3.1 with Terminal like suggested and downloading the earlier version that was suggested, it works, also submitted a trouble report like was suggested. Hopefully Apple will fix iTunes.

Try tuning off itunes match and under preferences parental disable everything including itunes store) - then it worked a little faster.

Apple has truly become an incompetent and uncaring company. I am sick of them and their products.

Over the weekend I posted feedback at Apple bug problem with Itunes pointing to this thread - as complaining here will not get the problem to Apples attention - so no fix.

did it take a long time to reload iTunes...little cloud that indicates downloading on for awhile...it automatically opened on "For You" so not seeing anything but the cloud loading right now (been about 30 minutes)...

YAY!!! finally working...got download of previous version as indicated by Macs Pain (thank you!)...and did the terminal entry to remove 12.3.1 and finally back in biz...wonderful, wonderful folks...providing answers that Apple not seemingly able to in this case....was on phone with them earlier today and this solution was never suggested...and problem never fixed ...until got right solution here 🙂

When 12.3 first appeared I upgraded and had the same problem as others. So I deleted and went back to my previous version.

After awhile I decided to upgrade. All worked well under 12.3.1 until today. For some reason a few hours ago I started having issues. Nothing had changed, I started the program and spinning beachball.

I tried reinstalling 12.3.1, 12.3. Nothing. I also tried downgrading to 12.2.2 but that didn't help either.

My Itunes library is just over 1TB and sits on a NAS.

I'm going to leave the beachball spinning to see what happens.

I suspect I'll need to rebuild my entire library yet again. This is not the first time Itunes updates have caused me problems.

I remember the days when I made fun of my Windows updates...seems so long ago! 🙂

Update: I left that little beachball spinning. Had some cookies and milk. Read some other forums. Brushed my teeth and low and behold all is working well now.

Just to make sure, I quit iTunes and reopened it. I can rest easy until the next update!

elombardi wrote:

Update: I left that little beachball spinning. Had some cookies and milk. Read some other forums. Brushed my teeth and low and behold all is working well now.

Just to make sure, I quit iTunes and reopened it. I can rest easy until the next update!

You did the correct thing walking away and letting it do its thing -- better would have been to not do any other tasks while whatever was rebuilding was running so that itunes had maximum memory to work with.

If what happened is normal than the only fix that Apple should add - is a message to say -- Go have some cookies and milk - I am in the process of upgrading your database. If you look in your user/music/Itunes folder there may be a Previous Itunes Library folder that has a bunch of of dated files in them where the date is the last update to itunes you processed. Mine are all 135KB small so its not the actual library - maybe just a key.

I did the same thing, and also got iTunes to open. It will even do some easy commands. I got it to write two playlists to cd, though it took a long time. I have about 400 movies in my library, to watch on my TV through Apple TV. This no longer works.
I thought I could go to my backup, which was last updated before the upgrades. To my amazement, I found that my iTunes updater installed the new version on both my main disc and my backup disc. I didn't tell it to do that, and didn't even know it was possible. My El Capitan updater only updated the main disc, not the backup. So I'm screwed on iTunes.