Spinning Wheel iTunes Mac when I first search on each boot

I put solely the Folder : iPhone Software Updates back into the (newly auto-created) iTunes in my User/Library Folder, and relaunched iTunes, and immediately did a search. No spinning beach ball!

Then I quit and added a few other things from the old User/Library/iTunes Folder, which is now sitting on my Desktop. I relaunched iTunes, did a search and the spinning beach ball returned. 😟 Ironically, I removed everything from the User/Library/iTunes Folder except iPhones Software Updates (containing my backup, presumably) and THIS TIME, when I launched iTunes, the spinning beachball returned! - Even though, when it was the first (and only thing) I placed back in this Folder, the spin was gone, now that other items from the old Folder had been put back in, (even though they were subsequently re-removed) ... the spin-delay DID happen. I now removed the iPhone Software Updates file, and relaunched iTunes, and the spin-delay was gone again.
Finally, with the User/Library/iTunes Folder empty (and iTunes not launched) I reinserted the iPhone Software Updates Folder back IN this Folder, and launched iTunes. Once again, there was NO spinning beachball when I clicked on search and typed in a few letters.

Now it is the following morning, and the spinning wheel delay has returned.

I tried a variety of database removals from my Computer/Library/iTunes Folder, being careful to save and put back things that may prove problematical removing.

Results were erratic.

My current 'fix' is to count to 2 or 3, before clicking in the Search field in the iTunes main window.
I am expecting the spinning beach ball to come back, but that's what I have for now.

As soon as I posted the above post, I reopened iTunes, and clicked on a song file to play it. It began playing promptly, but then, as it played, I clicked on the Search Field and the spinning ball did indeed come back for 5-7 seconds, as was the problem that inspired this thread.

I will continue to troubleshoot this. BTW, there are NO plug-ins in either the User/Library/iTunes/Plug-ins folder, or the Computer/Library/iTunes/Plug-ins Folder. Indeed, there is not even an iTunes folder in the Users/Library folder any more. But in the Computer/Library/iTunes, there is an (empty) iTunes Plug-ins folder.

I have just noticed that when iTunes first boots up, just below the Search field, a little cloud icon appears, with grey diagonal lines scrolling through it for a second.

It's possible that if I wait for that to disappear (it takes maybe a second to do so) - I won't have any spinning beachball waits.

This is strange because I have EVERY reference to the Cloud switched off in my iTunes Preferences.

I just discovered and clicked on File/Library/Organize Library/Reorganize Files in iTunes Library.

This did about 15-20 seconds of disk/file work, as evidenced by a progress bar with fast text underneath it, but little if anything was changed as far as the spinning beachball is concerned.

However,

My current understanding, subject to further surprises of course, is that now, if I wait for the little 'cloud icon' under the Search field after iTunes has launched, to go away (about 1.5 seconds), then I can search with no spinning beachball enforcing a 7 second pause. BUT if I first click on a tune to play it, and, while it plays, I click in the Search field, then the spinning beachball DOES come back for its full 7 seconds of glory. Whether this will persist, and whether it has anything to do with my ReOrganizing Files in the iTunes Library, I don't know.

Perhaps with 74.69GB of music, this is to be expected as a database is loaded. Even with 16GB RAM and a 2TB SSD.

Is it me, or is it Apple?

And every once in a while, I will click in the Search Field a second or two after launch, and the spinning beach ball WON'T appear, and I don't have to wait 7 seconds to find the tune I'd like to play.

SO I have learned nothing, and I'm sorry to have wasted others' time here, although perhaps it will help some other sufferer of the same issue.

Thinking that perhaps my iTunes Library was corrupt, I then removed the following file:

iTunes Library.itl

As expected, my Playlists were all gone. The only songs listed were songs in the cloud with a little 'download me now?' icon to their right.

AND STILL, I got the 7 seconds of spinning beachball, when I clicked in the Search Field.

So perhaps this problem has nothing to do with my particular Library of songs, or its 3.7MB database (.itl) file.

SO, I put my iTunes Library.itl file back where it was and did the following:

I tried removing the following folders from the User/Music/iTunes/ folder:

Previous iTunes Libraries

and

Mobile Applications.

For the next two iTunes launches, there was no spinning beachball, and Search was available immediately without a delay of 7 seconds. Then, the third time, the 7 second delaying spinning beachball was back.

The spinning beachball is back the first time I click in the Search Field, regardless of 'counting to x before I click in it'. But only once per launch of iTunes.

12.7.346 is the version of iTunes. And, as I stated earlier MacOSX 12.6.