iPod Large iTunes library users

I'm running nearly 1.5 TB through a 13" MBP with only 2 GB ram and I'm definitely dealing with latency/drag. However, when running the same iTunes library thru a mini w/4 Gb ram, I experienced very little latency at all. I always assumed it was primarily a ram issue but if you're running 8 GB, well, you've got me stumped.

Exactly the same problem here.

Have a 2010 core i7 2.8 with 16gb, and a 400+Gb music library, (the library is located on a Thecus N4200), and there is definitely lag when scrolling through the library.

My only consolation is that it runs a damn sight better on the mac than it ever did when i was running on PC's.

Would be interested to hear if there's a solution.

I had a 1.9 TB library but it is because TV shows and movies take up so much. My music is only about 23 GB, Podcasts are about 90 GB, Audiobooks under 10 GB. No problems with scrolling. It is an external drive.

I separated it out recently because I wanted to break up TV shows into separate smaller categories. I created separate accounts on my Mac and from my Apple TV I can see for example see my Cartoon Library, Movie Library, Music Library, Classics, etc, all at the same time. It is perfectly organized. I now have over a dozen separate libraries. My primary library has my music and apps for my iPhone and I can always transfer what I need to my primary library when I want to watch something on the go.

Didn't have to break up the library because of any performance reasons though.

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I also experience the lag. Music accounts for nearly 400gb and another 500gb of video. I always assumed the lag was because of external HDD. I am looking at updating to an iMac when updated with the hope that I can place everything internally.

Habitus said:

Are you running your library through an external drive or internal drive? If internal, what drive do you have?

Habitus

Click to expand...

Using 2 GB WD external. Actually, since my last post, got a 27" iMac... 3.06 processor & 4 GB ram... VERY little lag/latency at all.

gbandy said:

Using 2 GB WD external. Actually, since my last post, got a 27" iMac... 3.06 processor & 4 GB ram... VERY little lag/latency at all.

Click to expand...

Didn't you mean 2 TB?

1 terabyte (TB) is 1,024GB

oh and what port are you using firewire or usb?

maril1111 said:

Didn't you mean 2 TB?

1 terabyte (TB) is 1,024GB

oh and what port are you using firewire or usb?

Click to expand...

You, sir, are correct. And I'm using FireWire 800. That might be a factor in response speed.

I notice that everyone is talking in terms of number of GB. Isn't the number of items more relevant.

For example, I'd have thought a 200gb music library would be more Ram hungry in iTunes than a 2TB movie library. Or are we not talking about navigating around the library.

For the record, my iTunes is fairly snappy, both on my MacBook (music and music videos only on an external HDD) and on my iMac (Music and video spread over two external and the internal drive).

In my experience this is the case. The number entries in the database seems to impact usability more than the size of the files to which those entries point. This and how the drive containing the media is attached seem to be the two biggest factors in my use.

KeithJenner said:

I notice that everyone is talking in terms of number of GB. Isn't the number of items more relevant.

For example, I'd have thought a 200gb music library would be more Ram hungry in iTunes than a 2TB movie library. Or are we not talking about navigating around the library.

For the record, my iTunes is fairly snappy, both on my MacBook (music and music videos only on an external HDD) and on my iMac (Music and video spread over two external and the internal drive).

Click to expand...

Exactly correct per number of entries. My library includes about 4 TB of movies, but adding those 4k entries to the database produces almost no lag. My 1TB of music on the other hand and the tens of thousands of database entries...

I think that the ultimate source of the lag is the size of the itunes library file.

As iTunes is essentially rewriting the database file whenever you do something like rename a song, you literally are waiting for the program to write the 70MB+ database file before you can begin scrolling through it again. I've found that moving from mechanical hard drive to SSD greatly improved my performance due to the faster file read/write speeds. Likewise, in some instances, I've found my CPU maxing at 100% as iTunes processing the library file. The program is not multiple cpu aware, so oddly a 3.0 ghz dual core cpu is faster working with iTunes than an octo-core 2.4 ghz machine.

It seems to me like somehow "segmenting" the database file is the ultimate solution to this problem, or just waiting for tech to allow insanely fast ssds and cpus (or properly multicore aware).

I have 750 GB of MUSIC COLLECTION , BUT MY MAC PRO HANDLES IT LIKE CHARM

itunes bought stuff is far smoother in terms of scrolling than the stuff I have added myself.

What I can't understand is why Coverflow can be so smooth in Finder, but in iTunes it's so bleh. Surely the Coverflow used in Finder could be used in iTunes as well.

I used to get some lag on my Core Duo but on my Core 2 Duo iMac it's perfect.

I am running from the internal hard drive though, and my library isn't quite as big as some people's in this thread (14k songs over 65GB).

650 GB library (about 17500 items) on an external WD My Book Studio (2 TB) connected via Firewire 800. Takes a couple seconds for the drive to spin up when I start iTunes, but once it's going it scrolls with no lag.

I'm on an iMac i5 with 4GB RAM.

Damn you people are lucky.
I gave up on getting new music as my 867 G4 from 2001 can't handle more then the 17900 music files I have on a Firewire 400 drive.
However I finally have the $$ to get a new computer after 10 years!
Why so late? (Many medical issues). My PC in my sig is a hand me down.
(No I don't trust XP to store my Music) it would be a major pain to redo everything if I lost it to a virus)
Where is that iMac update?