iTunes Problem

[bzollinger]

I hope you guys can help. I've got iTunes 6.0.5 and my library of many thousands of songs are playing through my 1 gbps network. The mp3s are being hosted on a windows box.

Here's the problem. Randomly within a second or two after a song starts to play it stalls or hangs. A small white blank dialog pops up, the pointer turns into a spinning ball, then the dialog goes away, the pointer turns back into a pointer then the song continues to play. It's about a 3 second delay and it only happens at the beginning of the song.

The network, my G5 dual 2.0 mac and the host computer have tons of headroom, no resource is taxed, and it doesn't happen with every song just 3 of 5 maybe???

Anyone have any ideas??

Thanks,

BZ

 

[mad jew]

Does it seem to be the same song every time? Are they very large files? Do you get this same network slowdown when using other apps such as Finder?

 

[bzollinger]

Does it seem to be the same song every time? Are they very large files? Do you get this same network slowdown when using other apps such as Finder?

No it doesn't seem to be the same song. A song will do it one time and then not another. When I browse the network via finder everything is real snappy, not much lag at all. I only notice the lag when I'm using iTunes.

 

[mad jew]

Okay, so are you using iTunes on the PC and sharing the library or is your Mac's iTunes set to keep its songs on the PC?

 

[bzollinger]

I'm using iTunes on the mac and the files reside on the PC. I've been doing this for almost two years first with a Mac Mini, now with a G5. It seems to have started after the last update maybe??

 

[Nermal]

What mad jew is asking is whether you're using iTunes' built-in sharing function, or whether you're using standard file sharing.

 

[bzollinger]

I'm using standard file sharing. I didn't know iTunes had a sharing option...

 

[Nermal]

Yep, under Preferences > Sharing. The shared music should then automatically appear on your other computers.

 

[bzollinger]

Yep, under Preferences > Sharing. The shared music should then automatically appear on your other computers.

So how does that work if the music is coming from a PC? Do I have to load iTunes, import the music, the share it from there?

Do you think this will help?

A side note: I was watching the network activity on the PC and it was .05% every few seconds. So it's not a network bottle neck.

thanks

 

[Nermal]

So how does that work if the music is coming from a PC? Do I have to load iTunes, import the music, the share it from there?

Yes. I assumed that you already had iTunes installed, but of course that's not necessarily the case.

Do you think this will help?

I honestly don't know. iTunes sharing is designed for music, but I don't see why standard sharing wouldn't work just as well.

 

[mad jew]

iTunes sharing may help however it has a drawback. You can't modify the library from connected computers, only from the original PC. Could it be non-network-related slowdown on the PC end?

 

[bzollinger]

Standard file sharing has worked great for a long time that's why I think it's a problem with iTunes. Maybe I'll try uninstalling and reinstalling it, then avoid the 6.0.5 update if possible.

Thanks for the suggestions.

BZ

 

[2nyRiggz]

^Have you tried the itunes sharing yet before you reinstall?...give it a go first.



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