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iTunes slow while Browsing Covers

K

keyshawn

Cancelled
Original poster
Aug 23, 2005
42
0
Hi,

I have an iBook G4, 512 MB of ram, and iTunes 7.0.2
When I browse my iTunes library (about 6,300 songs or so) on the coverflow option, it runs extremely slow, and is unable to flip through the songs evenly.

Given my library's size, is this normal ? How do I remedy this ? Does it automatically download the artwork when I browse [and play] a song everytime ? Could I just store the artwork in iTunes so it wouldn't have to retrieve it ?

Thanks,
will.
 
It's the "iBook G4" and "512MB" of RAM part that explains why it's slow. No, your artwork is stored locally, but CoverFlow is a pretty hefty-feature in terms of graphics requirements, mostly because:

A) It has to load all those covers into your graphics card's RAM. On such an old machine, I'd assume you only have 32MB of graphics card RAM. So...

B) It has to store whatever won't fit in graphics card RAM in your system RAM and then move those back and forth between the two. Since you don't have a lot of system RAM, that's a problem. Plus...

C) It has to load those covers from the hard drive in the first place, which is slow.

Combine all that with your less-than-current processor and... yeah, it might be best to just browse the usual way.
 
Count yourself lucky I can't even use coverflow - the album are quire often just a picture of what I recon static looks like, and the same goes for the control bar.
 
Boosting your RAM should help a little. It is still sluggish on my powerbook sometimes with 1.5 GB of RAM though, but it should be an improvement over what you currently have to deal with.

I think it may use the processor a little bit too, because it runs better on my iMac G5 with the same amount of RAM.
 
m-dogg said:
Boosting your RAM should help a little. It is still sluggish on my powerbook sometimes with 1.5 GB of RAM though, but it should be an improvement over what you currently have to deal with.

I think it may use the processor a little bit too, because it runs better on my iMac G5 with the same amount of RAM.
Click to expand...

I got a 1.7 processor and 256mb RAM so that is probably it :( :( :( :(
 
I have a PowerBook G4 1.33 17" w/ 2 GB RAM- coverflow is slow on it as well. Scroll... wait to load album art... scroll... wait, etc.
 
Yep,

My GFX Card is 32 MB's.

I purchased this in August 2005 [brand new] and I'm a bit surprised it's already running sluggish.

I can understand the coverflow issue but it's sluggish if I'm running itunes, stickies, quicksilver, mail, and firefox with 6 tabs or so open.... Am I asking too much from my iBook ?! (I know it would be I had photoshop or autoCAD..)

I just thought my iBook would be able to handle tasks like that for the next 3-4 years [with an upgrade or two, which I have not done yet]. That assumption is from hearing other mac loyalists who use their laptops for a while and the Apple marketing campaign that promoted long-lasting stability...

/sorry for venting frustrations

thanks for the responses,
will.
 
shunpike said:
that is a lot of RAM for a slow processor isn't it?
Click to expand...

It was as much RAM as I could stuff in there when the machine was released 3 years ago. I routinely have to work on massive Photoshop (1+ GB) and FCP files while on the road and every bit of RAM helps. I've used the machine with only 1 GB in it and I can seriously see the difference with 2 GB.

I intend on snapping up the next revision of the 17" once Adobe ships a non-beta (stable) CS3. I'll probably max out that machine when I get it as well.
 
I just got a MacBook C2D with 1G of ram, and coveflow works really slow when I startup itunes... but after i browse the covers back and forth a couple times it runs flawlessly... I presume then that what's slowing it down is loading the covers from the hard drive (true?)... if so, would it help to lower the resolution of the covers? (I download my covers manually and always choose high resolution images)... It'd take ages to find and replace all the covers... (I don't have a itunes account and can't use autodownload) is it worth it? :confused:
 
I believe iTunes has to download them first unless you have manually chosen artwork (not from iTunes store) that is why it is slow.
 
shaulzofef@yaho said:
I just got a MacBook C2D with 1G of ram, and coveflow works really slow when I startup itunes... but after i browse the covers back and forth a couple times it runs flawlessly... I presume then that what's slowing it down is loading the covers from the hard drive (true?)... if so, would it help to lower the resolution of the covers? (I download my covers manually and always choose high resolution images)... It'd take ages to find and replace all the covers... (I don't have a itunes account and can't use autodownload) is it worth it? :confused:
Click to expand...

Probably loading stuff off the HD...my MacBook Core Duo 1.83 with 2GB RAM goes slow while loading the artworks, but once its done its fine.
 
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