iTunes Store eats processing threads
While iTunes itself is not a tremendous processing resource hog (about 1 to 3 percent CPU usage and 11 to 13 threads when idle), leaving the iTunes Store as your active selection in iTunes can jump the CPU usage to between 6 and 10 percent and add two to three threads when idle.
If you're needing to process anything requiring a lot of power and you've got iTunes open, being sure that the iTunes Store is not the active selection in the iTunes sidebar is a good place to get some extra oomph. Mac OS X Hints user … Read more