iTunes 7.0 Special Report: Slow music importing/conversion: Fixes

CNET staff

Sept. 2, 2009 12:06 a.m. PT

4 min read

Several readers have reported extremely slow importing from CDs and conversions to AAC after updating to iTunes 7.0.

M Gurarie writes:

"Importing is painfully slow - only 0.5x, when previously I had 4-6.0x average (including error correction). I have tested with error correction on and off, and removed 3rd party quicktime codecs. No change."

Guy Urban adds:

"After installing iTunes 7, CD importing slowed down extensively compared to iTunes 6.05. In 6.0.5 I was used to importing at around 20x to 24x. In iTunes 7, import speeds slowed down to 2x to 3x. This was true both in the Apple installed Pioneer superdrive, and with an external Plextor burner. I deleted iTunes 7 and reinstalled 6.0.5, and importing is now back to the earlier fast speeds. (I had upgraded to Quicktime 7.1.3, and still have it. The import speed problem seems to be purely a problem with the iTunes 7 app itself.)"

Al Nilsen adds:

"One major negative change that I'm experiencing with iTunes 7.0 is that the speed of converting an MP3 file to AAC has slowed down considerably. Under iTunes 6.x my conversion speed was usually around 7x (on a 1ghz TiBook) Under 7.0 conversion speeds average 2.2x and have dipped to 0.8x

MacFixIt reader Paul writes:

"Just wanted to let you know that I too have had a drastic reduction in importing CD's into iTunes 7.0. I was getting approximately 12x-20x under iTunes 6.x. With version 7, CD import speed tops out at 11x, with it mostly being in the 4x - 6x range. Other than downloading the most recent iTunes and QuickTime updates, no other changes have occurred. I'm using a PowerMac G5 computer. Hope Apple addresses this problem soon."

Another reader writes:

"I have 2 iTunes databases (2 administrative users) on my 2001 Quicksilver (former 867) with a dual 1.33 processor & 1.5G RAM using 10.4.7. (All software up to date/permissions repaired). The 40G/8330 track user rips at normal speeds (12-15x), but the larger 80G/13,000 track user rips painfully slow (2-3x). Both users reside on a 250G internal drive that is at 70% capacity. This problem is identical on both my internal Pioneer DVR-111D & external Lite On LTR-48125W."

Fixes

Reduce playlists It appears that a large number of playlists can cause sluggishness in iTunes 7.0 importing for unknown reasons. Try reducing the number of playlists in your library, or creating a new library (accomplished by holding the option key while launching iTunes) then re-adding your music Library without the same multitude of playlists, and re-attempting importing to check for a speed increase.

You can then choose revert to your old Library (again, by holding the Option key at launch and making a selection).

Try turning off error correction MacFixIt reader Matt Lopez suggests that turning off the "Use error correction when reading Audio CDs" (in the Advanced/Importing pane of iTunes' preferences) can improve importing speed in some cases.

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