[Macworld]

Post your comments for Save time when converting iTunes tracks here

[Plan_K]

So I just counted and I have 388 Smart Playlists, all set to auto-update. I'm troubleshooting a problem in which I often experience system freezes when I add (or attempt to add) files to iTunes, including when I convert files from one format to another. (The spinning beach ball appears, I'm unable to Force Quit or Restart, the processor and clock often freeze, and I have to do a hard restart.)
Could it be that auto-updating Smart Playlists are in part responsible for my frequent freezes? I add these playlists willy-nilly and I can easily get rid of many of them and see if that helps. (Is 388 auto-updating Smart Playlists a lot? I'm trying to get an idea of how many is too many.)
I'm also wondering if the hint will work for me. I convert files slightly differently. Instead of using the Advanced>Convert to... menu item, I use Quick Convert from Doug's Applescripts to create .m4b (bookmarkable) files. The script converts the files within iTunes. If I open the preference window after I start a conversion, that should also prevent Smart Playlists from updating and help speed the conversion along for me, too, shouldn't it?

[griffman]

1) It's certainly worth an experiment to delete the ones you don't want.
2) I think this might work, but it might also bomb -- if the script needs to talk to iTunes while it's running (as opposed to grabbing everything at once and doing it's thing), it's not going to be happy when the modal Preferences window shows up, and it will then do nothing until you close the window again.
-rob.

[Plan_K]

Thanks Rob.

You were right. With the modal window open, the Quick Convert script stopped running when it finished the first of 30 file conversions. When I closed it, the remaining 29 conversions continued.

[Panglos]

I don't have anywhere near 388 smart playlists--50, maybe--but once a user accumulates over 50,000 tracks in an iTunes database the slowdown they induce becomes significant. For me, at 100,000 tracks it became serious enough that it imposed decisions about whether and when to make changes to the database and the tracks contained within it. I can't imagine what things would be like with 388 smart playlists. I'd probably end up deleting them and creating them on the fly using ad hoc searches each time, as I'm tempted to do now even without so many smart playlists. More and more often now, the playlist I'm using is titled "Temp".

[Plan_K]

Turns out it was harder than I thought to eliminate my Smart Playlists, I could only part with 40 of them.

So I'm down to 348. But I shut off auto updating on a bunch more. I now have 285 auto-updating Smart Playlists.

It still seems like an awful lot to me. But among housekeeping podcasts, adding order to video and movie content, syncing with multiple devices of wildly varying sizes (Shuffle, Nano, 4G iPod, iPhones, Apple TV), and keeping things fresh and varied and interesting and relevant without forgetting my fabulous back catalog musically, I'm not sure I can cut more Smart Playlists without losing what makes iTunes special for me.

(By the way, I have more than 11,000 items in iTunes, including video content, weighing in at nearly 300 GB.)

We'll see if this Smart Playlist Diet reduces my instances of freezing.

[d9c9]

Could you not just turn off "Live Update" in the smart playlists by editing them? This could take a long time I suppose if you have a lot of smart playlists.

[Plan_K]

I shut off Live Updating on as many as I could. But I do want the others to regularly update automatically, so I still have 285 Smart Playlists set to Live Updating. Shutting off Live Updating would reduce the functionality of iTunes for me. I'm hoping that by reducing my Live Updating Smart Playlists by 100 will help things run smoother for me. (And who knows, this might not even be the source of my freezing problem.)

(Sorry, I see now that d9c9 wasn't addressing me. I apologize for steering the discussion away from the topic at hand.)
Message was edited by: Plan_K

[Plan_K]

Plan_K said:

Quote

We'll see if this Smart Playlist Diet reduces my instances of freezing.

Nope. Removing 40 Smart Playlists and unchecking Live updating for another 60 or so was not the cure-all for my freezing problems when files are being added to iTunes. The Mac froze this morning while podcasts were downloading after I manually refreshed my subscriptions.

[Stormchild]

You can also reduce iTunes slowdowns by eliminating third party apps that regularly scan the iTunes library, such as scrobblers (Last.fm, iScrobbler, ScrobblePod) and hotkey/remote control interfaces (Synergy, Cover Stream, CoverSutra, etc.). Utilities such as Quicksilver and LaunchBar also scan the library; this feature can be turned off in both.

[Plan_K]

Thanks Stormchild.

I know it's been more than a month since you posted your advice but I have done some testing and it seems to have helped.

I use LaunchBar, so after you posted your advice, I went into the LaunchBar index for the iTunes Library and unchecked Update automatically and turned on Update periodically for once a day.

The system still froze on me on March 6 and March 11, still unacceptable, but for the previous month, I was averaging freezes once every two days, so this was a slight improvement.

Then iTunes 8.1 came out. I upgraded on March 12 and for two weeks, experienced no freezes. During this time, I still had LaunchBar updating the iTunes Library index only once a day. I wanted to test what would happen if I put it back on automatic. So I did on March 27 and on April 1, I experienced another iTunes-related freeze. So after that, I again shut off the automatic indexing and set LaunchBar to update the iTunes Library index only once a day. And today, I have gone seven days without freezing.

While I think iTunes 8.1 solved the bulk of my problems, adding speed and stability to the app, I think shutting off LaunchBar's automatic indexing of iTunes helped, too. Plus, I'm sure it didn't hurt that I further eliminated smart playlists, bringing my total to just above 200.