iTunes CPU usage ridiculously high!
why on Earth is it that iTunes uses between 10% and 40% CPU on my iBook @ 700 Mhz, varying wildly between those two extremes, when WinAmp on my "measly" PII @ 266 Mhz uses a steady 5-10% CPU?? Isn't my iBook supposed to be the equivalent of a PIII 1 Ghz, at least? Pentium smoking my a**! 
An MP3 player using up to 40% CPU is kinda ridiculous frankly.. how can one get any work done at the same time? <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />
sorry for the expletives but this kind of blatant abuse of CPU time pisses me off.
ps: both machines have 256 MB RAM. Win2k on the PC, Jaguar (10.2.1) on the Mac.
[Edit: forgot to mention that I disabled all the "effects" in an effort to decrease CPU usage: crossfade playback, sound enhancer, sound check).]
[ 09-21-2002: Message edited by: cygsid ]</p>
An MP3 player using up to 40% CPU is kinda ridiculous frankly.. how can one get any work done at the same time? <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />
sorry for the expletives but this kind of blatant abuse of CPU time pisses me off.
ps: both machines have 256 MB RAM. Win2k on the PC, Jaguar (10.2.1) on the Mac.
[Edit: forgot to mention that I disabled all the "effects" in an effort to decrease CPU usage: crossfade playback, sound enhancer, sound check).]
[ 09-21-2002: Message edited by: cygsid ]</p>
Comments
+ very nice GUI, like most iApps
+ I love the dynamic and instantaneous Search feature: very nifty
+ love the multithreading, that lets you import and continue browsing/sampling at the same time, for example
+ auto-updates the iTunes Folder as I retag files and fix them up. Pretty cool.
+ excellent and pervasive auto-complete function which presents with the next most appropriate item when updating a song based on your library content
+ multiple song editing is very powerful
+ can create MP3 with very high bitrates wihout any optional add-ons unlike Real or WMP
with a few negatives (as usual when it comes to OS X, related to performance.. hint, hint, Apple):
- text editing is very very very slow
- scrolling is very slow
on the pc, there's a soundcard just for that purpose. => CPU usage: almost none
<strong>I guess this calls for Core Audio Extreme?</strong><hr></blockquote>
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
iTunes' massive CPU usage is not exactly news...
<strong>
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
iTunes' massive CPU usage is not exactly news...</strong><hr></blockquote>
well it was news to me that an MP3 player would be so CPU-intensive, being a recent switcher..
anyway I downloaded Audion and it has a much more reasonable CPU usage (10-20% depending on bitrate). Good to see some MP3 players on the Mac can actually go easy on the CPU. I was also able to make use my iTunes-managed music collection, through the "Linked Playlist" feature which maintains the playlist in sync with the contents of a given music file folder. So I'll keep using iTunes for music management (and iPod syncing) and use Audion for playback.
<strong>I guess this calls for Core Audio Extreme?</strong><hr></blockquote>
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
I dare Apple to find a way to export iTunes decodng to the GPU :eek:
Actually, just did some experimenting, and both top and Process Viewer show iTunes running between 9% and 18% CPU usage until you turn the visuals on, in which case it will eat 85% no problem.
I guess it depends rather on what else you're doing, but it does rather look like it grabs as much time as it can.
That said, Process Viewer has proven a tad unreliable in the past...
cygsid, I have to say that comparing WinAmp to iTunes across different platforms isn't a hugely informative exercise.
Apart from which, what else are you doing at the same time as listening to music that is so cycle-hungry that it won't work if iTunes is grabbing 40%? <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
My first post in DH, 0.1% of total (personal) post count.
iTunes has never made my computer sluggish or unresponsive.
iTunes uses with visuals-large 65-80%
w/o visuals 12-20%.
Doesn't seem to slow down anything i'm doing.
I'm not sure what it is doing, but when run under OS 9, it never hesitated at all. I realise iTunes 3 is OS X only, but it performed the same in iTunes 2. I think iTunes 3 is a bit better utilizing system resources, but it still hogs the CPU a lot.
A multi-threaded, memory-protected modern OS cannot run it as well?? Something is wrong here...
Regardless of your system, it worked fine before OS X. However, I have a PowerBook G3 (firewire) with 640 MB RAM. Everythig else runs just dandy, but iTunes will hesitate occationally. It does run up 10%-40% of the CPU during usage. Geez....
Edit-> I am running Jaguar with iTunes 3.0.1. iTunes averages around 18-21%, spanning 16%-45% on my PowerBook.
[ 09-23-2002: Message edited by: Donny ]</p>
<strong>on the mac, the processor has to decode the music. => CPU usage: high
on the pc, there's a soundcard just for that purpose. => CPU usage: almost none</strong><hr></blockquote>
Sure, if you have a sound card add-in, otherwise, decoding of MP3 on PC is also done by CPU. Are you saying that if you add a soundcard to a Mac, the decoding of MP3 is still done by the CPU???
If some of your friend think that OS X is not really multitask made this demo in front of them : i tune and i moovie simultaneously.
<strong>
Sure, if you have a sound card add-in, otherwise, decoding of MP3 on PC is also done by CPU. Are you saying that if you add a soundcard to a Mac, the decoding of MP3 is still done by the CPU???</strong><hr></blockquote>
I think so. on the pc you have to have a soundcard otherwise you'll get no sound. on the mac it's different. we have the sound chip onboard.
so, I really don't know.