[Squirsier]

So I finally acquired a new laptop. Samsung r580, Core i3, 4 gigs RAM, Nvidia 310m (I can play Half Life 2 again! ), but I have a strange problem with iTunes, one that weirdly, I've had with another, older computer, although this old computer was running Vista.
 
Ripping CDs is very slow. Max I can get is around 4x ripping speed, 6x w/o error correction. EAC works alright. 
 
The weird thing is, I've had this problem before. Had an old computer running XP and decided to upgrade to Vista. Before, under XP, it used to rip CDs at max 20x speed, and after I installed Vista, 4x max. I didn't think much of it, as it being an old computer, several things could account for that slow ripping speed, like not enough memory for Vista's overhead.
 
But now, the same thing with this new laptop... It's odd.
 
Yes, I could use EAC... But the thing is, I'm in the process of re-ripping my CDs to ALAC, from 320k, and iTunes very conveniently makes it really easy to replace the old rips with the new ones..
 
Anyone has experienced this, and possible has a solution?
 
Thanks

 

[Hybrys]

It should be noted that iTunes isn't a threaded application, so it can only take one core of your CPU power to work.  Seeing as you have a budget line i3, that might be your issue.
 
It could also be something to do with the fact that you're running a 64bit OS.

 

[xxbaker]

My only guess is that perhaps you changed versions of iTunes and the newer versions are slower at ripping.  They might have slowed it down because previous versions would easily get errors on scratched CDs.
 
Edit: I don't believe it's due to clockspeed, the compression of the files is an order of magnitude faster than the speed to pull the .wav from the CD.  It could be a driver issue though relating to a 64-bit OS - I didn't think of that.

 

[Squirsier]

Quote:

It should be noted that iTunes isn't a threaded application, so it can only take one core of your CPU power to work.  Seeing as you have a budget line i3, that might be your issue.
 
It could also be something to do with the fact that you're running a 64bit OS.

Thanks for the answer. I did download iTunes' 64 bit version, tho I wonder how much of a difference that can make. All I know is, all my 32 bit apps are working great anyway.
 
As for the CPU, I had a Core 2 Duo (t4400) laptop prior to this one and it would rip fine, under XP and Vista (tho I never tried Windows 7), contrary to my old computer.
 
Odd thing really, wouldn't one core of the i3 be more powerful than one from the C2D t4400?
 
Or maybe it's the way Windows 7 treats those cores? Because the CPU meter gadget I have reports 4 cores - which I know the i3-330m doesn't have (tho it has 4 threads).
 
Mind you, this is the only issue so far with this new laptop. I runs everything w/o a sweat and has never heated up at all, the fan barely works on it, even when playing games!
 
Thanks for the fast reply

 

[Hybrys]

Quote:

Thanks for the answer. I did download iTunes' 64 bit version, tho I wonder how much of a difference that can make. All I know is, all my 32 bit apps are working great anyway.
 
As for the CPU, I had a Core 2 Duo (t4400) laptop prior to this one and it would rip fine, under XP and Vista (tho I never tried Windows 7), contrary to my old computer.
 
Odd thing really, wouldn't one core of the i3 be more powerful than one from the C2D t4400?
 
Or maybe it's the way Windows 7 treats those cores? Because the CPU meter gadget I have reports 4 cores - which I know the i3-330m doesn't have (tho it has 4 threads).
 
Mind you, this is the only issue so far with this new laptop. I runs everything w/o a sweat and has never heated up at all, the fan barely works on it, even when playing games!
 
Thanks for the fast reply

I'm fairly sure that the 64-bit iTunes is just compiled to be compatible, not native 64-bit.  You can test by opening the program, then opening the Task Manager.  Find iTunes.exe in the process list, and if it says something like 'itunes.exe (*32)' then it's just running in a 32 bit environment.
 
The i series has two threads for each core, but these threads report in Windows as one core each, so itunes is only theoretically using HALF a core of processing power.  That would indeed make the C2D pull ahead.  (Half a core vs a full core)
 
Another thing you can try is disabling UAC.  I do that on all my computers anyway, but there might be something with iTunes slowed down by Win7's weird displacement stuff...

 

[Squirsier]

Quote:

I'm fairly sure that the 64-bit iTunes is just compiled to be compatible, not native 64-bit.  You can test by opening the program, then opening the Task Manager.  Find iTunes.exe in the process list, and if it says something like 'itunes.exe (*32)' then it's just running in a 32 bit environment.
 
The i series has two threads for each core, but these threads report in Windows as one core each, so itunes is only theoretically using HALF a core of processing power.  That would indeed make the C2D pull ahead.  (Half a core vs a full core)
 
Another thing you can try is disabling UAC.  I do that on all my computers anyway, but there might be something with iTunes slowed down by Win7's weird displacement stuff...

 
Thanks for the tips. The half a core issue involving the 4 threads came to my mind when I posted the reply. iTunes still is faster than with my old laptop tho, just that CD ripping thing.
 
I disabled UAC, rebooted, and it's the same. Guess iTunes has some issues somewhere!
 
Edit : OH and you're right ; it's a 32 bit app!