'I have been using Spotify for a few weeks. It works smoothly usually but sometimes it is so slow when I try to navigate, search and stream songs online. What is worse Spotify is not responding too. Anyone else has encountered the similar issue?' - Question from Reddit.
Spotify slow streaming is not a new issue. Many users has complained it from Spotify community. As a result, Spotify released the Spotify Lite version for slow iPhone and Android phones.
However, there is not a lite version for the desktop computers Mac and Windows. If you are still haunted by the Spotify laggy streaming issue, please just read on to find the best solutions here.
If you’ve been updating your Mac OS to the latest version macOS High Sierra and the download is pretty damn slow, though you have a fast internet connection. We’ve tried figuring out what is the cause of the problem or there are secret hidden settings to enable to fasten its download speed. You might have heard about this before, but a smooth start-up helps to speed up a slow mac. When it takes less time by your Mac to launch, it takes less time to do anything. For instance, if you try to open Safari or Chrome on a perfect MacBook Air, it will open instantly without a hitch.
Part 1. Why Spotify Is So Slow on Your Mac Computer
Spotify slow streaming is caused by many factors.
The first reason you can think of is slow internet connection or not stable connection. As an online streaming music, Spotify is combined with DRM protection. Whenever you listen to songs, Spotify need to stream the songs from its server online directly. Even if you download Spotify music offline with the premium membership, Spotify needs to verify you are a legal subscribed user.
Second this can be caused by Spotify cache files. Spotify use the cache file to avoid keep downloading data from its server directly. However, if you have used Spotify for a long time, there maybe some errors on the cache.
Finally, if your device is lacking of memory or storage, your downloading maybe stuck there.
Part 2. General Ways to Fix Slow Spotify Streaming
Reset your network connection
Sometimes even if you have a fast internet connection, it could be idled sometimes. So you can preset the 'reset' button on your router to reset the Wifi network. Also, you can switch the Wifi connection to a wire VLAN connection.
Clear Spotify cache
If you are using a Windows PC, you can follow steps to remove Spotify folder:
- Step 1. If Spotify is open, you can close it first.
- Step 2. Open the Windows Explorer.
- Step 3. Go to the following path by copying & pasting it to the address bar:
“C:Users[Your User Name]AppDataLocalSpotify”
- Step 4. On the opened window, you can delete the storage, data and browser folder.
For Mac computers, you can delete the contents from the following Spotify folder directly:
'/Users/[Your User Name]/Library/Caches/com.spotify.client/Storage/'
Reinstall Spotify desktop client app
If you don't want to manually locate and delete the cache files, another best alternative solution is to remove Spotify and reinstall the latest Spotify app. It will not only reset everything to fresh but also fix any possible bugs of downloading and listening to Spotify music.
Free your memory and storage
If you are running too many programs on the background, they will occupy your memory. You can try to stop the other apps. If your local drive is running out of space, please delete some useless files or move some of them to your external hard drive.
Try to use the Spotify Web Player
With Spotify Web Player, you don't need to download or install any extra app, just run the browser and directly login your Spotify account to stream music online. This will surely runs faster.
Part 3. Ultimate Way to Solve Spotify Buffering Issue on Mac
Unlike local songs which you will never encounter the slow streaming issue, sometimes even if you have fast internet connection, powerful hardware, you will still likely to have the Spotify streaming laggy issue.
This will affect your listening experience.
If you'd like to enjoy Spotify music smoothly without buffering, why not download Spotify songs as MP3 local songs?
Many users don't even it is possible to do that because Spotify don't officially offer such an option. But that is very easy, you just need to use a best DRmare Music Downloader for Windows/Mac.
Then you just need a few clicks to extract any songs, playlists, albums from Spotify in batch. The converted MP3 songs will be with 100% original quality.
Note: DRmare Music Converter is only for personal use, so please don't try to sell the converted songs for making money.
Best Spotify Music Converter of 2019
- Download spotify music to MP3, M4A, M4B, AAC, FLAC, WAV with ease
- Run at 5X converting speed, save you lots of time to get your songs
- Empower you to listen to Spotify songs offline without premium on any devices
- Reliable and powerful features, works well forever with every updated Spotify app
Now you can follow the steps to solve the Spotify slow streaming issue.
- Step 1Import Spotify music
- You can drag & drop the Spotify song, playlist or album to the DRmare software easily.
- Step 2Choose new output format
- You can click the format icon and then choose a new output format for the downloaded Spotify songs. Here I'd choose MP3 which is a universal format works well any Android, Windows, Mac and iOS devices.
- Step 3Batch convert songs
- Just click 'Convert' button and wait a few minutes, your songs will be downloaded offline. When it is done, you don't need to worry about the Spotify laggy streaming issue anymore.
iTunes, as the iOS helper, never stops receiving the complaints from users. iTunes running slow is one of them.
'Tunes 12.6 runs extremely slow on my Dell Windows 10 computer.'
'iTunes 12.7 is really slow Even scrolling through the album view is a problem.'
'I just spent two hours on iTunes 12.8 on Mac, but nothing downloaded …'
The reasons for explaining why iTunes is so slow vary, but the solutions to make slow iTunes run faster are similar.
Here, we will share the top 10 free ways of fixing slow iTunes and speed it up right now.
Solution 1: Disable Unnecessary Services to open iTunes faster
Step 1. Open device tab in iTunes
Run iTunes and choose 'Edit', then select 'Preferences' from its drop-down menu. Turn to the 'Device' section to see iTunes slow causes. Apple usually open many options by default. So you need to untick unnecessary items manually.
Step 2. Speed up Apple iTunes
You can uncheckmark 'Lock for remote speakers connected with Air Tunes' and 'Look for iPod touch, iPhone and iPad Remotes' options, and you can also go to the 'Sharing' section to untick 'Share my library' option as well. Tap 'OK' to save your changes.
Solution 2: Remove Smart Playlists to make iTunes smooth
Smart playlist is the playlist created by iTunes itself. For getting your iTunes run smoothly, just remove the smart playlist, not delete iTunes playlist.
Step 1. Run iTunes on your Windows or Mac computer.
Step 2. Right click on a smart playlist.
Step 3. Tap 'Remove' to delete this smart playlist.
Step 4. Repeat above steps to fix iTunes slow Mac or PC.
Just for avoiding any music files loss, you could export iTunes playlist to another place on your computer.
Solution 3: Turn Off iTunes Genius to speed up iTunes download
Step 1. Run iTunes on Mac or PC, and sign in your iTunes with account and password (iTunes keeps asking for password?).
Step 2. Open 'Store' from its menu.
Step 3. Choose the 'Turn Off Genius' option.
Then you can disable Genius to turn off Genius Mixes, Genius Playlists, and suggestions for music you might like, which will greatly improve the downloading speed.
Solution 4: Disable Automatic Syncing to fix slow iTunes backup
Step 1. Run iTunes and click 'Edit' on the top.
Step 2. Choose 'Preferences' and locate its 'Devices' tab.
Step 3. Tick 'Prevent iPods, iPhones, and iPads from syncing automatically' below.
Step 4. Press 'OK' to confirm and fix iTunes slow down.
People also read:
Solution 5: Delete Duplicate Files to fix iTunes search slow
Step 1. Open iTunes and go to its library.
Step 2. Click 'View' on the toolbar.
Step 3. Tap 'Show Duplicate Items' to remove overlapping files.
As a result, you will find iTunes becomes fit, and you can get a quick search result from iTunes.
Moreover, if you find iTunes songs useless for you, you are able to delete iTunes songs.
Solution 6: Organize iTunes Library Automatically to fix slow iTunes on Windows 10
Step 1. Run iTunes on your computer.
Step 2. Click 'Edit' and select 'Preferences'.
Step 3. Tap 'Advanced' to untick 'Keep iTunes Media folder organized' and 'Share iTunes Library XML with other applications'. (What is iTunes Library.itl?)
Step 4. Press 'OK' and fix iTunes slow to open Windows 10 and others.
Solution 7: Turn Off Cover Flow to fix slow iTunes import
Step 1. Open iTunes and choose 'View' on its toolbar.
Step 2. Choose 'As List' or other video mode instead of Cover Flow.
Cover Flow can cause iTunes very slow problem heavily. Thus, you can save much system resources by quitting Cover Flow.
Solution 8: Reduce Clutter to speed up iTunes on Mac
Reducing Clutter helps identify large files and files you might no longer need on Mac.
Step 1. Right click the column bar on the top.
Step 2. Untick unnecessary or useless columns.
As a result, you can get cleaner information in your iTunes playlists without causing iTunes 12 slow error, and free up more space on Mac, which helps speed up iTunes on Mac directly.
Surely, for freeing up unwanted or junk files on Mac, you cannot miss Mac Cleaner.
Mac Cleaner is the best cleaning tool to remove junk files, monitor hardware health, speeds up system and more on Mac (macOS Big Sur supported, which helps you speed up iTunes easily. Learn here to empty trash on Mac.
Solution 9: Disable Automatic Downloads to remove slow iTunes download/store
Automatic download feature will bring a sluggish iTunes download and storing. Just disable automatic download feature now.
Step 1. Locate 'Store' in iTunes Preference panel.
Step 2. Uncheck unwanted items like Apps.
Step 3. Unselect 'Automatically download album artwork' and 'Share details about your library with Apple'.
Note: Untick the 'Download high-quality SD videos' option to save more space.
Solution 10: Stop Annoying Message to get a swift iTunes
Step 1. Tick 'Do not ask me again' and similar options.
Step 2. Then press 'Delete' or other buttons when you conduct actions.
Next time you will not see those annoying messages any more.
Turning off annoying message notes will also put your iTunes a swift response.
Wrap-up: Get rid of slow iTunes using iTunes alternative
To avoid iTunes slow problem, you can use an alternative to iTunes to backup and manage iPhone data on computer.
Mac Downloading Slow
Apeaksoft MobieTrans is the tool you will need.
4,000,000+ Downloads
Back up iPhone data to computer/Tunes/iPhone directly.
Why Is My Imac Running So Slow
Transfer photos, videos, music, contacts, SMS, etc. on iPhone.
Create iPhone ringtone and convert HEIC images for iPhone.
Compatible with iPhone XS/XR/X/8/7/6/5/4, etc. running iOS 12/11, etc.
Mac Downloading Slow Air
Step 1. Download and install MobieTrans on your computer. Connect your iOS device with computer, it will automatically analyze your device.
Step 2. Click data type on the left of the main interface. Checkmark the detailed items on the right preview window.
Step 3. Click Add or Export button to import photos, videos, music, etc. from PC, or save photos, messages, videos, music files, etc. to computer.
Besides, you can easily try to restore iOS data without iTunes to get rid of the slow iTunes.
FAQs of iTunes Running Slow
1. Why does iTunes run slow on Windows 10?
One of the reasons is that the junk/temporary files created by iTunes get corrupted or they slow down the operation of iTunes.
2. Does iTunes slow down your computer?
Mac Photos Downloading Originals Slow
iTunes will slow down computer to some degree. Although that isn't the root cause of your computer running slow, but there cases where it can be a significant factor.
3. How do I clean my iTunes space and boost it up?
You need to remove offline songs and useless iTunes files, like cache, cookies, logs, temp, and junk files, releasing space and speeding up iTunes. Delete accumulated iTunes files: used iTunes/iOS software updates. Or you can choose to clean hard drive space by deleting iOS backups, also including old backups created by 3rd-party software.
Macos Big Sur Download Slow
Conclusion
Mac Downloading Slow Speed
This post focuses on top 10 free ways to help you move on slow iTunes. You can follow the 10 tips to speed up iTunes directly. Surely, if you want to get rid of a slow iTunes permanently, just get an iTunes alternative, MobieTrans, which helps you transfer and manage iPhone data on computer directly and quickly.