HT204406 Does iTunes match have to look for all music on my computer and send that data to and from Apple every time I open iTunes? This frequently makes iTunes crash before I even get to listen to one song. Installing the latest version of iTunes does no

Question

Does iTunes have to check all my music for match every time I open iTunes even when nothing has changed in the music folder?  This is just one problem I have with iTunes and match.  Every time I open iTunes, the first thing happening is iTunes checking my music and sending the information to Apple and then waiting for Apple to send back information about match. There is a third step that I have never seen iTunes actually reach as it always crashes before finishing this ritual with my music and match.  Since I paid for match I can no longer use iTunes to listen to any of my music. I like having match function on my iPhone because even 128 GB is not enough space to keep a music library and everything else needed on the iPhone.  But it's been a disaster with iTunes on my Windows 7 PC. I updated iTunes recently and the same problem continues.  I can't find any clear description of how match works but it seems if there has been no change to the music folder then the tedious and buggy process of checking all music for match and sending data back and forth to Apple every time iTunes is used should not be necessary.  Is there possibly something I have to change settings for to help iTunes start without so much to do?

Answer 1

If your library was working on your computer and then popped up empty all of a sudden then this might be what you need...
Empty/corrupt library after upgrade/crash
Hopefully it's not been too long since you last upgraded iTunes, in fact if you get an empty/incomplete library immediately after upgrading then with the following steps you shouldn't lose a thing or need to do any further housekeeping. In the Previous iTunes Libraries folder should be a number of dated iTunes Library files. Take the most recent of these and copy it into the iTunes folder. Rename iTunes Library.itl as iTunes Library (Corrupt).itl and then rename the restored file as iTunes Library.itl. Start iTunes. Should all be good, bar any recent additions to or deletions from your library.
See iTunes Folder Watch for a tool to catch up with any changes since the backup file was created.
When you get it all working make a backup!
tt2