ITunes freezes briefly when un-pausing near the end of a long file

Question

On the 1.6GHz G5 pro, 10.5.7 and iTunes 8.2 (and the problem occurred in earlier versions as well).
I wouldn't notice this issue with 3-5 minute songs, but it's getting to be a problem with e.g. podcasts of several hours' duration. When the elapsed time cursor is over, say 30 minutes into a file, and I un-pause the playback, it will take maybe 5 seconds to begin playing. During this time, the only functioning element of the computer is the mouse cursor, and that only in movement. Clicks are queued but do not apply until the playback starts. Keyboard input is likewise queued. Monitoring the system with top(1) in the terminal or using the system monitor doesn't reveal anything - the displays freeze until play restarts. The system even stops responding to pings. Here's the trick - if I un-pause the replay even further into the track, say, an hour and fifteen minutes, it can take up to fifteen seconds of freeze before everything starts working again. If I pause, drag the time cursor back to the beginning, and hit play, play starts immediately and I can drag the cursor back to where I was with no freeze or interruption. It's only when I un-pause into a long file that the system freezes.
Any ideas?

Answer 1

I did find a workaround - note the time, drag the slider back to the beginning, and un-pause. It will start immediately. Then, drag the slider back to where you were in the file. It works, but it's really annoying, especially since this problem never happened until recently.