I have tested the latest trunk. Playing starts when everything, also the cover art is loaded. I think, that is the better behavior. The long skipping times seem really to be caused by the cover art. Skipping without covers takes about 1 second. Skipping with covers takes about 6 seconds. Do you think, that this is caused by converting the cover? The most covers were used earlier and mediabox already created an item in the album folder. I don't think, that this is caused by the sdhc card.