Some thoughts:

What seems to be the identifiable cause of the slowdown? If you are hearing
a lot of excessive hard disc access, especially with the machine pausing for
periods while that is happening, then you need more RAM.

If the machine is just slow in general at performing tasks, then a new CPU
would be better.

I'm not quite sure why MP3 playback would be an issue. What player are you
using? I find that, on my machine, some players (iTunes 2, Audion 2) just
abuse CPU time with no apparent gain in quality even when I'm just trying to
type. MacAmp and the obsolete WinampMac (and maybe others) offer equalised
playback that doesn't typically take any noticeable CPU time, and sound as
good (MacAmp probably sounds the best of all). If you are running the output
through a sound system and don't require any equalisation, SoundApp might be
even faster.

Oh, and don't get Mac OS 9.anything yet, your speed will drop noticeably ;)

- Daniel.


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