iTunes 8: the tunes are the lowest priority

I recently downloaded iTunes 8, when it was released, in fact, and it's becoming increasingly clear that the music is the lowest priority for iTunes nowadays. In the last few major releases (from about version 6 onwards), iTunes has merely been a vehicle for the software improvements in the iPod and iPhone, to the point where playing music is being sacrificed.
Now my Apple iBook G4 isn't exactly top of the line - it was the most basic model when I bought it in Autumn 2005 - but iTunes 8 is crippling it. Simply scrolling through my (admittedly large - 9000+ and counting) selection of songs causes iTunes to freeze for up to 40 seconds at a time. I tried to counteract this by downloading an older version of iTunes, that doesn't have all the useless add-ons that I won't need, since I don't have an iPhone (and have no particular intention of getting one), but this was scuppered by the fact that I can't find one on the internet that will actually install onto my machine.
This can easily be fixed by Apple - all they have to do is release an iTunes Lite, that simply plays songs and syncs iPods - as was the intention of the software when it was created. I like iTunes, but the increasing excess baggage the updates are loaded with is wearing my patience thin. I may have to switch allegiences to another media player, but frankly, I don't want to - I just want my iTunes to function.