Version:           2.3.1-GIT (using KDE 4.4.3) 
OS:                Linux

Iam using a Remote collection mounted using sshfs; its on a "Online-Harddrive" from strato.de, and needs some time to open a file.

If i Expand a Artist (lets take Elvis with 50 CDs) it takes 50 secounds (yeah, 1 sec per album). As all needet information is in the Database except the Cover, which is only stored as path-to-file which ends up in Album dir (Folder.jpg, you know), i guess it is because amarok is fetching the cover at first expand. after each amarok restart again.

First thing to improve that is to fetch the covers asyncon like ampache service does - it first shows the default cover image and replaces it with the right one as soon as it is loaded. I guess this will also give a Performance inprovement for local collections and all what is mounted from somewhere.

2nd thing sould be to cache the cover thumbnails somewhere, so they dont need to be rescaled every time again. based on modification time, the thumbnail can be updated (ansyncronous too :)). I guess this may be part of the upcoming "Dynamic Collection", but caching sould be generic because also local hard drives are slow media. thinking of Netbooks with slow ssd drives.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
place some albums of one artist on a slow media... you can use your webspace with ftpfs (fuse). then expand.

Actual Results:  
needs ~1 Second per Album, expanding elvis takes 50 seconds where amarok is completely freezed and unuseable. (very bad if you accidently klicked such a artist)

Expected Results:  
Instant-expand without freezing :) well, 1 secound delay sould be okay.