Two days. No new media showing up in the listings, no smart playlists updating.
Then, it all suddenly started working. Near as I can tell iTunes was uploading my library to the cloud (though i told it NO) and putting everything else on hold.
A bit off topic but HOW THE FCK do I switch off the setting that makes iTunes want to connect EVERYTIME I FCKING start it and moans about it with a $(&* ERROR message