Q: Why is it so slow to download a movie on iTunes?  They take 7-8 hours.  I have tested my modem and router speeds and they are both indicating that it should only take 20 minutes.  What is wrong?

iTunes Store: Download times will vary

          http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1577

Yeah, no.  Normal variance would increase download time slightly - it should not take more than 25 times the estimated download times to download a movie.

I am having this problem too.

It's taking me 6+ hours to download a 1.5 GB game. That's pathetic - I know I can download files bigger than that in less than an hour.

What the heck is going on!?

Yup, having the same problem - in South Africa where downloads are notoriously slow, but 20 hours for the Hobbit!!?? Will buy the disk tomorrow and Apple can take a running jump with its pathetic iTunes crap.

I rented a movie and it´s taking more than 20 hrs to download (and paying!) and I already pressed play!. It´s easyer and faster to see the movie for free in any streaming website. It is pathectic!

I have a 50x5 Mbit cable business class modem in my house (doing that give me priority bandwidth over other residences).... The most I EVER get from the iTunes Store is 4-5MBytes/sec (about 35 Mbits)... Usually I get 1-2 MBytes/sec to iTunes or any device

My guesses are

1) Apple just doesn't have the bandwidth during certain times

2) I notice they throttle accounts. If I download an entire hd season, I start out fast, the it slows after a few hrs... Im guessing apple has a max data cap per day then slows you down.

Absolutely ridiculous. My time to download one movie is 106 hours? The heck with it. I'll stream them from Amazon from now on, Apple. Thanks for nothing!!