Griff1324

Q: Why are My iTunes Downloads so Slow?

I have a 30 Mbps internet connection.  When I run a speed test against my connection I almost always hit 30 Mbps.  However, when I download podcasts and other files from iTunes my download speeds max out at just over 7 Mbps.  I ran the diagnostics in iTunes and everything checked out fine.  Any ideas on why I getting such a slow download speed?

Windows 7

Posted on Apr 17, 2012 5:18 PM

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Q: Why are My iTunes Downloads so Slow?

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  • by GHRocker08,

    GHRocker08 GHRocker08 Apr 13, 2014 8:09 PM in response to H555
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 13, 2014 8:09 PM in response to H555

    I'm having ridiculously slow iTunes downlodas too. I'm on Windows 8 on a FiOS 150/65Mbps plan, and changing DNS settings has done absolutely nothing for me. Has anybody else gotten any other methods to work? I know it has to be something iTunes-related because Steam gets me around 140Mbps, but i get 15-18Mbps on iTunes

  • by TallBearNC,

    TallBearNC TallBearNC Apr 13, 2014 9:52 PM in response to GHRocker08
    Level 1 (34 points)
    Apr 13, 2014 9:52 PM in response to GHRocker08

    Apple caps all data transfer speed to any given IP address to about 50-60Mbit/sec during non peak times and 10-30Mbit during peak hrs

  • by TallBearNC,

    TallBearNC TallBearNC Apr 13, 2014 9:55 PM in response to TallBearNC
    Level 1 (34 points)
    Apr 13, 2014 9:55 PM in response to TallBearNC

    I'm on a 144/20 connection. Plus I used to work

    For Apple just outside of Sacramento, CA... Tier 3 engineering support...

    and have friends at sac and Cupertino that confirm stuff like this

  • by Dave Ings,

    Dave Ings Dave Ings May 5, 2014 11:41 AM in response to TallBearNC
    Level 1 (9 points)
    May 5, 2014 11:41 AM in response to TallBearNC

    I recently upgraded my Internet connection from 12 Mbps (bits/s) to 60 (and in practise I get 75 at most major sites). So I am now experiencing this problem as well. On Windows my TV show downloads now average 15.

     

    What I've noticed is that (for me) the issue is Windows specific. I have tested with an iPhone 5s, iPad Air, iTunes on MacBook Air and iTunes on Windows 8.1. It is *only* Windows iTunes that has trouble downloading at my new faster connection speed. Other Windows applications have no trouble.

     

    I have also noticed that during download (on Windows) it is almost as if the disk is thrashing, so that (maybe) the download is in fact I/O bound. This doesn't make a lot of sense, given other Windows apps don't have an issue, but since "64 bit iTunes" is actually a 32 bit process perhaps there is some iTunes specific I/O weirdness going on here.

     

    Has anyone else noticed this too - that it's a Windows only issue?

     

    Dave Ings

  • by StumpyBloke,

    StumpyBloke StumpyBloke May 5, 2014 11:33 AM in response to Dave Ings
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 5, 2014 11:33 AM in response to Dave Ings

    Exactly the same issue with me...and I mean exactly!

     

    On my iMac downloads will come down at about 12MB a second (I do mean megabyte) but on my Windows machine no more than about 2MB. And, as you say, the hard drive is under 100% load constantly when downloading anything from iTunes...again, only on my Windows PC.  My iTunes library is on a separate SATA 6Gbps drive too...so no hardware bottleneck there.  Never have found a fix for it, but have always had the issue.

  • by Dave Ings,

    Dave Ings Dave Ings May 5, 2014 11:46 AM in response to StumpyBloke
    Level 1 (9 points)
    May 5, 2014 11:46 AM in response to StumpyBloke

    I'm desperate enough to fix this that I was on the verge of scratch reinstalling Windows 8.1 (on the somewhat thin theory that some sort of weird I/O configuration error only affecting Windows iTunes had crept in).

     

    But given you are experiencing exactly the same error, a scratch Windows reinstall would seem to be a waste of time. So thank you for posting!

     

    Dave Ings

  • by StumpyBloke,

    StumpyBloke StumpyBloke May 5, 2014 11:47 AM in response to Dave Ings
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 5, 2014 11:47 AM in response to Dave Ings

    You're welcome.

     

    And yes I guarantee a reinstall will not fix it - multiple OSs, reinstalls etc and iTunes is complete crap!

  • by DennisGeorge,

    DennisGeorge DennisGeorge May 26, 2014 11:55 AM in response to Griff1324
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 26, 2014 11:55 AM in response to Griff1324

    Apple Techs. What's the problem with iTunes keeps slowing up and putting up that circle spinning thing for 30sec. every minute and a half? Please, this should be your highest priority.

  • by Mik B,

    Mik B Mik B May 26, 2014 2:35 PM in response to DennisGeorge
    Level 1 (20 points)
    May 26, 2014 2:35 PM in response to DennisGeorge

    "Apple Techs" if with that you mean computer technicians and software developers working for Apple doesn't typically read our posts here. Griff1324 that you replied too is a user just like we're all users as is you. In some cases we're Mac support people from outside of Apple — working for other companies —  with no special voice in where Apple development is focused.

     

    If you want Apples ear you could do bug reports, call Apple for support (paid or if you're eligible free) or go to an Apple store and consult the genius desk.

     

    What you describe in my experience typically means your machine is too weak, have too little RAM for what you ask from it and/or have too many background application running when you use iTunes.

     

    I wouldn't say your issue is typical iTunes behavior, but I do think iTunes is too slow sometimes. I never see the beach ball (that "spinning thing") however and my machine is very old.

     

    Anyway, this thread isn't about the speed of the iTunes application, but about iTunes download speed, so no need to respond further here. Instead start a new thread about your issue.

  • by Alexpawar,

    Alexpawar Alexpawar Jul 14, 2014 11:22 PM in response to DeeHunt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 14, 2014 11:22 PM in response to DeeHunt

    Its Works........ Thanks

    But Not So Much

     

    I Got Increased Speed from 1 MB/S to 5-6 Mb/s on as I have a 100 Mb/s network Speed..

     

    Yet its much better than 1 mb/s.

  • by Jfbarbequer,

    Jfbarbequer Jfbarbequer Aug 9, 2014 12:55 AM in response to Alexpawar
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 9, 2014 12:55 AM in response to Alexpawar

    I don't know why any of you are attempting to defend apple or blame the issue on anyone other then apple its 100% on them I just downloaded a 100mb iTunes update in less then 30 seconds but I've been downloading an item I bought from the iTunes store of roughly the same size and its on hour 5 and only 60% done. They have the bandwith and resources to accommodate us but once they have you're money then there is no need for them to put any more resources into that item because they know you will download it no matter how long it takes cause you already purchased it.

  • by toborock,

    toborock toborock Sep 18, 2014 9:17 PM in response to finaleMile
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 18, 2014 9:17 PM in response to finaleMile

    OMG MAN THANKS SO MUCH>..

     

    this worked for me...
    I dont even know what a DNS is but i was trying to download ios8

    and this worked for me man thanks!!!!

     

    Is apple ever gonna fix this.

    are they to blame.?

  • by jdstrong5,

    jdstrong5 jdstrong5 Sep 20, 2014 11:59 AM in response to toborock
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 20, 2014 11:59 AM in response to toborock

    I was having a terrible time getting anything from Apple of late. Changed my DNS settings on my router to use Google DNS...

     

    8.8.8.8

    8.8.4.4

     

    Instead of 40+ hours to update my iPad Air to IOS 8, it did it in 7 minutes. Everything else coming from Apple is blazing fast now!

     

    BTW, I have 75/75 internet with Verizon FIOS.

  • by Dave Ings,

    Dave Ings Dave Ings Sep 29, 2014 6:23 PM in response to StumpyBloke
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Sep 29, 2014 6:23 PM in response to StumpyBloke

    So here's another odd data point.

     

    I've had to do a couple of IOS 8 restores this week, and during them (Windows) iTunes decided to download the entire 8.0.2 image. The average download speed was 100 Mbps! This is *several* times faster than when (Windows) iTunes is downloading apps or movies. And my hard drive was no longer thrashing - utilization was under 20% versus the 90% plus when downloading apps or movies.

     

    So apparently iTunes can download IOS like a bat out of **** - but not apps or movies!!

  • by SallyITTech,

    SallyITTech SallyITTech Oct 11, 2014 2:53 PM in response to Zach419
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 11, 2014 2:53 PM in response to Zach419

    I changed my DNS to Google as first and OpenDNS as second then restarted my network connection - went from 100kb/s to 3Mb/s - 3 hour estimated download time reduced to 4 minutes!! Thank you very much for your comment!

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