Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Level 1

10 points

Remote works for a while, then fails to connect

I upgraded my first-gen iPhone to software v2.0, and installed the Remote app. It connects to iTunes on my Mac and it works fine, for a while.

Then an hour or so later, when I launch the Remote app again, it gives me the "Could not find library" error.

The only way to fix this is to close & restart iTunes on my Mac.

Rebooting the iPhone doesn't help. I've got the firewall disabled on my Mac. And the Mac is set to never go to sleep.

The computer is a Mac mini running OS X 10.4.11, with the latest version of iTunes (currently 7.7.1).

Any ideas?

Thanks,

--
Anthony DiSante

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Aug 4, 2008 12:11 PM

27 replies

nodivisions Author

Level 1

10 points

Aug 25, 2008 2:45 AM in response to nodivisions

It's now been 4 days since I switched my Mac mini from a wired ethernet connection to a wifi connection, and the Remote app has been rock-solid for me during this time: it hasn't failed to connect at all.

I've now re-enabled the wired ethernet connection, but I also still have the wifi enabled, each on a different IP address. The Remote app still appears to be working fine this way. In a few days I'll try disabling the wifi again, to see whether that causes the "Could not find Library" problem to recur.

Aug 25, 2008 9:25 AM in response to nodivisions

I've had the sam eproblem and it's driven me crazy. I thought it was an issue with my multiple access points in my house and I spent hours reconfiguring those to try to address the problem. I had the same situation where the remote would work great for 45 minutes or so, and then would just completely refuse to find the library. Restarting iTunes would fix the problem. I hope Apple gets this bug fixed!

Aug 25, 2008 10:11 AM in response to nodivisions

If you're using airtunes to stream music, does this cause the music to stop momentarily while the network connection is reset? This sounds like a great solution, but not if the music will cut out everytime I run the script.

nodivisions Author

Level 1

10 points

Aug 25, 2008 5:28 PM in response to PupFan989

I'm not using AirTunes, so I'm not sure if my workaround would cause the music to dropout. I guess it would depend on whether the AirTunes client (i.e. your AirPort Express, I guess?) buffers the music stream, and if so, how big the buffer is. In my script, I use the sleep command with a value of 5 seconds in between disabling & re-enabling the network, but I suspect it'd work just as well if you lowered that to a second or two.

Sep 9, 2008 9:04 PM in response to nodivisions

It appears that iTunes 8 solved this problem for me. 🙂

nodivisions Author

Level 1

10 points

Sep 27, 2008 11:18 PM in response to nodivisions

For me, this problem was ultimately solved by buying a new router. I discovered that my old router had been dropping its connection briefly about once per hour. This got to be annoying enough that I finally got a new router, and when I did, the problem with the Remote app no longer occurred. So apparently, iTunes and/or the Remote app were unable to survive brief losses in connectivity, despite the fact that iTunes was still able to download podcasts, etc, while my router was acting this way.

Of course others have reported that iTunes 8 fixed the Remote app problem for them, and there's even been an update to the Remote app itself now, so maybe this problem is totally solved now.

4 putt

Level 1

0 points

Oct 17, 2008 5:29 AM in response to nodivisions

I too have been experiencing this issue with much frustration since the app seemed bullet-proof prior to the 1.1 release and iTunes 8. My situation is slightly different in that I'm using a PC as a music server and every time I would try to use the remote, it would lock up iTunes within 1 minute. All network settings are correct and firewalls are disabled. Restarted everything. Still no go.

Then I had the bright idea of uninstalling and reinstalling Remote. Tada! Back to bullet-proof operation! I will continue to try and replicate the issue and report back.

Dec 6, 2008 9:12 AM in response to 4 putt

Has anyone made any progress on this issue? I'm running Vista with version 8 of itunes, and the Remote works fine until I browse into another iPhone app, then returning to the Remote app gets stuck when trying to find the library. It's sooo frustrating!

Help please, this could be a great app if it would just work as advertised!

Message was edited by: RobToronto

Feb 20, 2009 12:26 PM in response to RobToronto

I'm having the same problem with iTunes 8.0.2.20 on Vista. I've tried everything (disabling the firewall, re-installing Remote, etc.) but it no longer works. It worked great when I first installed it, but then just stopped working out of the blue. This is really frustrating!

The machine running iTunes has a statically-configured IP address, and none of my network settings have changed since Remote was working. I can think of no reason why it just quit connecting. It obviously is communicating with iTunes since it shows up and lets me enter the passcode, but then after entering the passcode it just sits there for awhile then beeps, giving no explanation whatsoever about what the problem is.

Mar 27, 2009 2:20 PM in response to Kool Manchu

I have had this issue since I first began using the Remote app.

I know you're streaming from Windows, but I'm streaming from a Mac Pro, using the Remote app on my iPhone 3G. Everything is Wi-Fi. Yes, I have the latest App, latest OS/X, blah blah.

I love Remote - in concept - but in practice it's brutal. It loses its connection almost 100% of the time. I get the same behavior as most of you have described: I can connect fine initially, scan songs, play songs, etc. - then it will drop its connection within a minute or so. "Cannot find library" or whatever... getting it back up via the phone is almost impossible, but restarting iTunes on the host computer is generally more successful. But that's no fun - what's the point of a remote that requires this kind of manual intervention??

And this is a very common occurrence, judging from my Googling on the subject.

Surely Apple is aware of this.. let's hope they update it either via iTunes or the app itself.

mrbort

Level 1

0 points

Apr 3, 2009 10:04 AM in response to aaseagbdfhre

So far, this seems to be working for me... Turned on sharing, gave bonjour specifically the C:\Program Files\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe program subnet level access to the network and so far haven't had the cannot connect to library problem. Still crossing my fingers that this is a permanent solution... will update if it stops being the solution :P Thanks!

nzvegan

Level 1

0 points

May 15, 2009 2:26 AM in response to chunderdog

{quote}
So far, this seems to be working for me... Turned on sharing, gave bonjour specifically the C:\Program Files\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe program subnet level access to the network and so far haven't had the cannot connect to library problem. Still crossing my fingers that this is a permanent solution... will update if it stops being the solution :P Thanks!{quote}

This solved my issue also (oddly it wasn't working when I had my firewall OFF. That's windows for ya).

Remote works for a while, then fails to connect