Apple AirPort Express - Streaming Music on iTunes - Frequent Music Drop out

Hi guy, I found the following solution works on my Macbook.

Application--> Utilities--> Airport Utility

Change the "Channel" setting from "automatic" to any other number, such as 9.

Then I don't experience any drop-out problems so far. Hope it works on your mac too! 😉

I'm already fixed on Channel 1 because of the surrounding WiFi Routers being on various channes, 6, 11, 9, etc. Still have the drop outs.

Arrgh -
I moved and set up a whole new network yesterday. Airport Extreme, MacBook Pro w/30" monitor, Drobo and bluetooth printer. Nearby I have an Airport Express with Bose Companion 3 speakers. Last night streamed radio from iTunes for hours with no problems. Today dropping like crazy went to music from the hard drive, same problems. I can't listen to music this way!!!

Now at least I know I didn't set it up wrong with this many people having the same problem.

have the same problem..so do a lot of others


http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1715679&tstart=0

Warren

i'm trying to download a pre-8.0 version of I-tunes to hopefully cure this same problem, but it won't allow me to override the 8.0 version on my computer now. how have others been able to get the old version installed? thanks

those ads we all love are looking a bit sorry now...don't base your marketing image on the boast of seamless software and simple integration when we, your user base, are having problems like this

Well I fixed the channel on my router's (after doing a area search to find out which channels are in use) then also set the robustness setting on the airport and now its fine, if you still experience problems choose another channel as some one in the area may have a hidden router.

anyway worked for me good luck...

Definitely concur here. First attempt with the Airport Express was with iTunes 8, in front of parents who had bought me the Airport Express for Xmas. Kinda embarassing to have the 1-5sec drop outs coming every 30-60seconds, with the connection to the remote speakers failing completely shortly after. That's on a Linksys router which has been rocksolid, with all devices in the same room, so no chance of interference/poor signal.

On downgrading to iTunes v7.6.2.9, I've managed to very easily hook up to my speakers remotely via the Airport Express. It's been going for at least half an hour now, with no dropouts.

Note of warning though - the library made with iTunes 8 can't be opened with iTunes 7.6. You will need to export your library first before downgrading, later importing it back in again. I managed to do the import/export without losing any info, although playlist (inc Party Shuffle) got a little mixed up.

PS Now happily listening to a new Evanescence album properly on decent speakers for first time ! 🙂

optical wrote:
Well I fixed the channel on my router's (after doing a area search to find out which channels are in use) then also set the robustness setting on the airport and now its fine, if you still experience problems choose another channel as some one in the area may have a hidden router.

anyway worked for me good luck...

How did you search which channels are in use? I was dropping on 1 tried 4 with no luck now on 10 without luck.

OK,

I spoke with Apple Care today. They know that this is an issue. Here are the steps we took....

1. Try the different channels. For some reason the odd work better than the even and try channel 11 as people have had luck with it. (still skipping out for me)
2. If you have newer equipment that can all access 802.11n then you can go into the airport utility and have your network only use "n". There are less devices on n so less chance of interference. (not one skip since doing this YEAH!)
3. Go back to the old version of iTunes and keep a lookout for a bug fix in an iTunes update

I am now a happy camper again.

I've been having the same problem and I just found a fix that is working for me. Using iTunes 8, an Airport Extreme, and a new Airport Express, iTunes would stream to the Express but would cut out for a second every 5 seconds or so. I found an application called Autobahn (http://www.getautobahn.com/) that I observed grabbing some network activity. I uninstalled it and the problem disappeared. The file won't show up in a Spotlight search, it is invisible. If it's on your Mac, there's an uninstaller located in USER/Library/Application Support/Swarmcast (that's where it is in 10.5.5). Good luck!

Hello All

Have the same problem and find it quite frustrating. My music system is compromised as I stream wav files from my AX hard drive to two AE (digital out) to stereo and iPod HiFi. I note that my network signal (as shown by Airport Radar) is much generally less strong after the 10.5.6. install. Prior to this install the network would fade during activity but maximum strength was higher. It this a latency issue with a hard drive mounted on the AX? I do not get these drop outs with internet radio but, then, the bandwith is much smaller. Good luck to all. I certainly hope that Apple is working on this with their complete attention as iTunes / iPod / music server is the basis of their most recent successes.

Warren

How do you go back to an older version of itunes? I downloaded the previous version but it will not allow me to install???

I'm so glad i came across this post. How can we change the subject to "iTunes 8 jams wireless connection" or something like that, so that we all know when Apple fixes this nasty problem? It's taken me forever to figure out that the issue is NOT related to:
- Airport Express
- BT hub
- Vista

I've had the airport express and the BT hub for a long time, everything working fine with a Win2000 laptop streaming audio via iTunes 7 over a linksys wireless card (the airport express is a client of the home wireless network).

With the Vista laptop (Vaio AW), when streaming wirelessly with iTunes or Airfoil (it uses the same AirTunes DLL I think), the connection stalls and no application (IE7, outlook, etc) can use the wireless connection until I manually disconnect/reconnect (the BT hub is fine as other laptops, VoIP phone, etc keep working). It started in early December, when I installed the latest MS updates and iTunes 8, and I was biased towards being a problem with Vista or the Intel Wifi chips.

Now I'm almost convinced that it is related to the AirTunes DLL in the latest version of iTunes.

Question: has anyone solved the problem on Vista with iTunes 7 (which exact version, where to download an older iTunes)?

If you only experience the occasional dropout, ok; it may be related to interference from neighbouring wireless channels (I had eliminated almost all dropouts by selecting a channel that is 2 channels away from the neighbours with the strongest signal).

Many thanx.

Problem has existed ever since the Airport Express was first put on the market. I purchased on at the introduction and another a few months ago. Neither work. Not even upgrading my base station.

I have have found AppleTV streaming works better. But it still drops alot, too. Atleast with AppleTV there are no annoying messages that pop up on the screen.

Apple is starting to become another Sharper Image, "lots-o-promise, but mostly lots-o-crap."