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Airtunes stops after end of song.

I use an Airport Express (model with 802.11n) only to stream music to my stereo. The wireless is disabled and my laptop is connected to the LAN directly (read: not using wireless anywhere). I can connect to the AE using the Airport Utility without fail, the AE's LED is always green, and iTunes on my MBP is set to Shuffle (read: music does not stop...ever). The AE is running the latest firmware (7.4.1), the MBP is running Leopard w/ iTunes 8.

The problem is after a random number of songs (from 3 to 10, rarely beyond), Airtunes stops playing music. Note, this only happens at the END of a song, and never during a song in progress. The visualizer in iTunes continues throbbing, so I know music is still streaming from iTunes. In fact, the network switch between my laptop and the AE continuously blinks, as if traffic is still being sent to the AE. However, there is no sound out of the AE (using it's analog out). I have to pause or stop the current track, then hit play, for Airtunes to work again.

This began happening since upgrading to the latest firmware (7.4.1). I've reset the airport multiple times, reset its configuration, and still get the same results. When Airtunes drops out, I've checked the AU and found the Airport still active. I've checked the log, and it's empty aside from the connection established messages and the ntp clock sync messages, both of which happen outside the time of the airtunes drop out.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

MacBook Pro 2.0, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Mar 21, 2009 4:49 PM

81 replies

Dec 16, 2009 9:18 AM in response to counterpoint

I know that a previous post by Counterpoint says the problem is only present via the analog out on the Airport Express and not TOSlink. Can anybody else confirm this? If so - and as Counterpoint suggests - maybe this is a timing/sync problem between the Express DAC and iTunes.

I do have less problems with failure to play when I play sequential tracks then when I play random tracks. The random playlist might introduce more lag and thus the sync issue. Also I have no problem playing songs stored on my local machine. I only get this random stopping issue when I'm streaming from another machine. Again this streaming might bring on a syncing issue with the DAC.

Dec 19, 2009 4:54 PM in response to fdawg4l

+1

- Music is stored remotely on a Time Capsule, streaming to an Airport Express
- Have only noticed it happening on music purchased from itunes (rest of music stored in Apple Lossless), but since it doesn't happen consistently I can't really test

Dec 22, 2009 10:32 AM in response to ryandickey

I have this issues with Apple Lossless files. Does anybody else see the "Connecting to URL" dialog box right before the songs stop playing? This box pops up at the end of a song and right before the music playback goes AWOL. My setup is a Macbook Pro connected to a shared library on a Mac Pro streaming music to Airtunes.

astepp

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Dec 22, 2009 5:53 PM in response to fdawg4l

I use an AE 802.11n connected thru a switch (hardwired only) to stream tunes from a windows PC. I have the same problem with airtunes as everyone else in this thread. It is interesting that after I lose my connection to AE from iTunes, that I can still see the AE thru my network software with a status of online and active. This leads me to believe that the problem resides in iTunes/airtunes software.

Anyway, after a lot of experimenting, I went into iTunes preferences (edit, preferences, advanced). In the advanced tab, the default setting for *Streaming Buffer Size* is medium. I changed the setting to large. Since then, I have done several things that would normally cause the streaming connection to be lost and the AE is still connected. Has anyone else tried this?

astepp

Level 1

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Dec 22, 2009 8:17 PM in response to astepp

This proved to be something that extended the time between failure. Back to the drawing board. I am going to try the mini-to-toslink cable next.

Dec 24, 2009 10:03 AM in response to astepp

I tried an external DAC (Cambridge Audio DAC Magic) hooked up to the Express and that does not fix the problem for me.

Unfortunately it seems to be some sort of software/network issue and I don't know what else to try. As it works sometimes - I can't think it is a firewall issue. The problem is much more pronounced during random playback which leads me to believe it is some sort of syncing issue between the computer managing playback, the computer from which the playback machine is accessing a shared library, and the Express. I am not using wireless - only wired connections.

Dec 26, 2009 5:17 AM in response to fdawg4l

I had the same problem, Airtunes playback stopping after end of song (btw, using TOSLink from AE to ifi). The problem disappeared after I moved the iTunes library back from NAS (WD MyBook World Edition) to the Mac's local HD. I figured that when iTunes fetches the next song for playback, it's taking longer than expected go get it from NAS, some streaming buffer runs dry and playback stops.

For me it's quite disappointing to have the music library on local HD, but it beats having to stop and start iTunes after every other song.

Dec 29, 2009 10:30 AM in response to frank_123

Having the library on the local machine fixes it for me as well but, like you, this "fix" is a disappointment. I guess we just have to wait for another update to either iTunes or AE to fix this.

Feb 16, 2010 10:28 AM in response to KaiKane505

Was there ever a solution for this? I continue to have this problem, with both digital and TOSlink connections. Indeed, even when the music has stopped, the digital "source" lights on my Marantz receiver continue to show that the receiver is receiving some sort of signal from the Airport Express (both 802.11g AND n)-- just no sound.

Shame on Apple to just ignore this!

Feb 16, 2010 12:12 PM in response to agentsjrc

No fix as of yet. Still waiting.

Devoster

Level 1

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Feb 20, 2010 2:46 AM in response to KaiKane505

Here's another disappointed user with the same problem. Still waiting for a fix.

Feb 21, 2010 8:35 AM in response to Devoster

Perhaps some new light...

The problem I've been experiencing (for the past several months) is extrely similar to the original post.

I run the iTunes app (9.0.2.25) with three Airport Express units.

But today,I happened to be playing iTunes WITHOUT being connected to my wireless network (so, audio was only coming through my machine) and an instance of the audio stopping between songs happened.

I can only assume the problem is NOT with AirTunes. Rather, it must be with a particular version(s) of iTunes and/or some sort of file format/transition as an earlier post alluded to.

Mar 8, 2010 5:43 PM in response to fdawg4l

I went researching on this problem earlier today. I first was aware of this when I went to buy the airport extreme, reading the reviews. When I got the unit and set it up, I would get at least 45 minutes to an hour without it cutting out. Well, I think it has been 4 months and it has been doing it after EVERY song. I have been used to just pressing play/pause after each song, or just hitting next. Today I got sick of that and found this forum. After reading through the first page, I tried the crossfade idea. This seemed to work, but I hate crossfading. A lot of my songs I listen to don't fade out, so it annoys me. I decided to read through the whole article and found a suggestion on buffer size. I unchecked crossfade and tried this instead. While doing this, I reset everything in my system; my router, wireless HD, airport express, and macbook. After starting fresh, the songs would now "skip" in throughout the song, and quite frequently. I set the buffer size back to medium, but it still does it. When I put the audio back to my computer it played without skipping. And, to top that, it started to skip a little on my computer as I'm typing this (but not nearly as much as using airtunes to the AE). I would gladly love to go back to it cutting out at the end of every song than not even being able to play a song right now. My settings are back to normal, and it is still doing it.

How is Apple not getting this?

Mar 8, 2010 5:47 PM in response to agenthucky

Oh, AND all my songs are under 200kbps.

I don't think one thing is causing this problem, but rather the problem is amplified by all of itunes connections and buffering. There is a frequency to the problem that changes with people's settings. Perhaps reformatting the mp3s to a lower bit rate makes them easier to stream and the problem doesn't come up as much, but it isn't a solo fix for the problem. This is really sloppy.

Mar 20, 2010 8:40 AM in response to fdawg4l

Same problem -- after years of no issues, now the same issue: stops after every song and the iTunes hangs for bit and then I have to stop and play. This is RIDICULOUS.

Airtunes stops after end of song.