Airtunes stops after end of song.

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Level 1

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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

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Answer 1

Conal Ho

Level 3

503 points

Mar 22, 2009 2:56 PM in response to fdawg4l

I have the exact same problem. I have two Airport Expresses. For one Airport Express, it stops playing music after each song. For another Airport Express, it stops after a random number of songs. iTunes is still playing because the bar is moving but there is no sound. Any solution?

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Answer 2

fdawg4l Author

Level 1

0 points

Apr 5, 2009 10:10 AM in response to Conal Ho

I haven't come across a solution yet. In the interim, I keep the little front row remote within an arms reach and pause/play when the music drops out.

Would be nice if someone from Apple could respond.

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Answer 3

May 4, 2009 1:36 PM in response to Conal Ho

Was google searching for "Apple airtunes stops playing", and came across this thread.

I have the exact same situation happening here. I've been using Airport Expresses for years now. The first two were the 802.11g models. They worked flawlessly. One was set up as a base station, the other as an extender, both in "airtunes" mode, connected to speakers, PERFECT HARMONY!

Then I upgraded to an Airport Extreme base station and one Airport Express 802.11n model last month. This is when the problems began. Music will play just fine, for a while. iTunes shows that the music is still streaming, but no sound. Have to reset the speakers by selecting "computer", and reselecting the remote speaker, again. Plays just fine.

I thought my Powerbook was at fault. Seems to be a problem with the Airport Extreme/Express units.

Please fix this, Apple!

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Answer 4

May 4, 2009 7:10 PM in response to fdawg4l

Hello fdawg4l;

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hmm, this might not be helpful but how do you have IPv6 configured? This is an old article about [AE & iTunes|http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2278] and suggest that IPv6 be enabled. Also, because there's a Switch between iTunes & AE, try a direct connection between them and see if it persistent. And if that didn't change anything then try this although it sure will sound weird. Manually configure the Ethernet to 10baseT/UTP using full-duplex, flow-control.

Good Luck.

Buzz

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Answer 5

May 25, 2009 7:56 PM in response to fdawg4l

I had this same problem, and I seem to have found a temporary solution.

After downgrading firmwares, trying wds networks etc, the solution seems to be to tell iTunes to crossfade songs 1 second during playback. It's not noticeable on most songs, and it seems to do the trick.

This leads me to believe that the issue is with iTunes and the way it handles buffering to the Express. I highly doubt this solution will help people with normal audio drops (that occur during the song), but if your audio is dropping between songs, you might want to give this a shot and see if it solves the issue. If it's not helped by crossfading 1-3 seconds, I'm not sure what to do other than making sure multicasting is set to the maximum, but whether that does anything is up in the air.

Apple really ought to take a look at this bug in iTunes, it's just plain silly.

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Answer 6

May 25, 2009 8:13 PM in response to As The Penguin Flies

Copying over again from my thread on this issue...

Addendum: This may have also been resolved by my setting everything to a fixed channel (in this case 149), as I did both the crossfade and the channel change at the same time. I'm testing it without the crossfade right now and I'll let everyone know what the result is.

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Answer 7

elleff

Level 1

0 points

May 28, 2009 5:54 AM in response to As The Penguin Flies

I was having a similar issue, iTunes would play over airtunes for one song and then stop. I would have to switch back to my computer speakers then back to remote speakers after each song.

I've tried switching the multicast to maximum (24mbps) and this seems to have solved the issue. It is early days though but I have managed to play through 5 tracks with no stopping... amazing! Thanks for the suggestion Penguin.

I haven't read through this thread exhaustively so sorry if this is covering old ground but the crossfading between songs seems to help if you have your itunes music on a Time Capsule since it goes to sleep after a short time; if you crossfade it forces it to stay awake.

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Answer 8

May 30, 2009 8:33 PM in response to Buzz Lightgear

I have a similar (but opposite) problem.

If I have IPv6 switched on on my iMac, my Airtunes functionality does not work. The moment I switch IPv6 off, it works.

I have an older 802.11g - only Airport Express which I think is M9470LL/A
The router is a Belkin F1PI241EGAU 802.11g router.

I am considering upgrading this to a new Airport Extreme Dual Band, but any ideas as to why I must disable IPv6 appreciated.

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Answer 9

elleff

Level 1

0 points

May 31, 2009 11:11 PM in response to elleff

Yeah, I spoke too soon, I've gone back to stopping after each song... very frustrating

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Answer 10

elleff

Level 1

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Jun 1, 2009 4:01 AM in response to fdawg4l

I've been doing a bit of analysis on this problem and I'm pretty confident that it's to do with the kind of encoding that's been used to create the file.

Looking at the 100 or so songs that I've played today I can see that the ones that did not stop after each song were AAC. All the songs I've purchased from iTunes and the ones that I've encoded recently. I used to encode in MP3, so the vast majority of my files are MP3.

I'm hoping that everyone on this thread can confirm that this is the issue because then at least we know what the problem is and hopefully it can be fixed by Apple going forward. It certainly sounds plausible because others here have posted that the issue seems to be random... I certainly thought it was.

If this is the issue, it would explain why I found Airtunes stopped more frequently when I was shuffling through my whole music collection.

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Answer 11

Jun 22, 2009 1:22 PM in response to elleff

Hey, I have had the same problem since an update to something - but cant remember what because I updated my Express, Macmini, iPod touch all around the same time!

I have experimented with all the things in the last post - tried the 1 sec fade and experimented with mp3s and ACC files but cannot find any correlation at all???

Anyone got any further with this?? Apple any solutions???

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Answer 12

andrewth

Level 1

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Jul 4, 2009 4:24 AM in response to fdawg4l

My setup has starting having this problem too.
The only thing i can think of that's changed is that i moved my itunes library from the main disk to a 2nd hard drive to free up some space on the boot disk. I didn't notice it before then.
Very annoying bug.

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Answer 13

Jul 17, 2009 8:21 AM in response to andrewth

I have the same problem but with Apple TV (v2.4) and Airport Express (802.11n)connected with ethernet (not wirelessly). Music on all speakers (appleTV and airport express) stops after each song in a playlist when AE speakers are switched on (but not after songs purchased from i-tunes). The next song appears to keep playing on the screen, just no sound. Only between songs too.

I am new to all of this. This is my first post. Can anyone tell me if there is a way to tell Apple about this and ask them to fix it - it seems to be a definite fault, not a user error.

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Answer 14

Jul 18, 2009 1:18 AM in response to fdawg4l

I have the same problem. I don't see any correlation with encoding. I store the music files remotely on my timemachine. Do all the people here who experience the problem have their music files stored remotely?
And since network traffic is as normal when the problem occurs, I tend to think the solution is not in some network setting. It used to work well, no network setting has changed since then. Only firmware and iTunes.....

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Answer 15

eggman51

Level 1

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Jul 20, 2009 10:17 AM in response to epicenter

I have this problem as well.

CONFIGURATION:
- 2 Airport Express routers; both with speakers connected; both with wired connections; both with wireless DISABLED
- 1 Airport Extreme
- 1 Apple TV playing content stored on the ATV

All devices are updated to latest firmware.

There are other computers and devices, including an iPhone 3GS with Remote Application. However I can create / reproduce the problem with the above configuration.

PROBLEM:
After some portion of time with the Apple TV playing music to the AirTunes speakers, the music will stop playing at the end of a song. Typically this will be from 3 to 12 songs into listening. It is always at the end of one song / beginning of the next. The Apple TV still "thinks" it's playing the song, but no sound is coming out of ANY of the AirTunes speakers.

EDITORIAL:
VERY frustrating. It's all Apple gear, connected via wired network. The situation is typically worse with the Remote application in the mix, but because that adds a wireless element I've left it out for now. This is VERY frustrating as I have considerable time and money spent on an all apple solution with the hopes that it would just "work".

Eamonn

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