Slow downloads from iTunes

Question

Level 1

23 points

Slow downloads from iTunes

OK I figured it might have been my own fault. After installing iTunes 10 (installed OK) I started to download a 1gb movie 2 DAYS later it still has 8 hours remaining - and that includes overnight, on/off peak times for UK and USA. I put this down to all the iTunes 10 software being pushed out, etc.

But I have just downloaded the latest iOS 4.1 SDK seed (2.94gb) in 9 minutes (around 5.5 to 5.7MB/sec - I'm on a 50mb cable connection). So it isn't my connection and it's film about aviation - so not going to be downloaded by the masses.

Something wrong with itunes 10 - has anyone else had movie/download speed problems with iTunes 10?

15" Macbook Pro x2 (2007 & 2010), iMac, iPhone, iPhone 3GS & iPhone 4, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Sep 2, 2010 11:46 PM

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Answer 1

CliveS Author

Level 1

23 points

Sep 3, 2010 12:12 AM in response to CliveS

Just to add. The download speed (for this download) running only iTunes is averaging 39KB/sec!

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Answer 2

djik

Level 1

0 points

Sep 3, 2010 10:41 AM in response to CliveS

Its just taken me 30mins to download 3 tracks!!! I am on a VERY decent connection speed wise and all other dld services are fine!! Guess I wont be using the itunes store anymore!

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Answer 3

AKchowd

Level 1

0 points

Sep 3, 2010 2:57 PM in response to CliveS

Parallel threads going here...just posted this to the other as well:

It can't be an iTunes 10 issue: I'm still on 9.2.1 on my Mac and the times there are pathetically slow too. With download times like this, there's no reason to buy ANYTHING via iTunes. Definitely rethinking my iPad purchase at this point...

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Answer 4

Sep 3, 2010 5:50 PM in response to CliveS

I hate posts that just say "me too"...but I am compelled to say "me too" here in the hope that someone at Apple sees this and weighs in with an answer.

Apologies in advance to those who also hate "me too" posts!

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Answer 5

Sep 4, 2010 6:29 PM in response to Ian Chamandy1

am the last person to pretend to have a solution, but after having issues specifically w/ video download times off of itunes, i came across a thread warning against opendns impacting speeds. i deleted the servers from my files and download time on 1.4gb movie dropped from 3-4hours to 35mins...still not great, but in the right direction.

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Answer 6

Sep 20, 2010 5:04 AM in response to AKchowd

1.4 GB movie took about 4 hours to download. I have a 4 MB/s connection that tests fine. Please iTunes, move to your new datacenter in NC and get us some good bandwidth access.

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Answer 7

Sep 20, 2010 8:23 PM in response to CliveS

Same problem here. Took me 4 hours + to download a 1.4GB tv episode. I have 600 KB/s download. Really , really, really unhappy about this.

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Answer 8

Nick0423

Level 1

20 points

Oct 2, 2010 12:47 AM in response to CliveS

My iTunes was slow on the downloads too. What used to take 20 minutes is taking hours. Everything else is still blazing fast. I was using OpenDNS so I took out their DNS servers and used my ISP's. the download I was using went from 4 hours to 15 minutes.

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Answer 9

Oct 15, 2010 10:36 PM in response to Nick0423

I concur, I was about to return my apple tv because of the slow downloads of rentals. I had no issue with netflix or podcast steaming just iTunes content. Called support and they had no solution. Then I read this thread and turned off open dns and went back to comcast dns server...voila speeds were dramatically faster. Went from 600k/sec to over 6mb/sec

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Answer 10

HeyJP

Level 4

2,399 points

Oct 22, 2010 4:00 PM in response to BigPoppaJerome

Just downloaded a 1.75GByte movie... took 2 hours (1 Mbit/sec). I am on a 25 Mbps download service. Ran a test while it was downloading and got my full 25 Mbps verified. Not my Mac or my network issue!!

Jim

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Answer 11

Weirdo23

Level 1

0 points

Nov 30, 2010 3:11 PM in response to HeyJP

I would have said there is no way that your DNS should affect the download, but, low and behold after changing my router from using OpenDNS to 8.8.8.8, everything is fine! Go figure. I was trying to download the latest iPad software update (551MB) and iTunes was reporting 3 hours to complete. After the change on the router I restarted the download and it dropped to about 5 minutes.

I too tried a speed test during the slow download and I hit 20Mbps down from Speedtest.net. It must be some issue with iTunes and OpenDNS specifically.

Weirdo

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Answer 12

Jan 8, 2011 8:13 AM in response to Weirdo23

So no one has a clear answer? I just uninstalled & reinstalled iTunes to be sure everything is clean. Downloads are still ridiculous. My speedtest is stellar at over 35,000 kbps download.

What is OpenDNS & how do I change it? If that's the solution, please clarify what needs to be done.

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Answer 13

Jan 8, 2011 9:26 AM in response to grossmusic

I've just spent a lot of time with tech support to get an answer. Not sure it's THE answer, but seems to have worked for me. I was asked to remove the following from Mac HD > Library > Preferences > SystemConfiguration:
com.apple.airport.preferences.plist
com.apple.network.identification.plist
NetworkInterfaces.plist
preferences.plist
I restarted the computer & re-chose my own wi-fi network. VOILA. All is working normally. Multiple podcast files, including videos, are downloading at an acceptable speed.

One other thing that may help is to de-select "allow simultaneous downloads" in your itunes Downloads screen to ensure each file goes as quickly as possible. 30-minute podcasts are taking about 30 seconds to download. Perfect.

I still recommend uninstalling & reinstalling before you do any of that if you're able to save/back-up your library of mp3s first. Instructions for that are here: http://www.ehow.com/how5596597uninstall-reinstall-itunes-mac-osx.html

Message was edited by: grossmusic

Message was edited by: grossmusic

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