Airport Express/iTunes

I am getting the same error. I am also able to see the airport express over my network from my PC in the config utility, and in addition itunes recognizes the new name for the airport express when I change it. It still connects fine to my wifi hub as it shows as a client on the list. In addition the green light shows on the Airport Express.

My set up is a windows 7 PC, connecting to my wifi hub over ethernet. Airport express (old model) is connected to same hub to provide airtunes. No problems for around 4 years, and suddenly it stops working.

I suspect iTunes 10 might be to blame, so am going to try to revert to version 9 (but this won't be great for my iPhone).

I am also dealing with the same issue.

Never had a problem until 2 nights ago.

I have spent quite a bit of time since tinkering with various settings and reinstalling the airport. Nothing seems to work.

Definitely caused by a recent itunes upgrade.

If I come up with a fix I will post it here.

Here is the fix, I found it on another thread in this forum.

Go into your firewall and enable itunes. Mine had 2 separate entries for itunes. One was enabled for the private network and one wasn't. I just enabled the second itunes entry and it works fine now.

Basically the second itunes entry is checked public. Change it to private and it should fix it for you. It worked for me.

Best of luck.

Genius. Worked treat. Thanks

hi guys.

i'm having the same issue (where itunes/airport express worked totally fine before itunes 10) and i know most postings simply say..."go to your firewall settings and simply exclude or allow access to itunes/ituneshelper". i have done this, plus rebooted my computer and reinstalled the airport express with a new name etc...itunes continues to recognize my airport express as a speaker option but will only time out when attempting to connect. IS THERE ANOTHER SOLUTION? is there a port i have to open or something else? why won't itunes sync up with airport express despite disabling the firewall? guys please help? i use my airport express daily to distribute music throughout my entire house. my family is going crazy without music for 3 days now!

thank you again in advance. everyone here is so nice!
RL

Same issue here. I have an AirPort 802.11G connected via Ethernet. I can see the AirPort Express in iTunes but music playback does not even start. The error text is "An error occurred while connecting to the remote speaker. The network connection failed". I can see and manage the device in the AirPort Utility.

My firewall is not the cause. The problem appeared on both computers in the house, as soon as I updated them to iTunes 10.0.1.22. My guess is that it's caused by changes related to AirTunes and the new Apple TV.

Note that I can still play music through AirTunes via Airfoil by Rogue Amoeba. This suggests that the problem is not the network or the AirPort Express, but rather iTunes.

One more interesting thing is that iTunes goes past the authentication phase. If I enter the wrong password I get a login error, while if I enter the right password I get the network error.

Upon further experimentation, the Windows Firewall is the culprit after all. It seems that the latest version of iTunes utilizes UDP in addition to TCP to stream data to an AirPort Express. You either need to create a copy of the existing iTunes rule, but select UDP instead of TCP in the protocol (recommended solution), or edit the existing rule and replace TCP with Any.

Thanks for this solution. I added an additional rule in Windows Firewall for iTunes allowing all UDP on the "private" network.

Here is a quick step by step on Windows Vista:

In the start menu, begin typing "firewall"
Open "Windows Firewall with Advanced Security"
Select "Inbound Rules"
Make sure "iTunes" for "Private" is checked
Double-click the "iTunes" "Private" entry to open properties
Select the "Programs and Services" tab
Copy the path displayed in the edit box. For me it was "C:\program files\itunes\itunes.exe"
Select "Cancel"
Select "New Rule"
Make sure "Program" is selected then hit "Next"
Select "This Program Path" and paste in the path you copied before
Select "Next"
Make sure "Allow the connection" is selected and hit "Next"
Select "Private" (and "Domain" if you're at work)
Name the rule "iTunes UDP"
Hit "Finish"
Double-click the "iTunes UDP" rule you just created to open its properties
Select the "Protocols and Ports" tab
Select "UDP" from the "Protocol Type" drop-down
Hit "OK"

That's it, you should be good to go!

I am having the same problem, but Windows Firewall is disabled, I have disabled my spyware, etc. programs. Any ideas?

You are awesome, thank you so much for posting that. I've been trying to figure out how to fix this for way too long!

Thanks so much! You saved our house party last night - I had spent hours troubleshooting until I found your fix.

Thanks for all the tips you guys have here! Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the solution to my problem is here.
I'm on a MacBook, OS X 10.5.8. iTunes 10.0.1. I was using my AirPort Express one day--it worked fine--and the next it stopped. I'm not getting any error messages. I tried the Firewall trick and it says I'm allowing "all incoming connections."
The other MacBook in the house works. Any ideas what would have bumped me off? I'm assuming it's an update, but not sure what part of the update is giving me trouble.
Let me know if I can answer any questions that will help you help me get to the root of this problem.

Thanks so much, guys and girls!

I experience the same problem on my MacBook Pro.
I have 3 AirPort Expresses connected and had no problems for months.
Suddenly Itunes can not find the speakers and they have also disappeared from
the airport list. I reset one of the Airports many times without success. Yesterday I got one reconnected and suddenly all of them popped up again and itunes was running normal for about 30 mins. and the connection disappeared again. I have no idea how to fix the problem.
Any help is much appreciated.

I have the same problem, it was working fine and everything, and now it's not working at all..
I on a MacBook Pro, running Mac OS X 10.6.4, and iTunes is 10.0.1 (22)..

I've tried the Firewall solution, but nothing happened..

After 3 days of fiddling around I think I solved it. My guess is that itunes does not like D-Link Routers. Many posts were mentioning they run D-Links and it seemed to me it is not the AX as they are alright, neither my MBP. I now cabled ethernet from modem direct into 1 of my 3 AX. Set that one up as new Network and linked the other 2 up.
Back to normal and loving it.
Hope it works for you too.