Cannot Connect to iTunes Store

Had the same Problem!!
Fixed it by going onto my internet security program "Norton"
Then onto Personal Firewall and configure.
Under Programs and then manual program control it should give a list of programs
and if they are blocked or allowed. Scroll down to Apple itunes and changed internet access to "permit all". This should allow you to access the itunes store.
It is an internet security access problem and nothing to do with itunes. It was my settings on firewall that were preventing me from accessing the store. Every time you update itunes it will block access and has to be changed.!!

This problem is related to having your computer, Apple device, etc
(from your current physical location) being unable to resolve/connect to
the following site/domain names and their related IP address(s).

The following table is presented to help explain/clarify this issue:

Site/Domain name | IP Address
phobos.apple.com | 17.250.237.43
deimos3.apple.com | 206.169.246.144
albert.apple.com | 17.149.240.64
gs.apple.com | 17.151.36.30
itunes.apple.com | 206.169.246.171
ax.itunes.apple.com | 206.169.246.139

If ANY of these sites/IP address are unresolvable (via PING for example)
then the ability/usability of Apple's iTunes (and the Store) will suffer.

To have yourself verify that (if) you can connect to these sites, you'll
need to open up a MSDOS/Command prompt window
and then type "ping" (without the quotes) and one of the (above) listed sites.

For example you would type the following at your command prompt:
ping phobos.apple.com (then press the return/enter key)
which (should) give you results like this:
pinging phobos.apple.com.akadns.net http://17.250.237.43 with 32 bytes of data:

Note: Anyt response other than "reply" (like Request timed out)
indicates a problem resolving the site's name to an IP address
and (generally) has NOTHING to do with your (normally functioning) computer
as this is dependent on the ISP (Internet Service Provider) that you are
using to connect to the Internet (like Sprint, Insightbb, etc) with.

The 'key' here is that it's the ISP's responsibility to (properly) resolve
the site's name to (one or more of) Apple's sites.

If (however) Apple (itself) is (currently) experiencing a DDOS attack
(Distributed Denial Of Service) upon one (or more) of it's sites, then THAT
would explain a possible cause of the problem.

However I stress THAT is NOT the problem since I can connect from my Insightbb
(ISP provider) at home but (currently) can not connect at work via their ISP.

This is (also) WHY the "tag" of the FQDNSN (Fully-Qualified DNS Name)
is listed as http://akadns.net since that is the ISP/Router resolving the DNS name!

I hope that this has helped shed some light as to WHo's problem this REALLY is,
and will help to stop the Apple-User 'finger-pointing' game in it's tracks! 😉

Your's The Lan_Man! 😉
William Cull
Technology Specialist
University of Louisville

So, what exactly can I do when I am not a Technology Specialist???

I really admire the detailed explanation above, but personally I am just a simple user with a new hard drive, who would like to listen to the music I baught on iTunes, but can't anymore, because the computer won't connect to the store anymore...

PLEASE, there must be a DUMMY-WAY to resolve???
Where is the army of iTunes Specialists, ready to help their customers???

Message was edited by: Vani Hopf

There is no "Dummy" way to resolve this since the problem is with the provider
of DNS to IP resolution services (a.k.a. Akami DNS.NET) [.akadns.net] since that is the ISP/Router resolving the DNS name for the iTunes store!

I'd blame the equipment that Akami uses to host/store/forward
the DNS/Name requests to Apple's (iTunes/Store) IP's that Apple's servers use.

Basically, since (even) Apple doesn't act as an ISP DNS Hoster,
then they (as well as numerous other companies) are at the mercy of the provider's
equipment that they subscribe to (utilize) for a presence on the Internet.

I'm aware the this 'problem' has existed for some time now,
and (I believe) has become WORSE now that they have opened up a Macintosh store
to go along with their (regular) iTunes store since they are BOTH served by the
same validation/authentication server DNS/Host name sets.

It could (just) be that there is too much traffic
(uh customer requests for apps, updates, podcasts, music, etc)
for Akami to be able to handle without the requests getting 'lost'
(uh network time-outs) and (therefore) having your iTunes/Devices respond with
the message that they are 'unable to contact the store'
and leaving me/you/us out on a limb! ;-(

My 'suggestion' (since this has worked for me MOST of the time) is to setup
your DNS provider to be "OpenDNS.com" rather than utilizing your current ISP.

If you don't know HOW to do this, they provide (on their web site) numerous
configuration/guidance pages to help you get your device setup properly.

My suspicion is that this isn't going to be getting ANY better until Apple
either complains LOUDLY enough to Akami,
OR manages to change to another DNS/Hosting provider service. ;-(

Good luck, You're goona need it! 😉

Thank you!!!
I can understand you and tried it with opendns.com
...
didn't work at first, BUT I realized, that the iTunes version my mac-store had put onto my new internal harddrive was just 4.7 or so.
Replaced it with a backup of iTunes 9, which I had on another disc,and
VOILA!
Things are running fine again.

In any case THANK YOU SO MUCH for writing simple-user-understandable!!!

Message was edited by: Vani Hopf