Q: Why are My iTunes Downloads so Slow?

I mean, the Curiosity Rover on freeking Mars could've sent it to me twice! I'm like the others, any internet connection I use it's this. I know I'm clogging this up with multiple replies but I'm bored and it's looking like the fruit company there is to blame. I have called them and they say it can't be isolated as to what is causing the slowdown because of all the variables; ISP, your hardware, software, configurations of your router, network and computer system in general. Most PCs are different from eachother, it's a wonder they work at all.

But I think we've isolated it. I now have 17 minutes remaining and I'm not using any resources except to boredom-fatiguedly type this.

And now...

I think you should actually read the entire discussion string and do the research. The impact that Google DNS has on the iTunes is well documented. I would repost the links to all the articles but I've already posted it once. Stop trolling forums and picking fights. Follow your own recomendation by becoming more educated (try reading the entire discussion string, doing external research). I'm not claiming you don't know anything about DNS, perhaps you are well versed and accomplished in DNS design. I really do not know and I don't care. What ever ten years of experience you have, I really don't care either.

Sure it is possible for there to be localized issues that are the exception and not the rule... but in this case, this seems to be a rule of somewhere to look first for a possible solution. And to your point that changing DNS on your router would cause a reset of many connections and have subsequent chain events, yes it does. No one is arguing that with you. But I would hazard to guess that most people that are even looking into this thread would probably have already restarted iTunes, their computer, their router, their modem, etc. before trying this which would have already accomplished what you claimed changing DNS would have caused and have been the real fix, not the change of DNS.

As the initial contributor of the solution, I provided a possible solution to people that had exhausted all other options to provide a solution. Did I say it would work for everyone? No. But it is something for people to try when they have exhausted all other options.

I'm not going to pick a fight with you or try to prove the concept of the interaction google DNS has with iTunes/ Akamai CDN as you've taken a logical discussion and turned it into/perpetuated an emotional argument. If you really are as well versed in intra/inter-networking as you claim, then you would have an appreciation for how complex of an animal the Internet is and how many seemingly unrelated technologies can affect each other because of their subtle inter-relations.

So do the discussion board a favor and stop tooting the "I have experience and I know better" horn. We're all very tired of it, we see it in every thread. If you're positive you're right then just go on your merry way and don't waste your time trying to claim you're right.

And now...

And so just dinner tonight, no movie. And I can spend time trying to get my money back for being stupid enough to try and start watching my 24 hour rental on the snaggy iTunes player because you can't use Quicktime (as far as I know) to watch a movie currently being downloaded, and it won't be finished downloading by the time the player catches up anyway. Hooray!

And Kudos to Apple (I'm being serious, they do kick a$$ - I love my iStuff); when I shut down iTunes and restarted the download, I was again asked if I wanted to start watching now. I said no and have 29 days, yada yada minutes left. Good job, and thanks!

And so it goes. Somehow we get through...

The DNSCrypt screenshot on the home page shows apple.com, icloud.com and akadns.com listed as exceptions for a reason: http://opendns.github.com/dnscrypt-osx-client/

I'm so fed up with Itunes! It takes DAYS for me to download movies. Currently my movie is downloading at 167 kb/sec >X0 at this rate i'm wishing I never bought it. such poor service. I expected more.

Yep, it's really bad. I think it's back to buying DVDs (they are cheaper too) and putting them through handbrake (gets you at least the original language too).

Hello,

I am having this same exact problem. I would really appreciate it if someone could direct me to how to fix this issue. This problem has been going on for days since I got my new iPhone 5. It hasn't anything to do with the iPhone 5, I don't think... but the downloads are taking forever to download through my iTunes on my MacBook Pro. It's getting frustrating because, I can't do anything.. everything slows down because of this issue. Please, please, please... help me. Thank you very much for any information someone gives me.

Hi TheCannon101,

Apple isn't going to help you. You have to fix it yourself.

There have been a few proposed solutions that are easy and that work, such as Amazon Prime, YouTube movies, Netflix, and if you search google for "Netflix vs " and wait, google will provide other options as well (use any name there, not just Netflix).

I guess color me skeptical that it's DNS.  DNS should only make a difference until the initial connection is made - after that, the address is cached, and for the duration of the transfer, it's a straight stream (unless I miss something and Apple/Akami is multi-plexing downloads of individual files and changing sources in midstream.

But, I've been using Level-3 DNS (4.2.2.x) for years, and have started seeing bandwidth issues over the past month or two.

In particular, I see high-variability in download speeds - it gets *very* slow on Saturday nights, but even during the week, it can change by 10x or more.  My network is a verified 25-30 mbit connection (tested against servers across the country), so I know it's not on my local end. 

Here's a perfect example.  Three HD episodes downloading at the same time right now.

1) 1.99 GB - 40 minutes

2) 1.86 GB - 2 hours

3) 2.04 GB - 3 hours

I see that same situation updating apps - I'll get a 50MB app in 10 seconds, while the 7MB app takes 2 minutes.

It looks like some, but not all, of the download shadow sites have bandwidth issues, and either iTunes doesn't do any sort of load balancing against the various servers, or Akami's not doing their job well.

And another example - took a break from downloading, came back.  Those last two are now:

2) 1.65GB left - 5 hours

2) 1.2GB left - 4 hours

And just tested the network - 35mbit/sec to a server in SF.

This is new behavior - last fall, similar sized shows would download in a fraction of the time.  There's something wrong with Apple/Akami's network. 

The only thing that I can figure out is that iTunes must limit download bandwidth. I have tried changing every setting under the sun and I have a 50 Mb per second connection. I would guess that Apple doesn't respond to anything regarding this and always says it must be your Internet connection because they don't want to flat out say that they are limiting download speeds. I have the same problems as everyone else, it takes ridiculously long to download a movie.  Don't tell me it is my connection either, because I can download 2 GB movie in under five minutes from just about anywhere else, however when Apple comes into play and iTunes that 2gb movie turns into a two or three hour download.  Very frustrating.