Why don't WWDC 2012 videos work in iTunes?

Question

Why don't WWDC 2012 videos work in iTunes?

I'm trying to watch one of WWDC 2012 videos, specifically "Advanced Apperance Customisation on iOS". I clicked "View in iTunes" and the file downloads, but when I try to watch it it shows an error "This file requires Quicktime which is not supported by this version of iTunes". It then deletes the file!

1. Why does the video not play?

2. Why does iTunes delete the file?

I have seen elsewhere on the forum to try enable 32-bit mode which I am trying now. I am using iTunes 11.0.2, Mac OS 10.8.2, on a MacBook Pro retina.

This is especially frustrating since I am in South Africa where internet is expensive. Data costs 25c per megabyte, so the 340 MB file costs ZAR85, not to mention taking nearly an hour to download each time. It is not an insignificant amount of time and money wasted.

How can I reliably download and watch the WWDC videos?

iTunes 11.0.x-OTHER, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Feb 27, 2013 9:44 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

etresoft

Level 8

46,312 points

Feb 27, 2013 6:03 PM in response to threehundredpandas

It is working fine here. Maybe bring it up in Safari, inspect element, and download the video file.

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Answer 2

Feb 28, 2013 4:28 AM in response to etresoft

Thanks for the reply etresoft!

I'm still getting used to the Mac platform. I must be looking in the wrong place because the anchor tags for the links don't seem to link directly to the file. When I click watch now, and inspect that element I see a link to a mov file, although I'm not sure how to download it. I tried pasting it into the address bar and saving but it wants to create a webarchive. Is there another way to do it?

Setting iTunes to run in 32-bit mode as described here http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3771 seems to work. I'm not sure what the side effects are in doing this.

Both of these options seem to be rather unnecessary workarounds for a relatively simple issue. I suppose most people just stream the content every time which is why it's not a more widely reported problem.

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Answer 3

etresoft

Level 8

46,312 points

Feb 28, 2013 4:45 AM in response to threehundredpandas

threehundredpandas wrote:

I'm still getting used to the Mac platform. I must be looking in the wrong place because the anchor tags for the links don't seem to link directly to the file. When I click watch now, and inspect that element I see a link to a mov file, although I'm not sure how to download it. I tried pasting it into the address bar and saving but it wants to create a webarchive. Is there another way to do it?

Once you get the URL to the file, use the "curl" command line tool to save it to a local file with something like:

curl "https://path/to/file.mov" > file.mov

Now that I think about it, you might have some hoops to jump through because of authentication issues. Curl should be able to do it, but you'll have to grab the cookie from Safari and use it as a "cookie jar" in curl.

Setting iTunes to run in 32-bit mode as described here http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3771 seems to work. I'm not sure what the side effects are in doing this.

Both of these options seem to be rather unnecessary workarounds for a relatively simple issue. I suppose most people just stream the content every time which is why it's not a more widely reported problem.

No. Something is seriously wrong with your machine and/or ISP. Perhaps try it at from some other internet location. Have you made any changes to your machine? If you are just getting used to the Mac, you may have done some kinds of system modifications that are normal for other systems but disastrous on a Mac.

I can assure you that what you are describing is more or less unique to your machine.

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Answer 4

Mar 3, 2013 1:49 PM in response to etresoft

Thanks again etresoft - you have been exceptionally helpful.

It's good to know its a localised problem so I can start narrowing down the causes. I'm pretty sure the only changes I have made have been installing apps, bootcamp and some macports libraries. I'm getting ADSL soon so I'll report if that changed anything. If that doesn't fix it then I'll try re-install the machine.

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