Upload speed and times

The OS I am using is OS X (10.4.8), and I have been using the Safari Browser exclusively.

As I type I have another upload attempt running using Firefox.

I do no iTunes U admin work on PCs or IE. Everything I do is done on a Mac using Safari. Till now, anyway. Firefox is a new thing.

Yes, I've been able to upload smaller files (15-30Mb) without difficulty. The only file types I upload are .mp3, .mp4, .pdf

I haven't tried .mov files as they tend to be much larger.

As for an error message, I don't actually get an error per se. The status line in the upload screen just says "Timed Out".

Is there a way to upload files without using the web-based interface?

Here is a curious thing. I switched to my Macbook and the file almost uploaded! For whatever reason, the Macbook uploads faster than my G5?!?! I asked the sysadmin if there was something peculiar about the ports I'm connecting to, and he indicated they are configured the same.

So, using Firefox on my Macbook I got 270Mb out of 271Mb uploaded before it timed out. Aarrrrrgggghh! I almost had it.

Since we're planning on rolling iTunes U out in a big way at the end of January, I hope we can track down the cause of this upload problem soon.

Randy,

Can you run a test or two and try to isolote the amount of time it takes this issue to occur?

Also can you post the exact message or problem report you see in the web browser when this problem happens?

Thanks!

I have been having the same upload problem as mentioned in the above thread. While uploading a 324MB-file, it timed out after uploading 50MB at my first attempt and 100MB at my second attempt.

Uploading smaller files (about 10MB) was no problem. My PC runs IE7 and our institution has two T1 lines. I have a bunch of files that I would like to make available to students very soon so I am hoping to fix this problem as soon as problem.


Dell Inspiron 630m Windows XP Pro

In relation to the above thread posted, what can I do to get my uploads go through?

Dell Inspiron 630m Windows XP Pro

Hi -

Have you tried installing FireFox and uploading from it?
FireFox for Windows is available from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all.html.

Give it a try and let us know how that goes.

Thanks.

Mac OS X (10.4.6)

This is happening at our university as well, even with small files! A 10 MB file is typically taking about 10 minutes to upload. It's very frustrating for our instructors!

Tracy

Hi,

I tried uploading with Firefox but it does not make any difference. It times out right around 100MB. I tried on a wireless and physical connection but the outcome is identical. Would you know what is the minimum requirement in terms of bandwidth to upload files? What are my options at this point?

Thanks again for your time and assistance.

Duncan,

We seem to be having this issue as well. Large files (>350MB in .m4v format) will upload successfully using Macs, but will not upload successfully using PCs. I tried uploading the files on a PC using IE6, then IE7, then finally Firefox. All of these attempts result with the upload failing due to "Timeout". However, these files can be uploaded successfully using a Mac.

There is also a vast speed difference between the two. Starting at the same time on the same network with the same file, the Mac uploaded the file twice as fast as the PC, and the PC ultimately timed out.


-----
Jon Davis
iTunes U Assistant
Academic Technologies
George Washington University

Hmmm ... since, ostensibly, IE and Firefox have different web cores, I wonder if it's something deeper in Windows itself. I found this MS hotfix, which seems to apply to XP SP2 generally, but which needs to be enabled for IE in the Windows registry:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/889334

I am not a Windows guy, but I'm betting that regedits are beyond the capabilities of most of the professors we support. 🙂

I was also thinking that it might be possible to setup something in Ubuntu to upload to iTunes U, just as a test. If Ubuntu, say, uploaded to iTunes U "reasonably" well, it'd lend credence to the idea that there is something deeply odd about the way Windows is dealing with this.

Hope this was a helpful addition to this thread. 🙂

MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8) I lied. I'm running Leopard

Hmmm... that hotfix is for IE6. I would imagine that they would include that with IE7, which didn't work for me either.

Well, I am not a Windows expert ... so I am just going with my IT instincts, and where Windows is concerned, they could be really off ... but ...

The fix seems to apply, at least tangentially, to XP itself, not to IE 6 specifically. For example, in the hotfix description, MS says:


... if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next Windows XP service pack that contains this hotfix.


So the interesting test here (to me at least) would not be whether performance is better in Vista versus XP. It also might not hurt to take a look at the registry in XP SP2, IE 6 or7 ... or Vista ... just for laughs ... to see what the BufferBreakingSize is.

Just throwin' out an idea. 🙂


MacBook Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8) I lied. I'm running Leopard

Good catch! I'll check it out. Thanks!

Well, I was able to obtain this hotfix, so I tried it and got no results. The 380MB file still fails to upload due to a "Timeout".