Network connection timed out.

Hum... I'm unable to find this topic, though I hope it is true.

It's hard to believe and stay calm when these persons don't take you seriously. Here is what I received in response to an e-mail I've sent them :


Dear xxxxxx,

I'm sorry to hear that you're having trouble connecting to the iTunes Store. I
understand you receive a "network connection timed-out" error. I have verified
that the iTunes Store is functioning and accepting connections, which indicates
that the issue is related to your internet connection, local network, or your
local computer itself.

iTunes has a great new feature called Network Diagnostics that can help you
diagnose and resolve issues that prevent you from connecting to the iTunes
Store.

First, make sure you're using iTunes 7.0 or later, which is available free of
charge at the Apple website:

http://www.apple.com/itunes/download

Now follow these steps to use Network Diagnostics:

1) Make sure that you have an active Internet connection.

2) Open iTunes.

3) Choose Diagnostics from the Help Menu.

4) Select Network Diagnostics and click Run.

The Network Diagnostics interface will help you identify and resolve any
network issues that are affecting your ability to connect to the iTunes Store.

Please note that certain types of software can affect the way a computer sends
and receives information from the Internet. Here are a few examples of these
types of software:

* Virus and/or worm protection software
* Web accelerators
* Ad filters
* Firewalls

If you have any of this software, and if you cannot access the iTunes Store,
you will need to configure these applications to allow iTunes to connect to the
internet.

Please refer to the documentation that came with that software, and if
necessary contact the software's manufacturer. You'll need to configure the
software to allow these domains to send and receive data from the Internet:

phobos.apple.com
phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net

Thank you for contacting iTunes about this issue and for using the discussion
boards as a resource to help with troubleshoot this issue.

Sincerely,

xxxxxx
iTunes Store Customer Support
http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/ww

Well it does appear right now that all my searches are working and this without doing anything. Hope you guys experience the same.

Since I wouldn't be surprised to see that problem reappear any time soon, I will left the post unanswered.

Sorry, no solution... I am getting the same problem
when searching for less popular artists. For
example, search on "Bowie" (David Bowie) is fine, but
a search on "Enzo Enzo" gives me the setwork
connection timed out error. This has started
happening relatively recently for me. Perhaps we
should seek what we have in common. I use XP Pro and
IE 7. I have been getting other (probably unrelated
but one never knows) issues recently since installing
Visual Studio. Would be really greatful if someone
does come up with a solution....

That's exactly it. As for which search results work/doesn't work, this probably differs from each other. Searching "Bowie" and "Enzo Enzo" both didn't work for me, but like I said the results aren't probably the same for everyone.

This doesn't seem like an OS issue, I'm using Windows Vista Ultimate and the error occurs. I don't believe any other programs (excluding antivirus/firewall programs) such as web browsers would really interfere with iTunes, and as people mentioned, this is not an antivirus/firewall issue neither. I'm on the Canadian store, but I believe most of you are on the US one, therefore it ain't a nationality store issue.

I believe the error is due to the latest version(s) of iTunes and Apple is responsible for it. Let's pressure them so they can fix this issue ASAP.

Well I've done it right now and iTunes Store does seem to work correctly now, but there's no way I can tell if that is because I've flushed the DNS cache.

If this works for most people, then this would only be a temporary solution until Apple fix this, because having to do this command everyday isn't an acceptable condition.

I have executed this command yesterday and now I would have to execute it again and again for iTunes Store to work? We can't deny there's a flaw somewhere.

Thanks for the advice though.

Well I believe this is the unique solution right now.

Since Apple refuse to hear our request, since they think we're all innocents, since they pretend the problem is on our side, since they included some useless Network Diagnostics in iTunes, since they don't read a word of the e-mails we send them and reply to us with canned e-mail texts that do not cover the issues, they aren't going to listen nor help us until they realize (and no one knows how long this will take) that the problem is actually on their side.

So in the meantime I believe that even if this solution is very inappropriate, we don't have much choice right now else than doing it, not using the iTunes Store or switching to an other online store.

Keep abusing the sending of e-mails, keep mass posting in here, keep the views at a maximum and it might get their attention and accelerate the process if we are lucky.

And BTW, where are you Apple employees right now? I see some of you answer to less important topics and you can't even drop a line in the important ones. Pathetic support.

Nope, unfortunately Apple doesn't care much about this forum, neither about this topic. If I would be an Apple employee managing this forum and considering the number of replies and views this topic has, I surely would come and at least reassure the customers the problem is taken care of. As they didn't do so, they proved their customer support to be ineffective.

So until they realize their faults and repair the problem, here's the link to iTunes 7.0 >> http://www.oldapps.com/download.php?oldappsid=iTunesSetup7.exe

Oh and BTW, if you believe Apple fails to provide a working program and efficient support, then may I suggest you to visit some of their competitors sites:
http://www.buymusic.com/
http://music.yahoo.com/
http://www.emusic.com/ *Get 25 free songs
http://www.musicmatch.com/
http://www.napster.com/
http://www.rhapsody.com/

Enjoy!



(Since it is almost impossible to get Apple's attention, radical methods are needed: knowing that they will lose customers, I hope they'll react to this.)

Every pay-per-song stores should work with iPod. This includes eMusic, BuyMusic and Napster To Go from the list I've posted. The others the way it works won't permit you to have direct access with the songs so it won't be possible to put these on the iPod. What you really need for it to work is direct access with the files to be able to make transfer. Digital Management Rights (DRM) is also something complicated to take in consideration. I cannot go into details, but check the help sections of theses sites for more info.

And BTW, an iPod or any other players doesn't change the hassle you get from buying songs. It is actually harder for people with non-iPod players since they cannot use the iTunes Store because of their DRM.

Hope this helps.

The only way right now to solve the problem is to either to use another online store or to rollback to version 7.0 available @
http://www.oldapps.com/download.php?oldappsid=iTunesSetup7.exe until Apple repair the server-side problem.

Microsoft Windows Vista Professional (Build 6000)
NVIDIA AWRDACPI
iTunes 7.1.1.5
Current user is an administrator.
Network Adapter Information
Description: Realtek RTL8169/8110 Family PCI Gigabit Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.0)
IP Address: 192.168.2.100
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 192.168.2.1
DHCP Enabled: Yes
DHCP Server: 192.168.2.1
Lease Obtained: Tue Apr 03 14:39:39 2007
Lease Expires: Tue Apr 10 14:39:39 2007
DNS Servers: 192.168.2.1
Network Connection Information
Active Connection: LAN Connection
Connected: Yes
Online: Yes
Using Modem: No
Using LAN: Yes
Using Proxy: No
SSL 3.0 Support: Enabled
TLS 1.0 Support: Enabled
Firewall Information
Windows Firewall is off.
Connection attempt to Apple web site was successful.
Connection attempt to iTunes Store was successful.
Secure connection attempt to iTunes Store was successful.



This doesn't lead us anywhere.

As previously said, someone mentioned that Apple is aware of the problem and said it somewhere. I do not know if this is true or not, but no matter what they really are lame for not even having posted in here.

If anyone of you see an official response from Apple about the issue that is in the process of being fixed or that it has been fixed please post the page URL if available and/or the response itself. Thanks!

No problem, I'm doing this for everyone of us here sharing the same discontentment.

BTW, even if you search an artist that is not listed/available in the iTunes store you should still receive a message telling you that "your search did not match any results". Of course this is only when everything is working fine, which is nto the case right now.

In response to BFARM

Let me tell you something, you're totally wrong on this: "I've never had any issues with the iTunes Store, downloads or anything, so it definately is not something wrong with the software". This is a sophism. It's not because you did not experience any problems with the iTunes software that it necessarily means that the program and/or servers are OK and fully working. Please stay objective.

Apple iTunes' servers have been having issues in the past month so there's no way to confirm the problem is on the client-side.