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Resolved Question

itunes rebuffering stream

Nov 10, 2011 3:46AM PST

Good afternoon, I have been listening to itunes on their store without any problem until just now. I could click on a song to hear part of it to make sure it was the song I want and all of a sudden it keeps rebuffering. What is this? Now, any song I click on does this and I can't hear a thing; it's like a constant look back to rebuffering stream...
I am computer challenged so pls be detailed in your response.
I am using a macbook os x 10.5.8
thanks so much for your help.

Discussion is locked

ritamcbride has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

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How do you connect to the internet,
Nov 10, 2011 8:11AM PST

via wireless or with a cable plugged into the macbook?

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Answer
Wireless
Nov 10, 2011 8:57PM PST

Hey mrmacfixit,

<div>I have hughesnet satellite and use a wireless connection. I have been humming along just fine for months and all of a sudden I can't listen to music, videos stutter like crazy and my connection is real sloooooow.

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Re: slow
Nov 10, 2011 9:08PM PST

To measure connection speed, try a speedtest. This is ours:
http://reviews.cnet.com/internet-speed-test/ , but you can find many
more using favorite search engine to search for INTERNET SPEED TEST.


The first thing to do, of course, is seeing what happens if you connect wired. If that's OK it's the wireless part of your machine or the router, or interference with some other source of radiation that suddenly started. Then try another channel first.

If wired is just as slow it's either something else on your Mac or PC or laptop (you didn't tell what you run iTunes on) or on the router or beyond. So first step to a diagnosis is to locate which of the 2 it is. Try your machine somewhere else (family, friend, free hotspot), try your router with another machine (a laptop from family or friend would be ideal).

Kees

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Answer
Same issue
Aug 6, 2012 11:52AM PDT

I have had the same prob for a month now, my internet speed HAS NOT changed since then. What has changed is another update for iTunes. Ever since that update it's been rebuffering on every song. I have flushed the DNS and reinstalled iTunes. What is annoying is there is no real fix for this because EVERYONE says it's a connection error. Unfortunetly that's not the answer, my internet connection didn't just miraculously change right after that stupid update. Try again!

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Same problem - VERY frustrating
Aug 12, 2012 2:12AM PDT

Have made NO changes to ISP or speed (30 down, 5 up) and NO changes to any network hardware (cable modem or router). This all started after the last update to iTunes was installed. Has anyone heard anything from Apple on this?

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Have tried to contact Apple twice on this
Aug 27, 2012 11:52PM PDT

So happy to know it's not just me having this problem. I have tried to contact Apple twice on this through their email support link and they are just ignoring the issue. Both times that I tried to contact a support rep they misinterpreted the complaint and told me they were re-downloading the purchased tunes. I have no problem purchasing as I keep telling them. The problem is strictly with this "rebuffering " issue. I get about 10 seconds before the song cuts out. Maybe if everyone voices the complaint something will get done.

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Answer
Have been in touch with Apple to discuss this ongoing issue
Aug 29, 2012 2:37AM PDT

I spoke with a level two tech support rep at Apple yesterday who said he was unaware of this problem with the "rebuffering" shut down when listening to itune audio clips. His initial suggestion was to completely remove and reinstall Itunes and all of its components. That was done and accomplished nothing.

Then he suggested that it was due to Norton Antivirus software and wanted me to completely uninstall my Norton program and test to see if I could listen to the 90 second clip in its entirety.

Reluctantly I complied. I contacted Norton who remotely accessed my computer to remove the software completely. When I attempted to listen to an audio clip in Itunes it once again played for about 15 seconds before the rebuffering message popped up. The Norton agent reinstalled my virus software and I have to say he was wonderfully helpful. Neither of us thought the anti virus software was the culprit here but he was willing to give it a shot.

I have attempted to recontact the tech support agent at Apple and am waiting to hear back from him.

I am posting this information so that other people do not have to spend the two hours that I spent removing and reinstalling various components as clearly this is not the issue. The issue is with Apple's Itunes software and they need to take ownership of this glitch in their software. Sadly I think that will only happen if enough people out there get involved and voice the complaint so that they hear us. We pay for the music, we are entitled to a 90 second sample, it is not asking so much to provide it.

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rebuffering internet stream
Sep 2, 2012 1:57AM PDT

I have this same issue but not just with iTunes. It also happens playing radio on any internet site with a Flash player embedded. When I get info on the Flash PLayer it says I am using JW player. I can't find any info on their site about this issue. I have also tried to use a standalone app like VLC media player and WinAmp for Mac to play a .PLST file stream

It mostly happens when I click on another webpage, or open another app on my iMac Lion. It seems to react to a load on the CPU (or something). I can't change the buffer size on iTunes 10. I don't know how/if I can set a larger buffer on my iMac OSX Lion 10.7.4 16gig itself.

Funny thing is I have found I can usually re-start the stream by tapping on the volume up or down key on my keyboard.

I have changed channels on my router to make sure I am not on a channel shared by several neighbors wi-fi's.

I don't have any problems streaming video, only audio/radio. I just did a speed test D: 6.13Mbps U: 0.73Mbps I know this is slow for a cable modem. But just to stream audio?

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Answer
this is NOT an internet problem
Sep 12, 2012 6:20AM PDT

Like everyone else here I am having same problem. Am on Itunes 10.6.3.25 as of july 18 2012, but haven't sampled in some time. I went to amazon and sampled the same song (Alice Cooper No more mister nice guy) - no problem with buffering. This is an itunes problem, but no big deal, I can always buy my music from amazon, right? - maybe that concept will light a fire under Apple. Like others I will NOT buy a song I haven't sampled
bob

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iTunes 10.6.3 and I just tried the Alice Cooper thing,
Sep 12, 2012 9:51AM PDT

at the iTunes Music Store.
Although there is not a track by that name by Alice Cooper, there is one on a "Tribute to Alice Cooper".
I'm guessing that is the one you mean.

I did not get any of the buffering that you guys are talking about.

Sorry

P

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Check it now, I think they actually may have fixed it!
Sep 12, 2012 11:27AM PDT

Hi Bob,

I had been in touch with Apple support as I posted above and they never got back to me after that initial contact I made with "mitchell" who swore to me that he would personally return my call within 24 hours. That was over a week ago. I have called and left several messages for him. I guess his 24 hour time frame is different than mine.

At any rate I saw that there was a Windows update last night that must have had something to do with Itunes because when my computer rebooted it took me to an itunes "i agree" box that I had to sign off on.

And after reading the post that was made earlier today from the poster who said he or she had no problem with the site, I decided to try listening to a clip just now. I tried it for two clips about 5 minutes ago, and lo and behold , both worked without that pesky rebuffering message.

It seems that they may have fixed the problem that they swore to me did not exist.

Give it a try and see if it now works for your comuter.

Little victories, gotta love 'em

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I spoke too soon
Sep 13, 2012 5:56AM PDT

I spoke too soon. Last night there was no problem. No matter what I tried to play I got the full 90 seconds. Just now I got the rebuffering message on the same exact songs as well as any others that I tried. I guess Apple isn't listening afterall. It has got to be some glitch in their site. Nothing has changed on my computer between last night and this afternoon. Haven't even rebooted.

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I somehow doubt that this is still an Apple problem
Sep 13, 2012 10:05PM PDT

if it was, there would be a uproar from ALL users.

Although it seems that the only constant is iTunes, your ISP is still in the equation.

P

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Answer
How I fixed it
Sep 14, 2012 12:37AM PDT

I just downloaded the newest version of iTunes yesterday hoping for a fix but it was still not working, so I emailed iTunes tech support and they suggested that I cleared my cache by going into Preferences > Advanced. This seems to have worked for me so far...the guy also told me that people are aware of the problem at apple and the problem should be fixed in upcoming versions of iTunes. He also gave me 5 song credits to my iTunes account. Very helpful

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I tried to do that and Itunes froze but....
Sep 14, 2012 2:32AM PDT

Even though I had to hit control alt delete and bring up task manager and close itunes from there, I did find that when I reopened itunes this fix did in fact work.
Very interesting. Thanks! Also happy to know that they are taking owership of the problem. The tech I spoke with who told me to uninstall my Norton anti virus software and call him back told me that Apple was unaware of any problem. Of course he was completely irresponsible in terms of never getting back to me despite the fact that I had a case # .

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(NT) Interesting, I stand corrected.
Sep 14, 2012 4:58AM PDT