AirTunes stops streaming after each song but iTunes shows it playing

Question

I've read through a lot of posts and either people are having the same issue just describing them differently or I'm seeing an entirely different issue.
My setup is Windows Vista running iTunes 8, Airport Express and an iPod Touch running the Remote app. I just bought it all yesterday and did all the firmware and software updates it asked me to when setting it all up.
I had it setup wirelessly and working -- the remote controlled iTunes which send audio to my AE and it worked beautifully. Then I realized the music stopped, I went to check and iTunes still showed the music playing, but no sound was coming out of the remote speakers. If I change the speaker output to computer then back to the remote speakers it starts playing again.
I've disabled wireless on the AE and put a long wire across to rule out wirless interference or problems. I've disabled the Windows Vista firewall as well.
I've tested both from the remote and from using iTunes directly. So I've ruled out the Remote App from the equation (I think). I say that, because first thing this morning I ran using just iTunes and it worked for 15 straight songs. I used the remote to change albums and start another and after the first song played it went silent. I noticed in iTunes a playlist called "Remote" comes up so I was thinking the Remote was causing it. I switched over to my library local on iTunes again removing the remote and it keeps happening anyway. So I'm not sure if by using the remote I put it in this "state" or if it's really not the Remotes problem.
OK, so once it happens, it stops streaming after very single song however iTunes still shows it's playing fine. To fix, turn the speaker off then on again or switch to computer then back to remote again. It works doing this via the Remote App or on iTunes directly.
This is FRUSTRATING! I spent a lot of money on the iPod, AE and getting a cheap stereo receiver/amp to feed my in-house speakers and now it's pretty much not even useful.
Suggestions? Help? Anything?
Message was edited by: TimLindner

Answer 1

I wanted to post a follow-up. I solved my own issue after starting to rule out every possible cause.
I have a Western Digital networked hard drive (NAS) which houses all of my MP3's. I knew accessing this drive was pretty slow but I've had my MP3's on it and iTunes' library is all coming off this drive. It has worked fine on my computer for years. However, it appears that the lag doesn't play nice with AirTunes.
I moved my entire iTunes library (about 80 GB) to my local machine's hard drive, rebuilt my library and now it plays flawlessly!
Just so people know, I've updated firmware on the AirportExpress and the iPod Touch, I have the new version of Remote on the touch and am running iTunes 8 on Windows Vista with its library on the local harddrive. No glitches, pauses, or problems. I ran it for 6 hours during a party over the weekend without flaw.
-Tim