Airtunes Dropping out? Got A solution here!!!!

It has been found that ever since the last bunch of updates and LOT of users have been experiencing issues with Airplay a.k.a. Airtunes. A solution was found....but be aware that it is not THE solution.
_+*REVERT TO AN EARLIER VERSION OF ITUNES!*+_
Thats right. The problem with the dropouts, the static, all of it....the problem is with the so called "Updated" version of iTunes.
So get a copy of iTunes 9.x.x and revert back and you WILL get your streaming working again.
Apple I hope that you are paying attention to this.

Just bumping this up so that others can see it.
Mods please sticky.

Similar Messages

AirTunes with AirportExpress cut or drop out problems - my solution...

I buyed 2 of the Airport Extreme one month ago (Firmware 6.3, Itunes 7.1.1), never got them working fine, till yesterday...
I have A Zyxel ADSL WLAN Router Switch. WPA-PSK as I wanted a secure Network. Both of the AX were connected with static IPs. WLAN was always working fine, but I had many cut outs with airtunes. I wanted a solution with lossles streaming audio with the possibility to connect my Receiver digitally. That's why I bought my first Apple hardware, as I was always told, Apple=Plug'n play. Very frustrating!
I tried other switches, Routers, WLAN adapters and cards, nothing worked. Airfoil does not support multiple speakers yet, so it's useless for me.
In the FAQ of the Airtunes, Apple mentioned to use lower security, as some Computers probably do not have enough power to stream music flawlessly. But my Computers really do have enough power! I think the AX does not have enough power to do that. So I created another wireless network with one of my AX. I set the security to WEP-40bit key and joined this new Network with my other AX. Not the best solution, as I'm now connected to the Internet or to the AX to use Airtunes. Cables could fix that problem, but then I could use a wired system instead...
I use Channel 11 for the AX WLAN (the only clean channel in my area), Multicast to 11, only G mode for Wireless and a 5 characters WEP-40 key and no WDS. Seems to work at the moment.
I hope this will help others with the cut or drop out problem. If you have a working AirTunes system, please post your setup. Mostly I'm interested in a Setup with working WPA...

Thanks, I hope I can help others with this annoying problem...
Sorry, I forgot to write about the RF Interference. Belive me, I spent hours and hours searching for a solution in the Internet and every checkbox the Admin utility offered me to try out... I'm working as a system engineer, and supporting computer systems since the early 90ties, so I'd say I have a bit knowledge about all the networking, WLAN, Audio... In school we had the Apple Mac I with the 12" monochrome monitor and appletalk for networking quite funny!
But back to the RF interference: At the moment I activated it on both AX I own. I have a microwave, wireless phone and I'm living in a Area with many WLAN access points. I can choose between 6 networks!
I'm the only one with a network higher than channel 6, so this area is clean at least.
As my AirTunes do work at the moment, I'm not going to try if I could also deactivate it.
Next step is to try if I can connect the AX Router to the internet. A connection to my ADSL router should do that, but up to now I had very strange behavior when plugging in a ethernet cable to the AX. If this will work, it will be my final solution, at the moment I only see it as a workaround...

Adding AE to network via Ethernet...trying to fix airtunes drop outs....

I have a older Time Capsule (not simultaneous dual band) in my home office, and two older AE's (not N) that I use to wirelessly extend my network. Overall it works OK, though maybe not as speedy as it could be.
Lately, my airtunes streaming has been a bit erratic. Sometimes it works fine, other times it has a lot of drop outs. I use airtunes on both my AE's. On my "living room" AE, I use a digital connection to a high end DAC/preamp. On my "garage" AE I use an analog connection to a boombox. Both these setups experience intermittent dropouts.
I could use ethernet to connect my living room AE to my LAN, since I have a wired connection at that location. I can not do that on my garage AE.
First question is would a wired connection be more stable for airtunes? Since this problem may be associated with the Snow Leopard upgrade....I wonder if I'm wasting my time on the specifics of the network.
Second question: when I tried to set up the AE for a wired connection, It doesn't give me the "extend the network via ethernet" option in Airport utility. It only gives me the "extend network wirelessly" option. I moved the AE to the office and connected it directly to the time capsule (to make sure the wired network wasn't the issue) and I still am not given the option to do that.
Thoughts?
Thanks
Fabian

Inkjet....
Thanks for that tidbit. I'll try to remove my wireless AE from the loop and see if the wired AE works any better.
I'm getting the feeling though that this is an iTunes/OS issue, not a network issue. Reading the other threads on this topic seem all involve the upgrade to SL and/or iTunes 9.
As an aside, since my original post on this, I've replaced both the older AE's with the new n versions. I still use the older TC.
Also, I've used AirRadar to examine the "interference" issue. It shows very low levels of interference (though I'm not sure what is acceptable). No other local networks show up which are on the channel I'm using. Again, I just don't think its the network.
Finally, I don't think I'll go to the powerline transmission route. If wired were the answer, I'll find a way to get ethernet to the second AE. However, it needs to be the answer before going through the exercise.
Fabian

AirTunes dropping out & External HD Questions

Two questions:
1) Whenever I play my iTunes music over my airport express, my music drops out every once a while and then usually comes back on. Why is that? I am not using the express as my primary base station, just to use airtunes and wirelessly network a printer. I have a Netgear wireless base station.
2) Can I connect an external hard drive to my Airport Express or is it not equipped to do that?
Thanks in advance!

Jump365
1) I had the same problem with my PowerBook never had a problem till the 10.4.9 update. Just the other day I installed the newest version of iTunes (7.1.1 ) so far haven't had any more problems.
2) No you can not connect a HD to the Express
Powerbook G4, MacBook Pro, Mac G5, Mac G4, Mac Mini Mac OS X (10.4.8)

How do you stop airtunes dropping out with AEX/Extreme bridged airports?

I finally found out how to get my Airports networked so that I could use the internet and airtunes to work at the same time, only now neither works well. The connection to my speakers cuts out every few minutes, simultaneously disconnecting from the internet. This is driving me nuts. Does anyone know how I can get this to stop?
Thanks,
Peter

I finally found out how to get my Airports networked so that I could use the internet and airtunes to work at the same time, only now neither works well. The connection to my speakers cuts out every few minutes, simultaneously disconnecting from the internet. This is driving me nuts. Does anyone know how I can get this to stop?
Thanks,
Peter

Please help: Chronic Airtunes Drop-outs/2.4 Ghz Interference

For several months, I have been battling interference with airtunes/AX, which is now so bad that it's barely usable. The music stops/starts constantly, and sometimes iTunes just stops. The signal strength indicator (normally 4 bars) jumps all over the place, going down to 3 and 2 bars. I used the same equipment set-up for over a year with excellent results until several months ago.
Here's the setup:
Airport Extreme connected to DSL router; Firmware: 5.7
Airport Express1 connected to stereo; Firmware: 6.3
Airport Express2 connected to USB printer; Firmware: 6.3
The AXes are set up to join the Airport Extreme network
3 Macs are on the network, and all experience the same symptoms. Powerbook1 (PB1) runs 802.11g; PB2 and iMac run 802.11b. PB1 has Interference Robustness enabled; the others don't support it. It seems to help slightly. No microwave or other Apple-defined interference source near any of the airport base stations.
PB1 is 24 feet from Airport Extreme and 20 feet from AX1
PB2 and iMac comparable distances.
I've been at the Genius Bar and have tried these things at their suggestion, and none have made a perceived difference.
-Turned off IPv6
-In Airport Admin Util:
--Changed channel from "automatic" to 1, 5, 9, 11 and others
--Increased multicast rate to 11 and 5.5
--Transmitter power 100%
--Interference Robustness enabled here
Thanks to Joe for suggesting Air Traffic Control widget to check your signal strength.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/networking_security/airtrafficcontrol.h tml
It shows 2 neighbors on channels 1 and 6, so I put ours on 9. I hypothesize that it's a 2.4 ghz phone or other device.
What more can I do?
Thanks in advance for your help.
PB G4 17 inch; TiBook; iMac Mac OS X (10.4.8) 1 gig RAM

Did some more sniffing ,^) and came up with these tools for detecting signal strength, including 2.4 ghz interference sources:
This one looks to provide less information, but it doubles as a wifi ap finder:
http://www.macworld.com/2004/05/secrets/maygeekfactor/
http://www.smartid.com.sg/WiFi_Detector.shtml
http://usatoday.jiwire.com/metageek-wi-spy-product-review-1.htm
(they have a Mac version: http://www.metageek.net/index.php )
Hope this helps.

Airtunes dropping out

My AEX seems to be working ok except it drops the mnbps from 5000 to 2700 and 10 seconds after starting airtunes the music stops.
Cliff

Jump365
1) I had the same problem with my PowerBook never had a problem till the 10.4.9 update. Just the other day I installed the newest version of iTunes (7.1.1 ) so far haven't had any more problems.
2) No you can not connect a HD to the Express
Powerbook G4, MacBook Pro, Mac G5, Mac G4, Mac Mini Mac OS X (10.4.8)

AirTunes drops out only when I have visitors

My AirTunes works great most of the time. But as soon as I have a few people over, it starts cutting out randomly, enough that I have to turn it off. Several of my friends have decided to use other technologies to play music without CDs as a result. Meanwhile, what can I do? Is it their cell phones? Is it just interference from human bodies?
I have interference robustness checked.

Thanks for your post. My network is like this:
In my office, I have an old (2004?) Airport base station connected by ethernet to a cable modem, and by USB to a printer. Clients using this network for internet access include my pre-Intel PowerMac (in the office, running iTunes), my 2002 Flat Panel iMac running 10.3.x (in the kitchen, connected via aftermarket USB wireless dongle), and my wife's new-ish MacBook Pro (OS 10.5.7). Between the base station and the Airport Express (802.11n) is one wall, but in that wall is a fireplace with lots of brick and stone. Direct distance is about 25 feet.
I'm running the network as b/g compatible. The base station is configured as "create wireless network" and the express is configured as "join wireless network." Using channel 11. WEP 128 bit security. Multicast rate 11 Mbps. Transmit power 100%. No cordless phones or baby monitors in the house. Am I missing any details?

Airtunes dropping out... have all current updates

so i have all the current firmware for the express, have 10.4.11, tried it with robustness on and off, all the different buffer sizes, tried different channels, have a clear path between the laptop and the express without any objects in the way. i'm at a loss. is it just that this thing isn't supposed to work properly? is it some kind of sick joke? is there something that i'm possibly overlooking?

hi forum,
ok i might be just talking to myself here, but i did some more troubleshooting.
it seems running acquisition x and downloading files upwards of 300kbs interferes significantly with airtunes.
on one end, with acquisition running, airtunes skips like crazy. quitting acquisition immediately resolves the problem.
on the other end, running airtunes first, then opening acquisition seems to limit download rate to under 80kbps, with no apparent skipping. repeat the first step, with acquisition on full throttle, and then opening itunes and it skips.
seems a shame it's one or the other, and i can't do both, and i'm happy to have resolved the problem for the most part. but is it crazy of me to think that i should be able to do both? or is it just beyond the limits of modern science?

Airtunes drops out every 15-30 seconds?

Any advice?
As of yesterday, my airport express connected to my stereo stops playing music every 15-30 seconds.
Very annoying!
Did a factory reset and still having the problem.
Any hints?

Sorted itself out after software upgrades at a later date

Airport express 802.11n airtunes drop outs with imac ppc

my desktop has an original airport card, in perfect working order, and suffers from non-stop dropouts when streaming music via airtunes. my macbook streams flawlessly. Is this a backwards compatibility issue and is there a fix? I switched the desktop's internet connection to ethernet to test whether laying off the express would improve the streaming. it didn't. airtunes is vital to my computing environment. if i can't fix this, i will have to go back to the old express.

I'm having the same problem on my macbook. Help anyone?

Airtunes audio drop out solution that worked for me! :)

setup is DSL modem, AEBS main base station (software v5.6), AE (software v6.2), AE is in WDS mode as a remote base station. I am running OSX 10.4.3, and all software (itunes, etc) is updated current as of 6Nov2005.
using airport admin utility, i set both base stations to "g only" and still had audio drop outs. Then I left both of them on g only and set both of them on channel 5, (was on channel 10 before.) no airtunes drop outs!!
I have been audio drop-out free for a few days now and am cautiously optimistic- enough to post my solution. hope it works for you, too!

Thanks Bryan! Glad to hear you found a solution that works for you. Your suggestions are also among the many solutions previously posted in the mother of all discussions on this topic found at:
Muhannad Al-Khurafi, "Audio Drop while using airtunes", 10:38pm Jul 21, 2004 CDT

My Solution to AIrtunes Dropping Audio

Hello all....
I have been struggling with airtunes dropping out when streaming music for months now. i will try to explain my setup as briefly as possible. i have been using a wds setup. i live on 1/2 an acre, with three separate buildings (home, studio, workshop). i was able to successfully send an itunes stream to all three building at the same time for some time, until updating to the newest itunes. i have my main internet airport extreme as a main wds, then another extreme as a relay, then 3 expresses as remote wds, and an additional express as a printer remote. i was able to share the libraries of my imac and my laptop pc's with no issues. keep in mind, when you are using a wds with relay stations, you have to name the RELAY station as the MAIN wds in the remotes setup, took a long time to figure that out.
I was able to finally get everything working with itunes 8.2 by setting up a new wds network and NOT HAVING THE INTERNET!!!!! i set up a network for the internet with one airport extreme, the set up a wds network just for streaming music. it works great!!!!!! but, sadly, no one is happy because we must switch networks when browsing the net, so no music at that time, and you can't add to your library when offline or you don't get any track names for your cd's. so, i set the whole thing up AGAIN (this must be the 40th time). now i am using a wds with one main, TWO RELAYS, and THREE REMOTES (this is not easy, i can describe my setup in full in another post if anyone wants to know). BUT HERE IS WHAT I THINK MADE THE DIFFERENCE---- i was searching for slow internet in another forum when i came across someone who said to add these two dns servers to my setup - in system preferences, under tcp/ip i added - 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220 to the box called DNS SERVERS. -
HOLY TOLEDO!!!! IT NOW WORKS!!!!!!! It still cuts out whenever the wife has the microwave on, but HEY!!! i can even use my itouch as a remote now all over the backyard!!!!!!
If you are like me, ready to throw this whole setup and thousands of dollars out the window, give this a try. It helped me ALOT!!!!!!
My setup is quite complex.... i am streaming airtunes to an amplifier in my house that plays inside the house, and powers the outdoor pool area. i add another amplifier in my garage to power 3 outdoor subwoofers, and my garage speakers, and i stream airtunes to it simultaneously, so my outdoor system sounds amazing!!!! then i send one more stream to my studio!!!! and share three different libraries from three different systems (pc's and mac).
HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE!!!!!!
I am available by phone if anyone wants more info about the wds setup i have finally figured out.
David

cool thanks...

Why does Airtunes Drop Frequnetly under Tiger?

After having sifted through the last week's worth of posts to this forum, I find that I'm having a problem that many others are also having, and that it has yet to be solved. I'm posting yet another thread on this topic, hoping that Apple will take notice.
Since upgrading to Tiger, I've had a bad experience with Airtunes frequently dropping out. Sometimes it resumes playing after a few seconds, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes disconnecting from my wireless network and then reconnecting fixes the problem, sometimes it doesn't. As far as I know, everything is up to date:
Mac OS X 10.4.7
iTunes 6.0.5 (20)
Apple Base Station v6.3 (that's the firmware)
Software update gives me weekly updates too, so my Airport software should be current (how does one find the version number for this?). This problem also ocured under firmware 6.1. A hard reset of the Airport Express did not fix the problem either.
The strangest symptom that I experience is when Airtunes drops out and I try to deselect my speakers in iTunes. It just hangs and I get the dreaded spinning beach ball. After 2 or 3 minutes it finally deselects. Sometimes if I reselect the speakers, Airtunes resumes working. But other times it just seems dead.
While all of this is going on, my internet connection through the APExpress is still ok.
Airtunes worked flawlessly for me under Panther. So I'm fairly sure that the problem arose when I switched to Tiger.
Anyone know how to solve this problem (other than downgrading to Panther)?

Okay, I've read the posts in this thread and think I might be able to contribute.
My set up is an Airport Extreme Base, with two Express's. I'm new to all this WiFi stuff, and have built this system adding each component over the past two years. So, frequent droping out has also been a problem with my setup. Yet (fingers crossed) i think I got things working pretty well with, ahem, (almost) no drop outs in days.
1. First suggestion is this link.
http://www.macgeekery.com/hacks/hardware/optimizingairportconnectivity
It basically talks about channel switching the Extreme Base Station and how to find out who else might be using that channel. With hints for advanced software from Apple (and where to get it) that I did not have, that helped me monitor signal strength and other neet learning tools.
2. I purchased airfoil recently (great software IMHO), and in the troubleshootong section it talked about how any 802.11b hardware (like my 867 Tibook) automatically down throtles your network from a potential 54 mbps to 11mbps. Now I'm not real versed on what sort of thru put you need to stream this music stuff, but 11mbps probably is not enough for two consecutive streams (w/o constantly dropping out). I have not heard of this potential problem disscussed ANYWHERE else.
3. One of my signals has to travel down a long hallway to reach the Express & speakers, 50 feet, and the signal would always stop when (it seemed as though) I would walk down it. My body seemingly disrupting the signal.
This has seemed to dimminish after my last (#4)suggestion. A house full of people would (i think) kill any signal(s) no matter how strong the signals are.
4. Upon messing around with the settings in the Airport Administrator Utility,
i accidentally had it set to 25% of its potential Transmitter power (under Airport-->Airport Network -->Wireless Options. That fixed alot, boy I felt stupid.
So, these may be things worth looking into. In addition, I have a couple of ?'s.
1. what is the multicast rate? it's under Airport-->Airport Network -->Wireless Options also. what do ya'all have it set at?
2. Would WDS have a positive signal strength effect with an Extreme Base Station and 2 or more Express stations.
I have never run any WiFi under panther, but have had constant drop out issues under tiger until recently (who knows, maybe they'll return)
Goodluck all !!!!
GG-01
PowerMac Dual 2.0 (last rev.) Mac OS X (10.4.7) Ti Book 867

Express drops out w/ change of computer. Why?

I moved my itunes library from an imac to my pro mac, and once on the pro mac airtunes drops out every 5 to 30 seconds. Why would this be? The firmware for the express is up to date. Why would wifi interference be any worse for the promac than for the imac. They're in the exact same location. This whole thing is driving me insane. Any ideas on what I should try?
Thanks,
Peter

I am having the same type of problem. I've had my Airport express for several years and it has worked perfectly. This morning it would not connect to the internet. It's impossible because every minute or so, the internet connection just freezes and I just sit there for about 10 seconds until it reconnects or gets the connection back.
I can connect to the internet via my laptop using a ethernet cable via the cable modem so my internet connection is just fine.
Thanks to Duanne, he wrote the answer...
It sounds like an interference issue.
AirPort: Potential sources of interference
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58543
Duanne wrote the solution in this post:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=496971&threadrate=1&messageid= 2410808#2410808
The problem with Radio Frec. (RF) interference is that your ability to control it is severely limited. An active device outside of your home could be providing enough interference to drastically hinder your wireless network. Hence your network could have worked for years but suddenly your neighbor gets a new baby monitor and wham! your network goes in the dumpster.
The immediate solution to an active source of interference is to remove that source. But if that is not possible, you can change the channel used by your base station to hopefully locate a channel that is operating better.
I will add ...one more thing... I plugged a new sound system next to the Airport Express, and I think that also was interferencing with the signal. I've plugged the sound system a few feet away and now the problem is solved.
That worked for me!... Good Luck.
---->>>You can change the channel used by your base station to hopefully locate a channel that is operating better.<<<-----

Airtunes Dropping out? Got A solution here!!!!

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