Ever since the Taiwan quake, I've been having problems downloading podcasts via the iTunes Store. Even after Internet connections were supposedly back to normal, I still experienced slow download speeds. Only for the iTunes Store though, everything else seemed back to normal. At first, I thought my home connection was the culprit, I'm on PLDT myDSL. The weird thing is, I can usually download at normal speeds when I go to hotspots, even those that are also using PLDT's DSL service. For now, I had to resort to using Xcast. It's an awesome free podcatcher (and RSS reader) and integrates really well with iTunes. For those having a difficult time downloading podcasts via the iTunes Store, I highly recommend installing it. Be sure to watch the screencast at the web site. It'll show you how to set it up properly and easily import your podcast feeds from iTunes. It works flawlessly! I'm downloading all the podcasts at normal speeds again from my home connection. I'm still trying to find out where the actual problem is. Must be something with iTunes because Xcast is using the exact same podcast feeds I had in iTunes. Any ideas?
me too! not only podcasts but shows i bought from itunes. sayang yung binayad ko. di pa rin tapos mag download till now. grrrr.....
No problems here. All my downloads from from Itunes store comes down at 8 Mbps from the office and 1 Mbps from the house (my limit on my DSL).
In my area, it seems PLDT is somehow packet shaping iTunes traffic. When I use a VPN (HotSpotVPN, $8.88/month), I'm able to download at full speed. I say in my area because I've connected to hotspots which I know use PLDT and I don't need to use a VPN to download from iTunes without any slowdown. I'm testing out Bayantel DSL at home now, no problems so far.
I haven't had any problems downloading from the iTunes store, or getting my podcasts either. Sorry to hear that... Good luck!
I agree with PatrickGaerlan I use PLDT as well and iTunes downloads just... suck. It took me forever (3 hours) to download a simple 2 megabyte file to update my Father's 1st Gen iPod Mini on a 2 megabit connection. Everything else works fine which led me to suspect that PLDT really is shaping network traffic... I've even taken the trouble of programming a python script and an Automator Action to download and insert podcasts into my iTunes library. After watching the screencast I saw this program has iTunes integration, while I enjoy programming little utilities (OS X's beautiful Unix background), I would rather have just downloaded this program, thanks for the heads-up. PLDT bloody sucks. @PatrickGaerlan: perhaps it has to do with location? I'm based at Malate. Everybody else I've asked about the whole sordid affair didn't even blink. But they aren't at Malate. Some of them use PLDT DSL, but on the whole their iTunes download speeds after the Taiwanese event were up to snuff. Again, PLDT bloody sucks. Quick Update: I was curious about the whole iTunes thing and I subscribed and updated a podcast and downloaded one. It was slow, but... it was working. I've been doing my hack for so long (two months) that I've forgotten to test iTunes. It's working now, slow, but servicable.
i've had this same problem for more than 2 weeks now. itunes podcasts download really slow and they don't even finish. they start downloading and then just stop after a few 100KB. i haven't had a successful itunes podcast download since 2-3 weeks ago. i'm also a pldtdsl subscriber. does anyone think this is really pldtdsl service possibly limiting P2P traffic or tunneling itunes? has anyone tried to call pldtdsl service? in the meantime, anyone know the most convenient alternative to getting the podcasts? this really sucks :-(
anyone still having problems with iTunes slow downloads? this is puzzling seeming everything else like web/email/etc maxes out my connection
My connection when downloading podcasts has been surprisingly good. Downloading at 400-600KB/s right now via PLDT DSL
I'm glad someone's complaining about the PLDTDSL slow iTunes problem. I've had this problem for as long as I remember - before Feb07? Like you said, only iTunes download gets so slow, all my other downloads fast. My friend who also subscribes to the same package and uses a Mac says he experiences this same problem, only with iTunes download. I reported to PLDT 3 months ago, and they said they've never heard of this problem being reported. Somehow, the day after, the download got really fast. Since then, I'd occasionally get fast download, but most of the time it goes like snail. I've tried using my friend's Globe's Visibility wireless broadband using HSDPA and the iTune download works fast on my Macbook. I'm attempting to download a TV show of 515.6MB right now, guess how long it says would take? 9hrs. iTunes shows download speed waivering from 59kb/sec to 87kb/sec, and I'm subscribing to their P1995 package which is supposed to be up to 2MB. Any good suggestions to speed this up?
I think patrick is right. I tried using HotspotVPN three day pass, and I was able to download at full speed.
Apple Says ITunes Has Sold More Than 5 Billion Songs By Ville Heiskanen June 19 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc., maker of the iPod media player, said its iTunes online store has sold more than 5 billion songs since its debut five years ago as more fans abandon record shops for the Web. The site is the most popular in the U.S. for legal music downloads, with more than 8 million songs. ITunes customers also are renting or buying more than 50,000 movies a day, Cupertino, California-based Apple said today in a statement. While it took Apple almost three years to sell the first 1 billion songs, orders have picked up as more consumers switch to digital media players from older music devices. Apple, which is counting on iTunes to increase sales of iPods, iPhones and Macintosh computers, broke the 3 billion-song mark last July. Apple rose 42 cents to $179.17 at 9:31 a.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Before today, the stock had lost 9.8 percent this year. Sales of CDs and music DVDs fell 13 percent to $15.9 billion last year, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said yesterday. Sales of downloaded songs and mobile- phone ringtones rose 34 percent to $2.9 billion. To contact the reporter on this story: Ville Heiskanen in New York at [email protected] Also, more than 20,000 TV episodes and more than 2,000 movies are available on iTunes. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aOcH.53LdBu0
I have problems downloading too! Paid contents pa! Maybe Apple is shifting all bandwidth to apps haha!
In iTunes, click on the Podcasts section in the left pane, then click on "Podcast Directory" near the lower-right corner of the iTunes window. You can also get to the Podcasts section from the iTunes Store.
Actually, whenever I try to click on podcast, it tells me its not available for "my country" (I have it set to Philippines). Is that what people experience too?
