AirPlay unusable in iTunes 11

[PalacePlayers]

Playing music over AirPlay on iTunes 11, running on my brand new Retina MacBook Pro 15" (running 10.8.2) is not a pleasant experience. From time to time, the music starts glitching, and it sounds like you slowly disconnect minijack out from your music player or something. After glitching like this for a couple of seconds, the music disappears completaly for a minute or two.

The only thing that helps is to turn off AirPlay and then turn it on again. Which is, to say the least, extremely annoying. For the record, the AirPort Express is the newest Apple TV-alike version, and is located about 15 cm from the computer. The AirPort Express is connected to the Time Capsule, which is about 2 m from the MacBook.

Anyone with the same problem? Is there a fix? Playing music suddenly became a nightmare..

[seniorchang]

I have the same problem. AirPlay sometimes just stops for several minutes and then suddenl it works again.
I guess it's a bug.

[ep2002]

I came on macrumors searching for an answer to this too. Upgraded to iTunes 11 on my 2007 iMac and its just like the OP describes. The music over AirPlay will just randomly cut off and sometimes iTunes tells me that my AirPlay is not available.
Oh well, I'll keep trouble shooting this problem and will check back again. Hopefully this isn't an IPv6 issue again.

[PalacePlayers]

Seems like this is a bug then. Gotta admit I'm pretty dissapointed we see crippling bugs like this on a flagship feature, on a flagship software that was one month delayed.

However if we all submit feedback here, we might get a fix sooner rather than later.
http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

[apunkrockmonk]

Apple TVs needed a software update for AirPlay to work correctly. It's possible that the Airport Express is no different and also needs an update. Just speculation though.

Had a party last night, used multiple source airplay all night with no problems to report. They were Apple TV 2s however.

[MCAsan]

works like a champ between my rMBP and InAir 5000 speakers.

[newbreed23]

Same problem here. Late 2009 iMac to original Apple TV (first gen). Kept stopping and pausing and giving errors all day yesterday. Also, syncing was incredibly slow! I had to stop the sync. Disappointing.

[seniorchang]

Btw I'm running OS X 10.7.5. Maybe it's not an issue on mountain lion, but just on lion.

[Variant]

I've had this issue with iTunes looooooong before 11 came out.

[Mike MA]

In my case it's even worse - since using iTunes 11 my airplay symbol disappeared and as a result music streaming to my ATV 2 isn't possible any more. When I minimize the player the symbol reappears - but still no Apple TV is detected.

I reconfigured my WLAN router and my WLAN settings on the Macbook Air - nothing changed. My iPhone though is always able to connect to the ATV. I am also able to browse my Macbook Air's media content using ATV - so I actually don't think this is a network issue at all.

Switching of IPv6 wasn't any help either. Anyone else having this issue?

[benelfreako]

Originally Posted by Mike MA

In my case it's even worse - since using iTunes 11 my airplay symbol disappeared and as a result music streaming to my ATV 2 isn't possible any more. When I minimize the player the symbol reappears - but still no Apple TV is detected.

I reconfigured my WLAN router and my WLAN settings on the Macbook Air - nothing changed. My iPhone though is always able to connect to the ATV. I am also able to browse my Macbook Air's media content using ATV - so I actually don't think this is a network issue at all.

Switching of IPv6 wasn't any help either. Anyone else having this issue?

Same issue, but add an Airport Express which also works just fine with everything except the laptop. On Windows 7.

[apunkrockmonk]

Originally Posted by Mike MA

In my case it's even worse - since using iTunes 11 my airplay symbol disappeared and as a result music streaming to my ATV 2 isn't possible any more. When I minimize the player the symbol reappears - but still no Apple TV is detected.

I reconfigured my WLAN router and my WLAN settings on the Macbook Air - nothing changed. My iPhone though is always able to connect to the ATV. I am also able to browse my Macbook Air's media content using ATV - so I actually don't think this is a network issue at all.

Switching of IPv6 wasn't any help either. Anyone else having this issue?

Did you update your ATV2?

[Mike MA]

Originally Posted by apunkrockmonk

Did you update your ATV2?

Yes.

[TheBearman]

ATV3 2009 iMac running 10.6. Worked just fine until iTunes 11. I'm finding that the "stall" occurs ever 45 minutes during a movie. I find I need to direct airplay to some other point (computer) then back to the ATV to recover until the next 45 minute point. Wishing I could roll back to iTunes 10 easily.

[Geezer135]

I'm having the same Airplay problem with my MacBook Pro / Time Capsule / 2 AirPort Express routers and an Apple TV. With iTunes 11 the music starts glitching on & off. It's very annoying. This problem started when I updated to iTunes 11 (I wish I never had).
I contacted Apple regarding this problem and they could not give any advise or help regarding this issue other than I delete and reinstall iTunes (which I'm not going to do) . I sent in a problem report to Apple and hope they will realize this problem.

[dgbricker]

Airplay was working on iTunes, but quit after version 11 update. Here is some but some information:
layout:
2 x Apple TV (1gen and 2nd gen)
1 x Mac Air (airplay not working)
1 x Mac Mini (working airplay)
1 x Windows Box (working airplay)
1 x iPhone (working Airplay)
2 x iPad (working Airplay)
1 x Linksys (Cisco) (Wireless N access point)

Now for the interesting point. The Mac Air will show Airplay when I plug in a wired connection. If the Mac Air is put back on Wireless alone, the airplay icon on the full iTunes disappears. Note the Airplay icon is still visible in the mini-player, but the other devices (apple TVs) are not shown. It is also worth noting the iPADs and the iPhone work wirelessly via airplay.

The Mac Air, while not able to connect via Airplay, the Apple TV does see the Mac Air and can connect to the Mac Air and play from the Mac Air's library.

Not a betting man, but I would guess somewhere in iTunes the logic is making a decision on whether to allow based on the wired/wireless connection.

[OGmaC]

iTunes11 = beta released as official.

[Mike MA]

Any of you guys see an improvement with 11.0.1?

The disappearing Airplay button in fullscreen mode is fixed for me AND more importantly it seems that my ATV is being located by my Macbook not only on a random basis. So I hope that reseting my router every two days or so belongs to the past.

But the weekend will show the truth cause this is the time of heavy usage....

PS: No, it's not fixed

[BadboyHouse]

I've got exactly the same problems with music cutting out when streaming from my MBP to my AirportExpress.

It used to work perfectly before upgrading to iTunes 11.0.1.

You start playing some music then a minute or so later it starts to cut out. It's very annoying.

It's got to be a bug with iTunes as my iPhone streams to the AirPort Express perfectly and never ever cuts out.

Will it ever get fixed?

[BjamesT]

I've had this problem intermittently for years, and have never found a fail-safe solution, but I did just recently create a setup that seems to be working.

I had identified several issues and addressed them individually.

One of the things that I noticed was that the analog line out was a piece of crap cable, and when it was slightly loose I would see a red light suggesting that the AX thought it was connected via optical cable. So I bought an optical cable. Aside from the huge improvement in sound, it made the dropping situation better - but not fixed.

Then I started playing with channels (I live in a condo and there are tons of networks in range) to find a relatively unused channel (3). Again, improvement but not fixed.

Then I moved the AX closer to the iMac, or more accurately away from the stereo and speakers. Again, little improvement but still dropping.

Then I said screw it and set up a completely separate network explicitly for the music (I have am ISP supplied wireless modem) and activated "Interference Robustness" and made sure the new network was not on the internet (after initial setup). This is where I'm at and on Monday had uninterrupted music for over 6 hours.

I was listening again last night and had one very short drop (1-2 seconds) and a couple of hiccups that sounded more like skipping than an actual drop.

So, at least for me, it seems the major culprit (though not the exclusive culprit) was radio interference.

Setup:
iMac with Mountain Lion and iTunes 11.0.1 (early 2008)
iPhone 4s iOS 6 (for remote and occasional airplay)
Airport Express G Firmware 6.3 (2005)
Optical connection to Yamaha receiver.

[jesseluke]

OH GREAT !!!!! - yet ANOTHER reason to HATE apple. I just purchased Apple TV specifially to use airplay - & it SUCKS!!!!


I USE to be Apple's BIGGEST fan, now I feel like they are just ******** on me.

[MasterHowl]

I had the problem with iTunes 10 as well.

Music would cut out for a few minutes, be crackly or very quiet. Very annoying considering Apple are really pushing to move away from any wires at all in your set up...

(MacBook Pro 15 inch mid-2009, using one of the "wall socket" AirPort Expresses)

[Mike MA]

Originally Posted by dgbricker

Airplay was working on iTunes, but quit after version 11 update. Here is some but some information:
layout:
2 x Apple TV (1gen and 2nd gen)
1 x Mac Air (airplay not working)
1 x Mac Mini (working airplay)
1 x Windows Box (working airplay)
1 x iPhone (working Airplay)
2 x iPad (working Airplay)
1 x Linksys (Cisco) (Wireless N access point)

Now for the interesting point. The Mac Air will show Airplay when I plug in a wired connection. If the Mac Air is put back on Wireless alone, the airplay icon on the full iTunes disappears. Note the Airplay icon is still visible in the mini-player, but the other devices (apple TVs) are not shown. It is also worth noting the iPADs and the iPhone work wirelessly via airplay.

The Mac Air, while not able to connect via Airplay, the Apple TV does see the Mac Air and can connect to the Mac Air and play from the Mac Air's library.

Not a betting man, but I would guess somewhere in iTunes the logic is making a decision on whether to allow based on the wired/wireless connection.

Check out my post above from the 3rd of December - exactly the same behavior with exactly the same devices - iOS devices seem more stable when working with Airplay - god knows why.

Hoping 10.8.3 with its focus on Airplay and Wireless issues does the job.