iPod Airtunes Problems

Try changing the broadcast channel of the Express base station. There could be some interference coming from somewhere. Maybe also try moving your base station/Mac to a spot where there may be better reception. What bit rate is the music compressed at?

me too

I'm having the same problem and it's completely crazy making. I tried changing the channel, but it only helped for about ten minutes before it started again.

mad jew said:

Try changing the broadcast channel of the Express base station. There could be some interference coming from somewhere. Maybe also try moving your base station/Mac to a spot where there may be better reception. What bit rate is the music compressed at?

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I don't think the bit rate makes a difference, as I am pretty sure iTunes is transmitting PCM, not the original music files.

theBB said:

I don't think the bit rate makes a difference, as I am pretty sure iTunes is transmitting PCM, not the original music files.

Click to expand...

I haven't read any of the documentation, but I did a small test and it appears higher bitrate music uses more throughput than lower bitrate music. I wasn't being very scientific though, I just used a few tracks and iStat Nano to measure the throughput, so I didn't find anything conclusive.

I read in an Apple support article that AirTunes uses Apple Lossless. I too notice that playing compressed music doesn't use as much bandwidth - I would surmise that iTunes leaves already-compressed audio (AAC, MP3 and such) as-is, but would use Apple Lossless for things like playing audio CDs or PCM files over AirTunes.

Did you try enabling 'interference robustness' on your airport menu?

EDIT - don't know if interference robustness actually does anything at all, and it's probably black voodoo. I always keep it enabled however, because I am odd. Can anyone shed some light on this?

mashinhead said:

i have two speakers the remote ones and the computer. If i choose just the remote ones it cuts off as mentioned. if it's both it works fine. ideas?

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It could be just a coincidence, as the interference from other sources are random. You might be getting lucky when you had both speakers on at the same time. However, a buggy software might result in strange behavior. In any case, opening airport admin tool and playing with options seem to be the only way to go. However, the last time I was having issues with my wireless connection, things got better only when one of the neighboring wireless networks stopped showing up on my list of available networks. Maybe the neighbor moved out or changed his hardware. Good luck...

Try Disabling IPv6

Disabling IPv6 has been known to fix intermittent streaming problems. In System Preferences -> Network -> Configure IPv6 -> Off.

Let us know if this works.

If you have a cordless phone running at 2.4Ghz (or a microwave) that could be doing it also...then you either need an Airport extreme (which can flip to 5.8Ghz) or a new phone. Try unplugging your phones and seeing if the problem persists.

AirTunes sucks...

...AirTunes simply does not work. I tried everything. While the stream runs on the computer, the stream stops on the connected AirTunes devices. It is completely erratic and independent of the computer I use. When I go crazy I reboot everything, reset the PRAM and start the computer again. Then it will go for some short time and then it will start again: Music transmission stops, starts, when I stop and start iTunes loud cracking noises in the speakers (that will eventually ruin them), it will play for some time and then stop again.....

In the end there are many issues with iTunes and Airplay. One could think the software was done by Microsoft.

Ah well... if anyone has a clue how to get AirTunes to play I will be thankful, obviously Apple is not capable to.

Yeah, AirTunes OBVIOUSLY sucks because YOU can't get it to work. OBVIOUSLY all the other millions of people who have it working flawlessly are liars, or imagining it?

AirTunes here works fine - iPod, ATV2 and AirPort Express. Wireless network is run by a 3rd Gen Time Capsule.

If you are such a genius, tell us how to set it up.

But u won't be able to, just like Apple, because there is not much to set up. It just does not work.

There are many other issues about iTunes that many users complain about. Just check the web: poor volume control, mp3tag issues...