I can't check for purchases in iTunes

[iCello]

I get this error message when i try to check for purchases: "
Unable to check for available downloads.
The iTunes store is temporarily unavailable. please try again later. "
This has been going on for months. Upgrading to snow leopard didnt change it. Various iTunes upgrades havent changed it. what can i do? I'm running iTunes 9.0.2, OS X 10.6.2 on a Unibody Macbook. Please help.

 

[streboRekiM]

I'm having this issue as well. Nothing seems to work and Apple says that there's nothing wrong with their servers that would cause this.

 

[jonny5009]

I'm having the same issue too! I have a season pass and it won't let me download the episodes.

 

[sactownbwoy]

Same issue, it just popped up earlier this week. I just bought a new laptop and installed itunes and it is giving me the same issuse as my desktop. WTF

 

[jonny5009]

Got it fixed! It's a pain but you have to call apple care and tell them your available download queue has an error. Then say you researched the apple discussion boards and the fix for it is to remove all the downloads in the queue and credit your account back. It took an hour on the phone last night to get them to do it, I must have called at a peak time but it's all fixed!

 

[sactownbwoy]

I got in contact with Apple to fix the issue. At first they said it is my firewall or web accelerator software. I emailed them back telling them I can download podcasts just fine and connect to the itunes store, also I don't use web accelerator software. Who uses that stuff anyways.

So a few hours later I check again and I can all of a sudden download my stuff in queue. I like how they email me back telling me the issue is resolved (sarcasm). They didn't even acknowledge that the problem was on their side.

 

[illegalprelude]

this problem has officially started for me. Just emailed Apple, I hope they can resolve it.

 

[arogge]

It was working on Sunday, but I tried to download some new stuff from the iTunes Store yesterday and I'm totally locked out. The software accepts my username and password, but then I get a blank white screen and this popup message:

"Unable to check for purchases. The iTunes Store is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later."

If I try to go to the iTunes Store front page, I get this popup message:

"Your request could not be completed. The item you've requested is not currently available in the US store."

This isn't the first time that this has happened, either. The iTunes Store has been getting slower and more buggy since iTunes 9 came out. Some items refuse to be purchased, other items disappear without explanation, and now this.

This problem is one of the reasons why I refuse to rely on DRM copy-protected content, since Apple could suddenly decide to stop accepting some or all iTunes-purchased content as licensed to a buyer. Without the iTunes Store accepting your login, or a crack for the DRM, you're stuck with unplayable digital content.

 

[arogge]

I'm still locked out of most of the iTunes Store. I was able to access the Free iTunes music of the Week, but not the videos. I can't even get to an error message now. When I try to access a video item, iTunes crashes and I get a "iTunes quit unexpectedly" error.

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGBUS)
Exception Codes: KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE at 0x0000000000000000
Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread