iTunes left a bad taste in my mouth

[poppe]

I thought iTunes 7 was going to be a great thing, but I was very wrong.
My friend decided he wanted Sigur Ros, so I bought it for him as a present off of iTunes.

After the purchase went through the album began downloading. Sadly I recieved an error: Error -50. No songs would download. We kept trying to redownload for about an hour.

To no luck of ours we had to close iTunes and restart the computer. When we reopened iTunes there was no such album anywhere on his Mac. But I was still charged the $9.99.

So that sucks, but oh well I figured i'll just email them and hopefully recieve the good customer support I always hear about.

I did recieve my refund, but I also recieved a long letter basically stating how this is a one time only refund and that I need to do all these things to fix it and blah blah blah...

I really was shocked to find that iTunes customer support basically was telling me that it was my fault, or my internets fault for the downloading not working. Of course not iTunes 7. - I know I know he shouldn't have downloaded iTunes 7, but he doesn't read Apple websites.

Has anyone else had these problems?

I'm not saying Apple is the only one that does it because I have had it happen many times before from other companies. I was just really surprised for some reason.

Poppe

 

[stevehp]

sorry to hear that.

It could have been a computer problem too.

Just click "Check for Purchases" next time...

 

[Killyp]

iTunes 7 generally sucks yeh, slow loading times, loads of weird little glitches (especially with downloading and iPod syncing). However, the problem you describe is something I also had on iTunes 4, when I first got an iPod. I tried to download The Wall, and it got to half way, and out internet disconnected (mind you though that was 8k dialup).

 

[bousozoku]

I've only had one issue with iTunes 7 and that was not deleting things from my iPod. I actually bought a t.v. episode and it downloaded in about 30 minutes using 7.0.1. I downloaded the free pilot episode with 7.0 and also had no problem.

It's definitely not always the best thing to update Apple software quickly and I like to wait for the x.x.1 version to avoid crazy problems. I haven't seen too much about problems with 7.0.1, though.

What you've said about iTunes customer service is in line with everything else I've seen. I'm not sure exactly what they can see but it seems to be mostly a do it yourself job. The Check for Purchases menu item is there to help and you don't have to wait for customer service to try it, as far as I know.

The worst thing about this: what the hell is Error -50? More precisely, why are they generating that message. In the Apple Human Interface Guidelines, it specifically said not to use the word "Error" and to describe the problem in appropriate language to not make the user feel like an idiot.

 

[Fukui]

The worst thing about this: what the hell is Error -50? More precisely, why are they generating that message. In the Apple Human Interface Guidelines, it specifically said not to use the word "Error" and to describe the problem in appropriate language to not make the user feel like an idiot.

Because Error -50 is the return code from OSError which is defined in carbon as a "paramErr," more specifically, an error in user parameter list. Therefore there is something wrong with his parameter list. I suggest he go and fix it so this doesn't happen again.

 

[CorvusCamenarum]

I thought iTunes 7 was going to be a great thing, but I was very wrong.
My friend decided he wanted Sigur Ros, so I bought it for him as a present off of iTunes.

After the purchase went through the album began downloading. Sadly I recieved an error: Error -50. No songs would download. We kept trying to redownload for about an hour.

To no luck of ours we had to close iTunes and restart the computer. When we reopened iTunes there was no such album anywhere on his Mac. But I was still charged the $9.99.

So that sucks, but oh well I figured i'll just email them and hopefully recieve the good customer support I always hear about.

I did recieve my refund, but I also recieved a long letter basically stating how this is a one time only refund and that I need to do all these things to fix it and blah blah blah...

I really was shocked to find that iTunes customer support basically was telling me that it was my fault, or my internets fault for the downloading not working. Of course not iTunes 7. - I know I know he shouldn't have downloaded iTunes 7, but he doesn't read Apple websites.

Has anyone else had these problems?

I'm not saying Apple is the only one that does it because I have had it happen many times before from other companies. I was just really surprised for some reason.

Poppe

Your issue is almost identical to the one I had - at least I know I wasn't imagining things. I tried to get an album, 10.4.8, iTunes 7, error code -50 all the way down. It took several emails to get the point across to them, I'm guessing that like telemarketers they just copy and paste from a screen instead of actually thinking it through. First it was my fault, then the internet's fault, then my fault again; apparently according to them Apple is infallible. To top it off, by the end of the exchange they had gottten my name wrong and were barely apologetic when I pointed it out to them. I finally got my refund though, after having to threaten initiating something with the bank and disputing their charge.

iTunes has lost a customer until they can get their act together.

 

[bousozoku]

Because Error -50 is the return code from OSError which is defined in carbon as a "paramErr," more specifically, an error in user parameter list. Therefore there is something wrong with his parameter list. I suggest he go and fix it so this doesn't happen again.

You know what I'm saying, otherwise you wouldn't have that all-knowing smiley there. I'm suspecting that there is a whole lot more to the situation but I'd rather not let my imagination run wild.

 

[poppe]

sorry to hear that.

It could have been a computer problem too.

Just click "Check for Purchases" next time...

I did do that. there was nothing... it was very weird.

apple said it is either the computers fault or the internets fault.

glad to hear everyons iTunes 7 is working okay. I've read a lot of bad things about it but perhaps it was all just a small group with loud voices.

something is so wrong with his iTunes though, that's the thing...

with 7.0 it didn't burn or do much of anything besides play movies. 7.0.1 had all the same problems including trying to burn but nevr accutally working... though working enough to get some data on the cd to make it useless...

 

[iMeowbot]

The worst thing about this: what the hell is Error -50? More precisely, why are they generating that message. In the Apple Human Interface Guidelines, it specifically said not to use the word "Error" and to describe the problem in appropriate language to not make the user feel like an idiot.

That's something that has mystified me about Apple software forever. I'm not really bothered by the generic error numbers, more that there are so many conditions that fall down into generic error traps like that. The really weird part is that they apparently know why this error happens but iTunes itself doesn't explain it!

 

[AdeFowler]

I did recieve my refund, but I also recieved a long letter basically stating how this is a one time only refund and that I need to do all these things to fix it and blah blah blah...

If it's any consolation Poppe, this is pretty much the standard email that iTunes support send in the first instance. Any further communication is a bit more human. In all my dealings with iTunes support (maybe 6 times in over 2 years) they've always sorted my problem. It's not personal

 

[bousozoku]

I did do that. there was nothing... it was very weird.

apple said it is either the computers fault or the internets fault.

glad to hear everyons iTunes 7 is working okay. I've read a lot of bad things about it but perhaps it was all just a small group with loud voices.

something is so wrong with his iTunes though, that's the thing...

with 7.0 it didn't burn or do much of anything besides play movies. 7.0.1 had all the same problems including trying to burn but nevr accutally working... though working enough to get some data on the cd to make it useless...

I remember with the first Windows version, they were hammering on users to update firmware and drivers and sure enough, things got better. It seems like Mac users aren't always protected from this and since some of us add non-Apple ROM equipment, we end up doing the same things as the Windows users but to a smaller extent.

Hopefully, with that link iMeowbot posted, you can correct the problem for the next time.

 

[iS.K]

Solution to error code -50

Not sure this will work with anybody else, but it did with me.

I tried purchasing an album from the iTunes (UK) store for the first time today. I received said error code and did the following. Since I am unsure which exact step solved the problem i'll detail the exact steps I took and in which order:


1. After recieving error code -50; I left iTunes running

2. I disabled the firewall (that alone did not help)

3. I checked if I had a destination "Download" Folder (I didn't); so I created one (~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Downloads). I got this idea from the following Apple related article: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303887

4. I quit iTunes and reopened. I was prompted to enter my iTunes Store username and password; and hey-presto the downloads began and completed successfully!

I suspect the Firewall on/off is irrelevant but since I don't buy from the iTunes Store often I cannot verify this.

Hope this helps

 

[Mustafa]

Not sure this will work with anybody else, but it did with me.

I tried purchasing an album from the iTunes (UK) store for the first time today. I received said error code and did the following. Since I am unsure which exact step solved the problem i'll detail the exact steps I took and in which order:


1. After recieving error code -50; I left iTunes running

2. I disabled the firewall (that alone did not help)

3. I checked if I had a destination "Download" Folder (I didn't); so I created one (~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Downloads). I got this idea from the following Apple related article: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303887

4. I quit iTunes and reopened. I was prompted to enter my iTunes Store username and password; and hey-presto the downloads began and completed successfully!

I suspect the Firewall on/off is irrelevant but since I don't buy from the iTunes Store often I cannot verify this.

Hope this helps

I had the same error code, thought 7.0.1 might fix it, but it didn't.

I had some correspondence with Apple, who eventually claimed it must be a firewall interfering, but I don't have one.

I found that if you exit iTunes and re-enter, it automatically checks for purchases and then downloads the missing tunes. Annoying and needs fixing, but not a complete disaster.