iTunes 7.0 (#9): Another fix for -50 errors when downloading purchased media; Problems buying media over satellite connections

CNET staff

Sept. 2, 2009 12:05 a.m. PT

3 min read

Another fix for -50 errors when downloading purchased media We continue to report on an issue where users are unable to properly download media that has been successfully purchased from the iTunes Store. We've covered a number of solutions over the past few days, including deletion of certain .plist files, and re-clicking the purchase button.

It now appears that in some situations, this issue can be resolved by quitting iTunes, then re-launching it and selecting the "Check for purchases" option located under the "Store" menu. This will require you to sign into the music store, and you may then be able to identify and download the problematic media.

One reader writes:

"I had success quitting iTunes, restarting it, and going to "'heck for purchased music' and logging in. had turned the computer off for several hours after experiencing the download problem, and had tried checking for purchased music when I logged back in again, and it didn't work, so I have no idea why simply restarting iTunes did it, but, hey, problem solved. Nasty bug, though, and I'm still waiting to hear from Cupertino in answer to my reported problem.

Problems buying media over satellite connections (cont.) Yesterday we noted that some users with satellite-based Internet connections are reporting problems purchasing media from the iTunes store. Several users have since corroborated this problem.

MacFixIt reader Jerry writes:

"I also have problems with iTunes 7.0 and Quicktime 7.1.3 on Hughes Satellite Internet Service. Downloading Movie trailers are very flaky (shows Quicktime icon with question mark inside) taking numerous tries both with iTunes and also directly from Apple's trailers site. I have been able to download iTunes music without problems. Behaves vary similar to Software Update where its Cache has to be deleted before it will work without a '1011' error. Have had some success viewing movie trailers, both in iTunes and Apples trailer site by changing Quicktime Preferences, Advanced setting tab from Automatic to Custom and selecting RTSP Port ID to 7070. Satellite latency and Apples 'timeout settings' seem to be the problem. Latency is a known problem with Software Update. Also restarting Satellite Modem DW7000 sometimes works for a while. I've also found Firefox works much better than Safari with Satellite. Had to continually empty Safari's cache to get pages to load properly."

Fix for some playback problems If you are having issues playing back some media (particularly songs) under iTunes 7.0, try navigating to the Sound pane of System Preferences, clicking on the Output tab and re-selecting the sound output device (e.g. Internal Speakers).

Problems synchronizing with iPod after reverting to iTunes 6.0.5 Some users are reporting problems with iPod synchronization after reverting to iTunes 6.0.5.

In these cases, the iPod's software is too new to be synchronized with the older version of iTunes. We are searching for a way to revert the iPod software as well.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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