Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Audio, iTS, iTunes, Troubleshooting
iTunes Music Store problems
I've been trying to buy Danger Doom's "The Mouse and the Mask" for a week now on iTMS to no avail. Every time I try, I get a message about the item currently being modified. On day two and three I started wondering, does it take this long to modify a database item? Well, looks like it could take as long as next week. Several hundred people on the discussion boards are having the same issue, and yesterday I received a response from Apple:"Dear Victor,
Thank you for contacting the iTunes Music Store.
We are aware of the issue you have reported and are working to resolve it as soon as we can.
Please do not attempt to purchase this item again until Monday, November 28th. This will give our engineering crew enough time to fix the items that have been affected by this problem.
Sincerely,
The iTunes Music Store team"
Just so everyone is clear: no purchasing albums until next week, OK? Kidding! Apparently singles are no problem, just albums. But I'm not a big fan of paying over $16 for an album that should cost $9.99. And for the conspiracy theorists out there, does this mean variable pricing just in time for the holidays? We can only
UPDATE: I was able to order the album just as Apple said on the 28th.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Brent said 4:18PM on 11-23-2005
Funny. I was complaining to a friend about having this very same problem with REM's "Lifes Rich Pageant" and "Document" albums. It refused to let me buy them, saying it was either updating the database, my cart contents had changed, or the price was being modifed. This happened Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Apple was quick with their response, but the instructions given did not fix the problem. Luckily, I had 2 songs already from each album and was able to buy the remaining singles individually without breaching the album discount price.
If the album isn't available for purchase, regardless of the reason, the album (at the discounted album price) should not be displayed in ITMS.
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kneel said 4:43PM on 11-23-2005
Danger Doom's album is pretty awesome, but I recommend purchasing it from emusic.com instead of through iTMS. The album is going to be what, 9.99 in iTMS? For that you can get 40 songs on emusic.
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Peter Koritschan said 4:47PM on 11-23-2005
RE: variable pricing
I was on the Swiss iTMS last night, and I saw albums which are priced at prices between 6-9 CHF (usual album price is CHF 15). maybe they've started with it already test-wise?
I am ok with variable pricing for albums, but for individual songs I'd hate to pay more than the 99 cents (CHF 1.50)....
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Defpol said 4:48PM on 11-23-2005
Just purchased from iTMS no problem....
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Simon said 4:59PM on 11-23-2005
Dude, I stopped shoping with iTunes from time I found about www.allofmp3.com. Seriously. I bought 6 different albums and spent less than $10. Process is easy and quality of music is amazing. I won't use iTMS anymore.
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Anatoli Papirovski said 5:19PM on 11-23-2005
Simon, I hope that you're aware that you're paying money for illegal music... because if not, now you know. AllOfMp3 is a Russian service. This company doesn't have any kind of deal with music producers or artists, this all is possible because of many loopholes in various laws - mainly the russian ones. Conclusion - what you're doing is no better than downloading from P2P.
(AFAIK, people buy music because they value the artists and believe that the music is worth their money. Paying for illegal music on the other hand is just plain dumb - you're not fooling anyone and the money's not going to anyone besides the scam company.)
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David said 5:38PM on 11-23-2005
For several days this week, I had the same problem trying to buy The Essential Ten Years After Collection. Finally, I was able to download it last night, but it took an unusually long time.
After about 24 hours, Apple replied to me email with the following...
For a brief time the store was unable to process this type of request.
Since that time we have resolved the issue.
We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
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Jeff said 8:40AM on 11-28-2005
Well gotta I say trying to Felix da Housecat's single "Everyone is Someone in LA" has proved most troublesome. As are other singles from the movie Office Space. Personally I think it's the man trying to keep a person down and out of LA. Needless to say I will be watching billing closely for a while.
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Nick said 8:35PM on 11-23-2005
Diddn't really read the article but word up for reppin' Mf doom :)
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Scotto said 8:17PM on 11-23-2005
I have been unable to purchase anything at all in iTMS for over 2 weeks. The store complains that my address (which I've been using to purchase stuff from iTMS for over a year) suddenly isn't a "valid US address". Uh-huh...guess I must be sitting in the twilight zone. Oh, and trying different computers (PC/Mac) and bank's credit cards doesn't help.
Support has given me several things to try, and has also (as above) given me the bogus message: "For a brief time the store was unable to process this type of request."
All for naught. Email support with a 24-48 delay is practically useless for troubleshooting something like this.
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Cyberwhore said 8:32PM on 11-23-2005
I can email you the torrent file if you like?
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mike s said 8:49PM on 11-23-2005
You can buy this album in non-DRMed mp3 format from eMusic. Tracks are $.99, and tend to be decent quality VBR (around 180kbps). I don't buy full records there -- generally I buy individual tracks to decide whether to pick up the record from half.com so I can burn it lossless -- but it has a good selection of the indie music. It is good for the pfork fans out there.
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Mingo Hagen said 9:07PM on 11-23-2005
nice! I've had the same e-mail response to a couple of e-mails I send the iTMS tech support about an album I've been trying to buy for what, two years now? still no luck :( (the album is funk master flex's first mix tape, in de european itms)
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David Yenoki said 11:29PM on 11-23-2005
I had been trying to purchase Rufus Wainwright's music video for April Fools ... yesterday iTMS wouldn't let me purchase it, this morning it let me purchase it but wouldn't let me download it ...
but this evening I have it so ... try again now?
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Maha10k said 11:30AM on 11-24-2005
I too got the Danger Doom album on eMusic. Good service. I had a similar problem before trying to buy a London Elektricity album off of iTMS. I couldn't download it and I got a letter telling me to wait. I went to Hospital Records' download store and got the album with a better bitrate, no DRM at the same price. While iTMS does have an awesome selection, the headaches and poor quality keep me from shopping there.
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Nick said 11:32AM on 11-24-2005
The same thing has been happening when I try to buy Heaven & Hell by Vangelis. Same error and everything, although it won't let me buy the songs either (could have to do with the album only having 2 songs).
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Spinach said 9:47AM on 11-24-2005
I ran into the 'not available' issue when trying to buy and album. I made it work by gifting the album to myself. Worked perfectly. You could try that.
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Brent said 12:02PM on 11-24-2005
To update...
I just bought an album, confirmed that one item in my cart, entered my password, and purchased the album. This album had 24 tracks, so I was checking my Mac now and then to see how the downloads were going.
The third time I checked, the track count went up to 44 and it was downloading the single tracks that I had purchased on Sunday (mentioned above), AGAIN.
Of course, I emailed Apple about this. I sure hope the billing isn't getting screwed up like ITMS is. Something has gone terribly awry...
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Stitches said 9:46PM on 11-24-2005
I have been trying to download single songs for 3 days. I don't have the cash in my paypal right now to buy full cds and having banking problems.
I am getting really mad, and am starting to wonder why I went with itunes in the first place.
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Joe Golike said 12:30AM on 11-26-2005
eMusic is running a free trial right now, so you can get 50 free mp3s for signing up. If you cancel within the first month after downloading your free songs, you keep them for free.
http://www.emusic.com/promo/home.html
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