iTunes 8008 Download Errors

A few weeks after we moved into our flat in Dunedin, I began to experience some very strange errors when downloading TV programs and movies from iTunes Music Store (iTMS). After beginning the download, I would see the “time remaining” indicator jump from a few hours remaining to just a few minutes. The number would then climb a bit, and then I’d get an 8008 error, along with an indication that the file was corrupted. After a number of attempts I noticed that the file always stopped on a multiple of 10Meg, plus .1 megabyte (70.1, 80.1, 120.1). It would then back up 10 megabytes, try again and always fail. At that point I have to delete the file from the “Downloads” folder and start again. It’s more than a bit annoying. I’m assuming that about every 10 megabytes iTunes does some kind of file verification and that’s when it detects the error, but apparently cannot fix it.

What I end up doing (when the mood strikes), is to download the movie for a while, pause it, make a backup copy of the partial download, and continue. If I get the error I delete the corrupted file in “Downloads”, replace it with my backup, and continue from that point rather than starting all over. It’s a pain in the rump.

Some nights when the download speeds are fast (currently about 1Mps) it’s manageable – I make a backup about every 100 megabyte. On bad nights – forget it. I just go to the Otago library late when the speeds are better. During the day the network there feels like dialup speed.

Our ISP has tried a number of changes but nothing seems to make a difference, nor has some of the recent iTunes upgrades. Bugger. If anyone has a fix (our ISP thinks it might have something to do with NAT conversion), please leave a comment!

5 comments on “iTunes 8008 Download Errors

Edward M. Roche says:

I have been having the same problem. Now there are 5 movies and TV shows that are 8008 incomplete on my system. Repeated attempts to download are of no avail. Does anyone have a solution to this?

Andrew says:

did this start happening after you updated to itunes 8?

Aloha. To be honest I don’t remember what version number I was using back in April, though I tend to be pretty quick with the upgrades. We moved from New Zealand in July and I’ve had no such problems since we returned to Hawai’i, so I dropped it.

Andrew says:

well if this was happening in april I’m guessing that it wasn’t itunes 8…. had a customer call about this error message today
there are very slim resources available for this error…..
I’m guessing a uninstall and reinstall of itunes would resolve the issue

Probably not from the discussions that I saw on the Apple forum regarding the issue. My ISP in NZ suspected that it had to do with NAT or possibly an issue with the Akamai servers that Apple uses to distribute iTMS downloads. We had three different Mac laptops and would get the same error on each one.

Also, I never got these errors when connected to the university’s network at Otago, only at home with my ISP, so don’t believe it was an issue with my laptop, but with my ISP’s network.

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