iTunes “An unknown error occurred (-50)" error message

[rquinones27]

Hello out there. So, the other day when I open iTunes, there is a pop up that says that there is a new version of iTunes and it asks me if I want to upgrade. I click yes and the download starts. After everything is all completed, I try to purchase a song and while downloading I get this message: "We could not complete your Music Store request. An unknown error occurred (-50). There was an error in the Music Store. Please try again later." Has anybody run into this error message? If so, what was your fix for it? I have tried everything I thought would be a problem (firewall, reinstalling iTunes, upgrading QuickTime, etc.), but nothing seems to work. Thanks in advance.

[afalconsvick]

What internet browser are you using? And did it work before you downloaded the new update of iTunes?

[rquinones27]

I'm using the latest version of Internet Explorer (6.0). Yes, iTunes used to work perfectly before I did the upgrade. A few glitches here and there, but nothing major. I had never had any problems with the previous upgrades, so I didn't think twice about upgrading to their latest version.

[camster]

had the same thing all today. try it now, it just worked for me.

[rquinones27]

camster:
Were you having the same problem? What did you do to fix it? I was able to download one song, but when I tried to download another song, I got the error message again.

[jessica.]

The error message is a huge problem. Check this link out: http://discussions.info.apple.com/we...cR.3@.68a47ef9


I hope they find a fix soon.

[rquinones27]

A little update since my original post. It seems that Apple got on the ball on this one issue since a lot of people complained of the same problem as seen in their own forum (see here: http://discussions.info.apple.com/w...LcR.3@.68a47ef9).

I have received several emails from the folks at Apple requesting info on my system, to try and solve the problem. It seems like they fixed whatever was wrong, because in the last two days I have been able to download music without problems. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed!

[luciloo]

I'm getting the same error code you did when I try to download purchased music. How did you correct the problem? I'm using my PC at work, which has Windows 2000 (network environment with a firewall). Could that have something to do with it? I have admin rights to download and install programs.

[FallN]

I keep getting a "5002" error!! It's incredibly annoying and infuriating. Also, it keeps saying that I already purchased the track yet it never downloaded the first 8 times I tried! WTF??

Apple needs to fix this! Charging people again for mucis they never got a chance to download because of their glitchy iTunes isn't cool!! Where do I go to complain and get help from Apple for this? There's no customer service area that I saw in the iTunes panel. Can anyone tell me where to go or who to call/write to get help?

[rhatta]

I just got burned by the same issue yesterday (might have been a different error number though), and when I checked my mailbox this morning, sure enough I received an e-mail receipt from Apple for 5 songs that iTunes did not download even after an iTunes restart. I went to their iTunes support page, and this is what their their support page says about music downloads:

Download reliably every time
Because the music you’re purchasing is stored on Apple’s servers, you’ll be sure to get speedy and reliable downloads. And you’ll also be sure that the audio quality is pristine because each song has been encoded with AAC compression. If a problem does occur during a download (you lose power, for example), the music download will automatically restart the next time you open iTunes.

I am thinking of either:

• Try to get Apple (who should have my purchase history) to allow me a chance to download music from them free of internet connection errors.
• Try to get Apple to refund me.
• Have my credit card company revoke Apple's charges.

Has anyone been successful in resolving their failed purchase issue, or has *everyone* who got into a similar stituation been ripped off so far?

Update: Converted my HTML tags to non-standard "visual basic". Is there an option to support real standards?

[rhatta]

Problem resolved. This is iTMS's support page: http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/musicstore.html

The existance of this page wasn't obvious from iTunes's main support page or from the purchase receipt e-mail.

I got to this page by clicking on: iTunes menu > "Provide User Feedback"

Ignore the fillout and click on the link to the right: "Music Store Customer Service"

I got an additional error message when doing one of their recommendations, but when I tried the same thing again I didn't get an error message.

[luciloo]

Thank you for your post. I'll try and download my purchased music again tomorrow and see if I still get the error message. If I do, I'll probably go the same route you did and contact Apple directly.

Thanks, Luci

[apyang]

Did anyone who had this downloading problem try "Check for purchased music" on the "Advanced" menu?

[Xcalibur1986]

what was everyone's connection speed?

[luciloo]

Yes, in fact I just tried it again and am still getting the same error:

"There was an error downloading your purchased music. An unknown error occurred (-50).

Use the Check for Purchased Music command in the Advanced menu to try again later."

Do you think it's because I'm behind a firewall? I'm at work and I don't know if I can even disable the firewall from my PC...probably not.

My connection speed is a T-1 (LAN). I'm using Windows 2000. I have iTunes at home on my PC and don't have any problems at all. My home PC has Windows XP on it and I have a cable modem connection.

Thanks for your help,
Luci