How to fix Itunes slow movie downloads

For awhile I’ve known of the problem of slow Itunes (specially) movie download speeds. The problem is really well explained by Joe Maller in this post. The solution that he gives is pretty straight forward also, and fixes the problem if you are using a service like OpenDns or Google Dns. However if you still want to keep using any of those two dns services, you need to go back and forth adding, deleting and choosing one over the other.

The solution: Set multiple dns server addresses inside your network adapter

To fix your slow Itunes movie downloads, the solution is really simple, just make sure you get the dns server addresses from your internet service provider, choose OpenDns or Google Dns if you haven’t done so already. Then open your network connections, choose the adapter you use to connect to the internet on your computer, right click and select properties, then choose Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IP v4), click on properties which will open a new window.

At the bottom, you will have two radio buttons and above it will say “Obtain DNS server address automatically” if you are using a dns server address you will see their numbers in there. If not choose “Use the following DNS server addresses:”

Then click on advance, which will open another window with three tabs, choose the middle one that says DNS. If you didn’t have any addresses there before, now you can add them. If you had two addresses before you can still add more in there. With the arrows to the right you can give priority to one over the other.

Keep in mind that these addresses work in pairs, so for example the primary one for OpenDns is 208.67.220.220 and the secondary is 208.67.222.222, don’t mix them if you have others their, and remember that one is the primary and the other the secondary so don’t change their order.

By default Windows will use the first two of the list, so you can have a few different pairs in there, for example the ones for OpenDns, Google Dns and the ones from your ISP.

How to make it work for you?

For most users using a dns service like the ones mentioned above is the way to go, because they offer many benefits over your ISP’s dns. You basically want to have them running on your computer 99% of the time, for that moment that you decide you need to download a movie from Itunes or other services, then just open your network adapter and change the settings, open Itunes and start your download. Once you are done simply go back and change them again.

In that way you can have the best of both worlds and not have to choose one service over the other permanently.