Getting err = -39 with Apple’s iTunes?
Yesterday I downloaded and installed the latest and greatest iTunes (version 7.4.3.1). Since then, when I download podcasts, I occasionally receive the error message err = -39. According to Apple, the cause is incompatibility between iTunes and some web acceleration software. Guess what? I’m not using web acceleration software.
Manson2k, over at Red Kawa, suggests it may be due to ReadyBoost on Windows Vista. In my case, I already have ReadyBoost disabled.
Thinking that it is probably just a corrupted cache as the episodes were receiving the -39 error but had downloaded some of the file. When I searched the computer for an episode name, I discovered that there were a few .tmp files in my Z:\\Music\\Downloads directory with the same names of podcast episodes that were receiving the -39 error. Deleting these files allowed iTunes to download the episodes correctly. 
Obviously, there seems to be many causes of the -39 error. I hope Apple fixes this bug or at least gives the option to clear the download cache from iTunes.
AWESOME!!! It worked like a charm! You’re great!
You’re very welcome!
I was told that the next patch of iTunes is supposed to fix the matter but I’m not holding my breath on it.
You rock, Jason! This fixed my problem as well.
In my case, I had plugged in a USB device that crashed Windows and caused my computer to reboot right when several new podcasts happened to be downloading. After rebooting, I couldn’t get any of those episodes to re-download no matter what I tried. Since there was no trace of them in the podcasts list, I didn’t even think to look in the music folder for corrupt / tmp files.
Many thanks!
p.s. — There have been a couple patches since your post, so apparently Apple hasn’t fixed this yet.
Thanks that helped so much, Apple support said it was an internet accelerator for dialup and i dont have dialup I have cable…And that fix fixed it right up! It really seems like iTunes 7 is a very buggy one…I mean I may have to change my lib to my Mac soon if more bugs keep popping up, like earlier this week I had a sound error then a quicktime error all fixed with reinstalls but this is getting ridiculous…I mean I love apple but cmon get it right!
Fixed my problem as well which was caused by a power-outage in the middle of a podcast episode download. After the power came back on, the episodes refused to download. Deleting the appropriate folder in the Download folder solved the problem nicely. Thank-you Geek.
(For those of you, like me, who don’t know where the Download folder is — it was in your main iTunes music library folder.)
Oh man, you are a computer *stud*! This has been pissing me off for a month. I just did a search on the whole iTunes directory and deleted *all* the .tmp directories and it’s all working again. Thanks for this tip.
Jason,
Thanks a bunch. I’ve been hammering my head into the wall trying to solve this one. You rock!
R
Had an episode of Car Talk that woudn’t download after I upgraded to Vista. Your method fixed the problem. By the way, I am using iTunes 7.5.
Thank you so much!!!!!!!!! Without you I would still be searching for the solution, complaining to apple and waiting for an answer. Thank you!
No prob
Thanks! Worked well, although I’m currently waiting on the new iTunes 7.6.2 maybe they’ll fix it in this version? I doubt it.
Thanks
I struggled with this some days, till now.
Hi, I’m having trouble downloading some podcasts – itunes is saying err=3259. I can’t find out anywhere what that means – can you help?
According to Apple docs, the error is due to either old iTunes software (old iTunes is unable to authenticate with the newer iTunes Store DRM) or because of a firewall/networking issue.
The people over at Technology Evangelist also ran into the issue. Comment #41 seems to have the best results:
Hey, deleting the TMP files worked like a charm. Thanks!
Glad it worked for you Sal
Thanks man that fixed it!!!
I love you mate
Thanks a million guys. Your comments helped me to fix my iTunes problems after tearing my hair out over it for weeks!!!
I can sleep easy now… Lol
L
x
Thanks so much. Fixed my ATOS podcast issues! Man, these big companies…
Hello, I have Windows Vista and Norton Antivirus, and keep getting the -3259 error when trying to download an iTunes podcast. Also, I checked and there are no .tmp files in iTunes. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Oh wow, that worked. Thanks a lot man
great, works perfectly
So many thanks! I was really clueless on how to get the downloads to resume…
Great to me,
It works.
TKS
thanks man,
i searched the internet to a potential fix to this problem and came across your site. Your a lifesaver.
-evan
Perfect! Googled ‘podcast err 39′ and this site came up as result number 1. Worked like a charm. Thank you for sharing.
Just had this problem and Googled your site. Thanks!
I may sound really stupid but how do I get to the directory? I’ve tried searching but can’t get into a download folder. Thanks.
Hi Sarah,
You should be able to search for “Downloads”. It should be located within your iTunes Music folder or near it on the harddrive.
jason
worked thx! the bug remained in iTunes 8.1
Thank You Jason very much, I just came across this problem today and was searching for an answer on the internet and came across your website. I also like Sarah could not find the folder but with your post, I have resolved the problem. Many thanks again.
Thanx F00L it worked like a charm Nikka!!!
Thanks! I tried so many sites and then I came to yours, and the solution worked perfectly!
I suspected a temp file was causing my err = -39, but I didn’t know where to look. Thanks for the post and all the replies to point me in the right direction.
My error resulted when the graphics card caused a crash during download of a video podcast. I don’t remember what else I was doing, but I don’t think I was watching a video.
Six months now and many updates with no fix.
Thanks! It help me to get the files.
The reason I got the failure is that my SAMBA server, on which my iTunes files are, disconnects from time to time. Windows doesn’t notice it, but isn’t able to continue afterwards.
I hope this helps others, who store the music files on another machine (Server, other Computer, NAS, SAN or juast a Harddisk in the network), to locate the problem. If the connection between the two machines disconnects, while downloading a podcast, the the already downloaded part of the podcast is in the .tmp folder. If you found the problem why your connection disconnects, you found the reason why you have trouble downloading the files.
In my case it is a problem with the SAMBA server. See https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/395428
The Bug is still open. I hope a bug fix will help in similar cases.
Thanks SO much for this – iTunes was no help at all and your solution fixed it up for me. I’m not sure why my downloads were interrupted but it was driving me mad, trying to get some of my podcasts and being thwarted. The latest version, 8.2.1.6, clearly hasn’t fixed this problem.
THANK YOU! A very straight forward solution!!! I was beginning to lose my mind a bit over the continuous error message… lol
genius
I did the fix a few times, but the problem continues. I am downloading a 4 hour movie; could it be the size of the file? Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks for the fix it really worked…
totally awesome! the problem was driving me nuts. such a simple solution.
thanks again
brilliant!!
Really appreciate your help!! it worked like a charm in iTunes 9.0.2, I was having err -39 and it solved. Thanks!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!
Thank you!!! It was driving me nuts and I would NEVER have figured this out.
Thank you soooo much! As with the other commenters, I don’t think I would have ever figured this out. I was sitting here screaming at the computer without realizing that a power disruption was the initial problem!
I think it boils down to if there is a disruption in writing the files to disk, iTunes will simply refuse to use those partial files (possibly resume downloading them).
It appears to be a simple oversight of Apple and I would hope that they will eventually fix the issue as it has been more than 2 years since it was first reported to them.
I wish this worked for me! My download is stopping at the same point everytime – it’s a movie, and I’ve only got half of it. I’ve tried this technique – for which I thank you, at least I’m not alone! – and it works up until this one point. I’ve also tried deactivating firewalls, AV software, etcetc. I’ve now been trying to fix this for a few days, and am going slowly mad…
Any tips?
Thank you! That was so easy. I Googled err 39 and your site was the first and most helpful result. The error was driving me bonkers; I never would have figured it out.