Why Is My Download Slow?
Our libraries are hosted on Amazon Cloudfront servers which are usually very quick. However, if you're experiencing a slow download there are a few checks that we often recommend to customers.
1a. Avoid downloading at busy times
In some cases your Internet Service Provider (ISP) will throttle connections during peak hours. The busy hours for internet use are usually from 7:00pm - 11:00pm.
1b. Leave the download running overnight
Running a download overnight should avoid busy periods. Our App aims to use as much of the available bandwidth as possible, and downloading at these times often means that you'll have more bandwidth obtainable.
1c. Check that you do not have any Firewall or Anti-Virus software interfering with the download
You may find that your download is slowed due to Anti-Virus software 'scanning' every file as it downloads. To work around this, try temporarily disabling the Anti-Virus software or adding the Spitfire App as an 'exception'.
Why Is My Download Stuck?
If your download is not progressing at all there are a couple of other steps that could need addressing.
2a. Changing the download server in the App configuration file
You may have issues connecting to the Amazon Cloudfront servers. If this is the case, you can manually edit the Spitfire App configuration file to download from the Amazon S3 servers instead.
1. Make sure the Spitfire App is closed and then locate the lm.conf file.
Windows: Roaming/Application Data/Spitfire Audio/lm.conf
Mac OS: User/Music/Spitfire Audio/Settings/lm.conf
2. Open the file with a text editor (Notepad on Windows, TextEdit on Mac OS).
3. In the document, change you'll notice a line of text "cdn": "cloudfront". Change cloudfront to s3, which should then display as "cdn": "s3". Once you've done this, save the document.
4. Reopen the Spitfire App and attempt the download.
2b. Contact support to see if your IP is being blocked
We have an anti-fraud system in place which can be triggered if you're downloading from a different country to the one you stated when you purchased:
If this is the case, you'll need to contact us a spitfireaudio.com/support. We can confirm this and bypass the issue.
2c. Try deleting the last numbered ".part" file
In rare cases the App can get stuck 'looping' on a specific .part file. If you go into the relevant library folder and delete the most recent file you may find that the download proceeds.
Switching from cloudfront to s3 worked for me. Many thanks for the tip. Jonathan
Jonathan Marshall +1, with "cloudfront" server download doesn't work at all.
I know Sandy will sort me out, but was a bit confused - my im.conf document doesn't seem to have the code that they quote in point 3, so I had no choice other than to get in touch, as I don't know how to switch from cloudfront to S3.
Yeah changing the download server worked for me