iTunes/Safari internet connection problems!

Hello, mac people.

I have just recently run into problems with both iTunes and Safari connecting to the internet. My connection is fine, and I can still use Firefox as I normally do without any connection problems. I just happened to notice one day that for no reason, iTunes was failing to connect to the store, claiming a lack of internet connection. This obviously means I can also not retrieve track information or album artwork, which makes ripping cds quite arduous.

I also noticed that this problem also affects Safari, and though this is not my default internet browser, i figure the problems must be connected. People have suggested there must be some 'work offline' setting I have inadvertently clicked in safari (there is such a setting in firefox), but i have failed to find any such option among the safari or itunes settings.

I have since updated to a newer version of itunes, which made no difference.

I can't find any sort of internet firewall settings that might somehow have been tripped... in short I am totally baffled. It's just Apple software that cannot detect my internet connection, whereas all third party software is unaffected and runs as normal.

This also seems to be affecting Apple Software Update, which is a pretty big deal.

Sorry for the long rant there, but has anybody ever encountered this or a similar issue? It's driving me to insanity!

I'm running OSX 10.5.8 on a MacBook Pro 17" (2.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo)

Thanks... and help...

Oh, and just reviewing some my settings; under Security: Firewall, 'Allow all incoming connections' is checked. So it's definitely not that.

Anybody? This must have happened to somebody else...

Another bump...

I happened to experience the same problem you described.
In my case this occurs only when I use a cable LAN connection.
No such problems with the WLAN...

This happens to me sometimes, though it might also be different. When i run are wlan, my computer will destroy my router and make it reset itself. It only works well when connected to the internet directly to the internet. It doesn't bother me much at all because I know it's not the computer's fault because when I go to another place that also has wlan(caribou, star bucks, etc) it works fine, it's just my router that can't seem to handle my computers signal. It also happens to be with At&t!!