iTunes - timed downloads

I have been buying a number of TV programmes through iTunes lately and have now received a warning from my ISP that my download speed will be throttled down to almost nothing if I continue to do so.

Leaving aside how I feel about that sort of policy, is there a way to schedule downloads (like the latest episodes of TV series) so they only download at night please? These are downloaded automatically as soon as they become available once I start iTunes. Is there a way to set the time they can be downloaded?

The easiest way I found.
Make your purchase, and then pause the downloads and Quit iTunes.

Create an iCal event and set the Alarm to:
Open File:
iTunes:
on Date: make sure you put the time you want it to open here, not only in the date box above

Just tried it and it works. Didn't have anything to download at the moment, but in my past experience opening itunes did auto start any downloads I had. I think this will wake your machine from sleep also, but I haven't tried it. You may need to experiment a little with it just to make sure it stays awake long enough to complete the downloads.

Like a Scheduled Task? I didn't know you could do that on a Mac.

Thanks Bob, I will give that a try.

And if possible - vote with your dollars. Switch ISPs if you can to someone with a less restrictive usage policy.

Nighthawk4 said:

I have been buying a number of TV programmes through iTunes lately and have now received a warning from my ISP that my download speed will be throttled down to almost nothing if I continue to do so.

Leaving aside how I feel about that sort of policy, is there a way to schedule downloads (like the latest episodes of TV series) so they only download at night please? These are downloaded automatically as soon as they become available once I start iTunes. Is there a way to set the time they can be downloaded?

Click to expand...

I had the same problem as you. I found that iTunes has a menu item for checking for available downloads which has a shortcut key (fn+control+option+d).

So I looked up using applescript to perform keystrokes...... blah blah blah..... and I came up with the below solution.

Create an Calendar Alarm in Automator.
Add the Run AppleScript action
Delete all pre-populated script
Insert the following script

on run
tell application "System Events" to set focusedAppID to bundle identifier of first application process whose frontmost is true
tell application "System Events"
tell application "iTunes" to activate
key code 2 using {secondary function key, control down, option down}
end tell
tell application id focusedAppID to activate
end run

Save it and set the time for the download to start. I made the Alarm a daily one so I never have to remember. iTunes does need to be open for this to work. One, because there is a timing issue with the keystrokes and two, iTunes may ask for your password for the iTunes Store. I have tested this with immediate calendar alarms but have not tested it with the actual alarm as yet. Tonight will be the first time. I will report back tomorrow.

~~Love Macs cause they work..... and if they don't you can tinker until they do.~~

So the bad news is iTunes, when not active for awhile, will prompt you to enter your password to verify before iTunes checks for available downloads.

The good news is you can tick the box telling iTunes to remember your password.

I am trying out the good news tonight. Will let you know if I have any problems.

~~Love Macs cause they work..... and if they don't you can tinker until they do.~~

No Problems. Get a nice confirmation message that all available downloads have been completed.

~~Love Macs cause they work..... and if they don't you can tinker until they do.~~