This new page is being written initially to provide guidance in case you are having trouble downloading your purchases. Further questions and answers will be added in due course.
There are many possible causes of download failures. However, the vast majority of them are out of our control and depend on everything that makes up the internet between our host server and your computer or mobile phone. The information below is, therefore, not exhaustive, but hopefully provide enough guidance for you to try and resolve any problems you experience.
The iRide products are very long files, so everything should be done to ensure your internet connection is at it’s best and most reliable before attempting to download. The smallest of glitches during the download are likely to make the download fail. So, first, please follow the checklist below in the given order.
CHECKLIST
- If using a computer with wireless/WiFi connection, ensure it is located close to the router and that the signal strength is good.
- Check that anything connected to your phone line (including phones and fax machines) are properly connected through broadband/ADSL filters.
- Where possible, ensure your router is connected to your telephone master socket, and not into an extension.
- If you plan to download using a 3G dongle or your phone over the mobile network, consider if you could use your home/office broadband connection instead, either using a computer, or using WiFi on your phone if it supports WiFi.
- Rather than trying to download at a time when everyone else is using the internet, see if you can do so at an off-peak period, maybe late evening or early morning.
- Make sure there are no applications running on your computer that use large amounts of network bandwidth. BitTorrent and other file sharing software should be shutdown.
- Make sure your computer is clean of malware and viruses. Some software which gets onto your computer by virus infection or visiting malicious websites can slow your computer down to a near-halt, or use your network connection to such an extent that your normal downloads will fail.
QUESTION: My iPhone/iPad gives me no way to download my iRide purchases for playback while offline. How can I play downloads while offline?
ANSWER: While Android devices make it easy to download files and use them while offline, iPhones and iPads are somewhat tricky since each app is “locked down” with no way to, for example, save a file from an email to use it later. The device only lets you play audio files immediately from the email link. However, there are solutions to this problem. Using iTunes, you can download files to use offline, but a cleaner solution is presented here.
From the App Store, search for an app called “Documents”. It will be at the top of the search results and named “Documents by Readdle”.
The documents app basically provides a filing system where files from various sources can be stored directly onto your phone and are made accessible offline.
To get your iRide audio file using the Documents app, follow these steps:
- Open your purchase receipt email. Press and hold the download link until it shows a popup menu which includes a Copy option. Press Copy. (This copies the download link to your clipboard.)
- Open the Documents app. On the left side menu, press the Browser option. (This starts a browser which is built into the Documents app and enables it to capture and store downloads, etc.)
- In the address bar at the top of the browser, press and hold until the Paste option appears. Press the Paste option.
- Press Go/Enter on the keypad. This downloads the file and stores it in a folder named Documents/Downloads. (While downloading is in progress, you will see the rotating symbol next to the WiFi or 3G/3G icon.)
- When downloading is finished (rotating symbol is gone), from the left side menu of the Documents app, press Documents, then Downloads. Your iRide file will be shown in that folder and can be played offline.
You can download as many files as you wish into the Downloads folder in this way.
QUESTION: The website is slow or is unavailable. What should I do?
ANSWER: Occasionally, the host server or network are too busy and access to iRide is sluggish. If this happens, please try again later.
QUESTION: When I try to download my purchase directly to my mobile phone, the download stops part way through and I only hear part of the file. Why?
ANSWER: We have noticed problems when downloading to some devices that use “progressive download”. This is where the playback starts before the download is completed. The observed effect is that playback freezes soon after the file transfer completes. This is a problem on at least some Nokia smartphones.
The download handling of our website has just been changed (30 Jan 2012) to instruct your computer or phone to receive the complete file before starting playback. While this improvement appears successful on Internet Explorer, the new handling instructions are ignored by some mobile phones.
You may notice the playback freezes, but in fact the complete file may have been received and should be found in your File Manager. So, close the Audio/Media Player, open the File Manager, and you should find your downloaded file somewhere there. (Look for a folder named Audio. Media, Downloads or similar.) Try playing back the file from there and hopefully it be successful.
Due to reliability of mobile data connections, we do recommend downloading first to your computer, then copying the files to your portable device. For support with downloading to your computer, please read through the next question.
QUESTION: When I try to download my purchase to my computer, the download stops part way through and I only receive part of the file. Why?
ANSWER: Please read through the following questions and answers to try and help us solve the problem.
- Are you downloading to a computer with a good broadband connection or using a 3G dongle?
Due to poor quality of mobile phone connections, we recommend you download to a computer using a good broadband connection, then copy to your portable device using a cable. We do not recommend the use of 3G dongles for downloading your purchases as these are only as reliable as the mobile connection signal.
If you are using a computer or portable device with WiFi connection to your router, ensure you are close enough to the router to give the best possible WiFi signal strength. Large file downloads are vulnerable to even the smallest breaks in signal and any solid obstructions between your computer/device and the router, or any interference, could be a problem.
- If downloading directly to a computer already using a direct broadband connection, what download speed does your connection normally give?
You can test your broadband connection speed using an online service such as mybroadbandspeed.co.uk.
Please note the connection speed shown on your computer when you check the WLAN/WiFi or LAN connection status, is the connection speed between your computer and your home/office network or router, and is normally at least 50Mbps. This is not your broadband speed. Your broadband speed is the speed on your incoming phone line and is probably much slower.
Even on a relatively slow broadband speed (like mine which has a download rate of 3.5Mbps) the typical sized products like Making the Right Connection (run time 40 minutes) download in under one minute. If it takes longer than this, and then fails, there is probably something wrong with your connection.
- If your connection is slow, but normal web browsing seems to work, then why does downloading these files still fail?
Web browsing typically downloads many small files which build up each webpage. These will be the main page structure and text as one file, then additional files for each of the images, etc. Disturbances in the connection have some effect when downloading many small files, but are much more of a problem when downloading large files such as those from iRide. Some things need to be checked to ensure you have the best possible connection reliability:
- a) If your broadband connection is particularly slow, please check that your landline phone (and fax machine if you have one) is plugged in through a broadband/ADSL filter. Everything that is plugged into the phone line must have a filter. Not doing this is a major cause of poor connections.
- b) Check the wires going into your router are securely connected and with no damage.
- c) Check the router is plugged into the phone line directly to the master socket. Do not plug it into an extension socket since they can dramatically reduce your connection speed. (If I plug mine into an extension socket, my download speed reduces to around 1.5Mbps or less and gives a very unreliable connection.)
- Everything above is fine, but sometimes when I download, I only get part of the file and the progress bar suddenly skips to the end. Why?
At peak times, the internet can get too busy with traffic and packets of data “timeout” and get dropped, or the host server where the site is located is running overtime and doing too much work. Both of these issues can cause you to lose significant parts of your downloaded files. You may notice part of your file is missing if you check the file size against what was given at the beginning of the download process. They should match.
If this happens, please retry the download later when perhaps the internet and server are quieter. maybe later in the evening or early in the morning.
QUESTION: OK, I have iTunes and have downloaded my purchases successfully and can play them using iTunes, but I now cannot find them in the iTunes library. How do I get them into the library?
ANSWER: If you have the problem where iTunes will play and show your download, but when you synchronise your phone the download is not showing on your phone, the most probable cause is that you need to import the download file into the iTunes library. This is a simple procedure – open iTunes on your computer, at the top left on the home page click the “File” menu, click “Add File to Library”. This will open a window for you to locate your download, when you have located the download select it and then it will automatically be imported into your iTunes Library. Simple! Then your compatible phone will pick up the download when you synchronise.
Information: iTunes can be an audio player as well as an audio library, so this is why it will play audio stored on your computer but will not store it in the library unless you import it to be stored there. iTunes compatible phones will only import what is stored in the library.
EU Cookie Law (e-Privacy Directive)
QUESTION: Does the iRide website use cookies to store personal information about me?
ANSWER: No. iRide stores cookies for only two reasons:
- A cookie is stored which includes a “session ID”. This is a unique ID that enables the store to remember which products you are buying. When you have finished making your purchases or simply leave the site, the cookie is deleted.
- The pop-up that sometimes appears on the homepage stores a cookie on your computer which enables it to keep track of how many times it has appeared, so after a certain number of times, it no longer appears. This is for your convenience and contains no personal information whatsoever.
No information is stored about you or any other sites you have visited.
By continuing to use this website, you agree implicitly to the above described use of cookies.
If you still have problems, then there maybe something your ISP needs to check.