iTunes/iPod problem rant....

[Chuck Wintle]

Just received a new iPod and cannot for the life of me get some "greyed out" music in itunes to delete permanently. The ipod has the correct number of songs and these show in itunes for 'my device". But there are duplicates showing that are greyed out and no matter what i try they cannot be deleted. I have resynced the device several times, etc. Anyone have a similar situation?

[Dennis Heskett]

Those random errors can be frustrating. I use a program call copytrans. A lot of it is free. I have the paid version because it works so flawlessly with Itunes-I devices.

[Jon Nuckles]

I used to share my iTunes account with my son when he was young. Now I cannot seem to get rid of the songs he downloaded. I delete them, but every once in a while they all show up again in "my music." They are not on my devices (computer and iPhone), but they show up in the list anyway. I can't seem to figure out how to show only the music that is on the device and not in the cloud. He bought a LOT of music and it is a major time waste to go back and delete them again. I have resorted to a workaround of putting all of the songs I bought in a separate playlist and always choosing that playlist to listen to. Just have to remember to put new purchases on the playlist.

[Caspar Hauser]

I'm dusting off my cassette player.

[Chuck Wintle]

I'm dusting off my cassette player.
it coming back to that for sure. itunes is a crap piece of software done my a supposedly hi-tech company. What a joke!

[Eric DeSilva]

I'm not sure I understand what is happening--perhaps you can explain in a little more detail?

For reference, I use iTunes to manage my library--about 25K tracks I've ripped in Apple Lossless format from CDs I own. I've used iTunes to sync music to probably two dozen different phones and players over the years and have never had any problems. iTunes is somewhat bloated and doesn't implement some features I'd like, such as multiple genre support, but it has been pretty solid for me over the years both on Windows and Mac hardware.

[Chuck Wintle]

I'm not sure I understand what is happening--perhaps you can explain in a little more detail?

For reference, I use iTunes to manage my library--about 25K tracks I've ripped in Apple Lossless format from CDs I own. I've used iTunes to sync music to probably two dozen different phones and players over the years and have never had any problems. iTunes is somewhat bloated and doesn't implement some features I'd like, such as multiple genre support, but it has been pretty solid for me over the years both on Windows and Mac hardware.
When I look at my device in itunes to see the songs there are numerous songs that are duplicated but are greyed out. These duplicates are not in the ipod. I have no idea why these greyed out duplicates exist.

[Jim Koepke]

When I look at my device in itunes to see the songs there are numerous songs that are duplicated but are greyed out. These duplicates are not in the ipod. I have no idea why these greyed out duplicates exist.

I wonder if it has anything to do with equipment authorizations. Has your iPod been updated by more than one computer?

I am not up on the equipment authorizations and do not know it that has changed. I am running an old version.

My beef with the version I am running is it appears only one playlist can be open at a time. I used to be able to have multiple lists on screen to compare songs or to move to a new mix.

jtk

[Chuck Wintle]

I wonder if it has anything to do with equipment authorizations. Has your iPod been updated by more than one computer?

I am not up on the equipment authorizations and do not know it that has changed. I am running an old version.

My beef with the version I am running is it appears only one playlist can be open at a time. I used to be able to have multiple lists on screen to compare songs or to move to a new mix.

jtk

It could be something to do with authorizations. But my current ipod is one of 2 devices listed the other being my old ipod. itunes shows 2400 songs (including 121 greyed out songs) whereas in the ipod iteself there is 2279 songs. I have read apple is not doing a good job with itunes and there are many complaints....but why there are greyed out songs that will not go away..I have no idea.

[Mike Cutler]

Chuck

There are more than a few discussions on the Apple Support forum, and quite a few fixes, depending on the problem.
The files are ghost files created by your latest version of iTunes. They're created for a host of reasons. The original song was a previous rev of iTunes, the file has something that is recognized as being corrupted by iTunes, the files are MP3/4's that are converted and not available on iTunes, songs not authorized by your account, but another account, yet still available on your device, etc.
Do the greyed out songs? they probably don't. Did iTunes create a non greyed out file of the song that you can play? If so, it means that iTunes does not like something in the original codec.
Many years ago the windows "restore" used to work this way. It created ghost files of all files converted. It was a a real butt pain, so I get your frustration.

[Chuck Wintle]

Chuck

There are more than a few discussions on the Apple Support forum, and quite a few fixes, depending on the problem.
The files are ghost files created by your latest version of iTunes. They're created for a host of reasons. The original song was a previous rev of iTunes, the file has something that is recognized as being corrupted by iTunes, the files are MP3/4's that are converted and not available on iTunes, songs not authorized by your account, but another account, yet still available on your device, etc.
Do the greyed out songs? they probably don't. Did iTunes create a non greyed out file of the song that you can play? If so, it means that iTunes does not like something in the original codec.
Many years ago the windows "restore" used to work this way. It created ghost files of all files converted. It was a a real butt pain, so I get your frustration.

Yes i have seen the discussions about the problem and the many possible fixes. Every greyed out song has a playable song available in itunes. For some reason there are 121 greyed out songs. I have tried to resync the entire library of music, delete songs etc without luck.

[Eric DeSilva]

If these are all duplicates, can you look at the "Get Info" window for a copy that works and a "grayed out" duplicate and see if there are any differences? I would particularly look at the path for the file.

[Chuck Wintle]

Some screen shots from itunes device view.....

[Mike Cutler]

Chuck

I don't know that you'll be able to successfully "delete" them. Best case is that maybe you can hide them. ( A short term fix until the next synch that has an update.)
I've been using Apple products for quite a few years and have a house full of Apple stuff, but I don't use iTunes any more than I absolutely have too. It just kinda does stuff on it's own. It's actually a pretty invasive environment in my opinion.
Good luck, and I hope you'll be able to get rid of those. It's is very annoying.

[Chuck Wintle]

Chuck

I don't know that you'll be able to successfully "delete" them. Best case is that maybe you can hide them. ( A short term fix until the next synch that has an update.)
I've been using Apple products for quite a few years and have a house full of Apple stuff, but I don't use iTunes any more than I absolutely have too. It just kinda does stuff on it's own. It's actually a pretty invasive environment in my opinion.
Good luck, and I hope you'll be able to get rid of those. It's is very annoying.
in looking at the song info for the greyed out song and the good song I noticed the purchase date is not the same. i think this should be the same regardless of the device?

[Eric DeSilva]

Is there any difference in the information shown if you select the "file" tab? In all likelihood, this is a digital rights management (DRM), which may be why I don't have problems when I use iTunes (everything I have is ripped directly from my CDs, so I don't have to contend with DRM)--that inference may be supported by the fact that Apple believes there are different "purchase" dates. Are you an Apple Music subscriber, or is this content on your machine? Do you recall when and how you might have bought these tracks? Is is possible you used a different Apple ID when they were purchased? Or that someone else in your household might have made the purchase? Is the issue at least consistent with respect to albums--i.e., all of the 16 songs on this album affected the same way?

[Chuck Wintle]

well i finally got fed up with itunes and deleted all of it...i am now with copy trans exclusively. Straightforward and works well!