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Purchased songs not transferring to iPod touch

This was working fine before, but now when I purchase songs from iTunes, and add them to a playlist on my young son's iPod touch, the songs won't transfer and I get the error that Apple Music songs cannot be transferred. I've tried a variety of things but no luck. Can anyone help?

iPod touch

Posted on Sep 29, 2024 8:32 AM

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4 replies

Oct 1, 2024 3:25 AM in response to Pabs

Apple Music is not "purchased music". Instead, Apple Music is a subscription service which gives access to Apple's music library while the subscription is paid.


I believe that Apple Music requires iOS 8.4 or later on the iPod itself in order to work. So if it's an old iPod Touch (for example the 4th generation or earlier), you cannot add Apple Music to those models as they cannot use the minimum iOS required, which is iOS 9.3.5.


The oldest iPod Touch that can use Apple Music will be the 5th generation one, which can use iOS 9.3.5.


You can find out which generation the iPod is by checking which version of iOS is on the iPod. To do that, look on the iPod under Settings and then, on a 2nd gen model for example, it's General/About>Version (so that's Settings/General/About>Version). On other models, the menu structure will be very similar, if not the same.


In the meantime, the old iPod can still store and play music that you have purchased, either from the iTunes Store, other online retailers or copied from CDs. However, that feature and Apple Music do not get along - it's one or the other. I'm not sure how you would have Apple Music on one iDevice and not Apple Music (i.e. your library) on the other, especially if (as I assume) the purchases from the iTunes Store were on the same account that now subscribes to Apple Music.


It would be possible to use the old iPod with an iTunes library of purchased music if the iTunes programme was signed into another Apple account. In theory then, you would sign out of the account that uses Apple Music and then sign into the account that does not (or sue a different computer). However, iTunes Store purchases would not be available to the second account if they were purchases on the first account.



Oct 3, 2024 12:54 PM in response to the fiend

Hello, correct. I'm not trying to use Apple Music (but I do have a subscription) songs to transfer to my old iPod. I have purchased music from iTunes and synced the purchased content to my old iPod running iOS 6.1.6. The syncing was working fine and then recently with some new songs purchased, now the songs will not transfer over. The iPod is signed into my Apple ID.

Oct 5, 2024 7:58 AM in response to Pabs

Pabs wrote:

Hello, correct. I'm not trying to use Apple Music (but I do have a subscription)

You might not be using Apple Music, but if you have a subscription to it, it will take over control and effectively deny access to your purchased music. But you cannot use Apple Music on that iPod because as mentioned previously, Apple Music requires at minimum of iOS 8.4 to be in use on the iPod.


As I explained before;

It would be possible to use the old iPod with an iTunes library of purchased music if the iTunes programme was signed into another Apple account. In theory then, you would sign out of the account that uses Apple Music and then sign into the account that does not (or use a different computer). However, iTunes Store purchases would not be available to the second account if they were purchases on the first account.

Oct 7, 2024 8:03 AM in response to the fiend

Correct, I'm not trying to use Apple Music on the old iPod, just the built-in iTunes. The process was working just find on some purchased songs and then I bought a few more and then the newer songs would not transfer over. I'm going to try and reset the iPod and see if I start fresh if it helps.

Purchased songs not transferring to iPod touch

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