Issues manually adding music to my iPod Touch

frostacular;

Your description of dragging an dropping songs onto your iPod suggests that you are using Manually Manage to put music onto the iPod, but the text "preparing to update" and "preparing to copy" suggests (to me) that iTunes is using Sync to manage the iPod. Are you sure that your iTunes is not Syncing music to the iPod, even though you may think that you are dragging it? Check the screenshots below:

With the iPod showing in your iTunes Library, click on the iPod icon:

... which will display the iPod's Settings/Summary pane. On the Summary pane, look for the feature named Manually Manage music and videos. Is it ticked (on) or not ticked (off)?

Now select the Settings/Music pane.

As you can see, I have my iPod set to Sync music by Playlist. (For now, don't worry about the difference between syncing the entire music library or selected playlists, artists, albums and genres. I can explain that later if you wish.)

To avoid this post becoming too long, let's address the points above. Once we know the answers to the questions, we can progress on to what may be happening.

The questions are:

1. Is the Manually Manage music and videos button ticked or not ticked?
2. Is the Sync Music button ticked, or not ticked?

Hey frostacular,

It looks like you could actually upgrade your iPod touch to iOS 13. Check out this article about how to do so:

• Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

If this behavior continues after upgrading, let me know if you're using a Mac or a PC, and what OS version is installed there as well; I could use this info to help narrow down a few more steps for you to try.

Cheers.

frostacular,

I'd avoid using third party software to move music to your iPod, though it may be time to consider backing up your iPod, and then reinstalling iOS on it:

• How to back up your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch - Apple Support

• If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch won't turn on or is frozen - Apple Support

If those steps don't resolve this, I'd try syncing music automatically instead (you can still sync individual playlists, artists, albums, and genres that you select). Use iTunes to sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod with your computer - Apple Support

Have a great weekend.

Starr.C wrote:

It looks like you could actually upgrade your iPod touch to iOS 13.

What makes you think that?

Although frostacular stated that he/she received the iPod at Christmas (which implies a new, 7th gen Touch), he or she specifically states that it's a 6th gen Touch, now running iOS 12.4.5. I've just found two retailers still selling the 6th generation iPod Touch here in the UK. To the best of my knowledge, a 6th generation iPod Touch cannot upgarde to iOS13. Every post from experienced contributors here says this, based on:

• Apple have said so
• I have a 6th gen Touch. It will not update to iOS 13
• the original version of iOS on the 7th generation Touch was (as far as I know) iOS 12.3, which means that this user's iPod has had at least one update. Since the version that he/she tells us is now on that iPod is iOS 12.4.5, which only became available on 28th January 2020, that means this iPod has been updated since then and at a time when iOS 13.1 was already available. (iOS 13.3. was also released on 28th January.) So this in turn means that the update procedure should have picked up either iOS 13.1 or iOS 13.3 if the iPod was a 7th gen model. If the iPod is now running iOS 12.4.5, then either the update procedure is totally broken or the iPod is in fact a 6th gen model

The issue that frosatcular is experiencing cannot be solved by a software update and certainly not to iOS 13 on a 6th gen Touch.

Ok, well my theory goes out the window then. That's the theory that your iTunes was set to use Sync.

I stand by what I've said about the iOS version though: if your iPod is currently on iOS 12.4.5, that means that it's a 6th generation model and as such, it cannot be updated to iOS 13.

So what can the issue be and how do you fix it?

To be honest, I'm not sure. What is certain in my mind though, is that updating anything (at this time) isn't likely to fix the issue. You're only told to make sure that iTunes is up to date so that it rules out old versions as a possible cause. That said, the best advice is to use the latest version of iTunes. Today (as I write this), that is 10.12.4.2, which I am using.

There has been an issue with iTunes for a while now whereby using Sync results in erratic Syncing. In other words, some songs simply won't go onto the iPod, but a subsequent Sync adds them, while possibly removing others that were on it.

It's reasonable to assume that since you're not using Sync, this cannot be the cause of the issue you face. However, in the absence of evidence of the cause of erratic syncing, I have begun to wonder whether the cause may be something to do with iTunes validating purchased music in the user's Library.

What happens is that when Sync is used, iTunes adds the song title to the iPod, but it remains greyed out when looked at through iTunes. On the iPod itself, the song will be listed, but when one tries to play it, the iPod simply moves onto another song and the non-played one becomes greyed out. My issue is that when I experience this, none of the songs is an iTunes Store purchase. In other words, iTunes' purchase vaildation tool isn't working properly.

Not convinced? OK, how about this? When I start up iTunes, it remains annoyingly unresponsive for a couple of minutes, but during that time there will be an icon in the top right of the iTunes window, that suggests it is downloading something, or looking for something. Just now, as I was preparing this post, that icon didn't simply go away, it did this:

Hovering over the icon reveals the explanation:

and yet:

So as far as I'm concerned, iTunes' validation check makes iTunes unresponsive and then makes an incorrect judgement of what is valid. So perhaps it thinks that some of my non-iTunes Store music is not valid.

In case you're wondering, my iTunes Library has more than 20,000 songs in it.

So you're still no closer to a fix. but then, neither am I. The erratic Syncing has been ongoing for far too long with no sign of a fix yet.

So for now, battle on and wait to see if anyone else can provide useful tips for you.

Hi frostacular,

I see that you're having trouble with manually adding music to your iPod touch; I'll be happy to help with this situation.

I understand that your iPod and iTunes are both up to date, but what software versions are they actually running (there are a few "current" versions available)?

Do you have the same experience with syncing when you sync just one song at a time as you have when you sync 20 or 30 songs at the same time?

Does it seem that all songs exhibit this behavior?

Enjoy your day.