"cannot be played on this iPod" - NOW WHAT?

I had an iPod mini that I sold last year and got a new iPod nano. I just noticed while transferring songs to it this message - that certain songs in my library can't be played in the nano! I paid for the songs. My question:
1. how do I identify what songs are being prevented from copying onto the nano?
2. How do I get permission to use all of my songs on my nano?
Important note: all of my songs were bought and paid for, so I don't understand why this is happening.

1. how do I identify what songs are being prevented
from copying onto the nano?
No easy way to tell, unfortunately. Look for songs that are not there which you expect them to be there. There are other ways as well. One way I used was to export my iPod's song list and my iTunes song list to text files, then imported them into a spreadsheet program for an easy visual side-by-side comparison. This let me find the problem songs very quickly.
2. How do I get permission to use all of my songs on
my nano?
It's not a matter of getting permission. For whatever reason, iTunes thinks that some of your songs cannot actually be played on the Nano. Maybe they're in the wrong format or something. If there are songs you purchased through the iTunes Music Store, make certain that you can actually play the songs in iTunes, this will ensure that iTunes can copy the correct keys to the Nano so it can play them too.

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"the movie I bought and downloaded" was not copied to the iPod "myipod" IPod" because it cannot be played on this iPod.

I bought a movie on ITunes, and now it says: "movie name" was not copied to the iPod "my ipod" because it cannot be played on this iPod. What's up with this?
matt

What kind of iPod? Maybe the format is not compatible?
iTunes: Frequently asked questions about viewing and syncing videos - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2729 - including file formats supported by iTunes and on mobile devices, DVDs, etc.
iTunes: May be unable to transfer videos to iPhone, iPad, or iPod - http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1497

Why do I get the message " 'Song Tiltle' was not copied to iPod because it cannot be played on this iPod"

I got a new gen iPod Classic (160G) for Christmas, purchased Bob Marley's Album "Legend" and when I sync the playlist to the iPod I get an error message saying this one song cannot be played on this iPod. What gives? Is it something about "I Shot the Sheriff" that my iPod has a moral disagreement with? It had no issue importing and installing Body Count's "Kop Killa"...I'm confounded by this issue; Please, Someone, Help!

brackenfromrincon wrote:
Is it something about "I Shot the Sheriff" that my iPod has a moral disagreement with? It had no issue importing and installing Body Count's "Kop Killa"...
Not really likely, is it?
First of all, look on the iPod to see if the song is actually on there. (The last Sync of my Classic resulted in "song not copied... because it cannot be found." The song had previously been on the iPod. I checked and despite the fact that iTunes could not find the file, the song was still on my iPod. I checked the folder and the song was exactly where t was supposed to be. So I simply set iTunes to find it again. What happened? I don't know, iTunes simply threw a wobbly!)
Second, try another Sync. Does this change anything? If the song was on the iPod, does a second Sync remove the message? If the song was not on the iPod after the first Sync, does the second one put it on there?
What happens?

I got a new iPod nano 7th gen., but when I tried downloading a video from my iTunes library a message popped up that said: Some of the videos in your iTunes library cannot be copied to your iPod because they cannot be played on this iPod.

I got a new iPod nano 7th gen, but when i tried downloading a video from my iTunes library a message popped up that said: Soem of the videos in your iTunes library were not copied to yor iPod because they cannot be played on this iPod. What should I do?

I kept having a similar problem - 3 out of the 10 videos I had on iTunes wouldn't sync. They were in the right format and I KNEW they worked on my iPod because I'd RECORDED them on my iPod. I finally figured out what to do! Go to the movies in your iTunes library. Click on one that does not sync. Click on "Advanced" at the top of iTunes and choose "Create iPod or iPhone version". Once that's finished, be sure you delete the old version so you don't keep getting the error (or have 2 copies of the same video) and sync. This should eliminate the problem. At least it did for me!

What does it mean when a previously working song "cannot be played on this ipod"

I recently went to listen to a specific song on my iPod and found that it was no longer there. So I synched my iPod with my iTunes and got this message: "'Give Me your Hand' was not copied to the iPod 'My iPod' because it cannot be played on this iPod"
This song works perfectly fine on my iTunes and has worked on my iPod in the past. I also purchased the song straight from iTunes not any outside source.
Can any one explain why this no longer works?
Jenn

Solution may be found if you search in the "More Like This" section over in the right column.

Songs not copied .....because they cannot be played on this iPod

I'm trying to add songs from a cd onto my iPod, and no matter what cd I put onto iTunes, it tells me "Songs not in the iTunes music library were not copied because they cannot be played on this iPod. I girst got this message when I tried to add songs from a different computer. Now I get it on my home PC as well.
Any ideas how to get my cd's on my iPod without resetting my iPod ? I updated my iPod software, as well as restarting my computer.
thanks

What is the format of the songs that won't copy. Some of the earlier iPods would not play Lossless or other types of files.
See these Articles:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93867
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61476
Determine the 'Kind' of the songs within iTunes and post back with more information.

One of the items in the iTunes library were not copied to the ipod because they cannot be played on this ipod

i have been trying to figure what the problem with my ipod touch is, im downloading songs from a different source and not itunes store, recently i have had a msg being displayed at the end of synching 'some of the items in the iTunes library were not copied to the ipod because they cannot be played on this ipod'. however the songs play fine in itunes.
i have re-installed itunes several times, deleted all my music and iported it again. retored my ipod and still i have the same msg. its only stating 8 songs so far that cannot be copied onto my ipod. please can someone help as ive tried everything that i can possibly do. thanks.

Hello mobyash,
Have you tried converting each of these 8 tracks to a different file format and seeing if they will then sync to your iPod. See this Apple support document for information and instructions on how to convert a song to a different format.
iTunes: How to convert a song to a different file format
B-rock

I just recently upgraded my itouch from 4.1 to ios5, and updated to itunes 10.5. when isynced my music files,ebooks and other apps, all is working except when im trying to sync my video files. it says, canot be synced as cannot be played on this ipod.help

i just recently upgraded my itouch from 4.1 to ios 5, and updated to itunes 10.5. but when i synced my music files,ebooks and other apps, all is working except when im trying to sync my video files. it says, canot be synced as cannot be played on this ipod. but those are the same files that i have when i was using the old 4.1 version and its syncing just fine.. the itunes advanced tab "create iphone or ipod version" is not working either so i cant convert it to be xferred and synced. what can i do to have my video files synced?

i had the same problem but i just got a new video converter and made it convert videos to ipod/iphone format and then put them into itunes. i would suggest GOM encoder as the encoder can convert them and then once they're finished converting, put them automatically into your itunes for you. from there you can just sync them to your ipod.

(Item) was not copied to the iPod (Name)'s iPod Touch because it cannot be played on this iPod

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Greetings Smallen8,
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities!
I understand that while trying to sync a video from iTunes to your iPod touch, you receive an alert that the video cannot be played on your iPod. This can happen when you attempt to sync a HD video to your device. Please refer to the attached article for more information.
iTunes: Sync purchased HD videos to iPod or iOS device - Apple Support
When you try to sync a purchased HD video that isn't optimized for your device, you may see a message like this one:
HD videos purchased from the iTunes Store are offered in 720p or 1080p1 and are compatible with iPhone 4 or later, iPad, iPod touch (4th generation or later), Apple TV, and computers. You may need to download your purchased video from iTunes in the Cloud in a lower resolution for your device.
Cheers,
Joe

HT1351 I've encoded a vinyl LP record into digital format and recorded it onto an usb as MP3 file. But when I tried to copy it onto my ipod classic, I get a message stating "was not copied to the ipod because it cannot be played on this ipod". Why?

I've encoded a vinyl LP record into digital format and recorded it onto an usb as MP3 file. But when I tried to copy it onto my ipod classic, I get a message stating "was not copied to the ipod because it cannot be played on this ipod". Why?

I was refering to the "sample rate", normally 44.1 KHz, the iPod might not be able to play tracks with a non-standard rate. Otherwise I'm not sure what the issue might be.
tt2

HT1349 When I try to download an audiobook from my library I get a message saying it has not been copied because it cannot be played on this ipod? Any ideas why this might be I've just downloaded another audiobook from the same library?

When I try to download an audiobook from my iTunes Library I get the message that 'it was not copied because it cannot be played on this iPod. I had just downloaded another audio book from the same library to the same iPad so don't know what the problem is? maxabw

brackenfromrincon wrote:
Is it something about "I Shot the Sheriff" that my iPod has a moral disagreement with? It had no issue importing and installing Body Count's "Kop Killa"...
Not really likely, is it?
First of all, look on the iPod to see if the song is actually on there. (The last Sync of my Classic resulted in "song not copied... because it cannot be found." The song had previously been on the iPod. I checked and despite the fact that iTunes could not find the file, the song was still on my iPod. I checked the folder and the song was exactly where t was supposed to be. So I simply set iTunes to find it again. What happened? I don't know, iTunes simply threw a wobbly!)
Second, try another Sync. Does this change anything? If the song was on the iPod, does a second Sync remove the message? If the song was not on the iPod after the first Sync, does the second one put it on there?
What happens?

"Video was not copied because it cannot be played on this Ipod"...help!!

I recently tried syncing a video to my Ipod touch 2nd gen and it displays the message "video was not copied because it cannot be played on this Ipod" in Itunes. I have looked everywhere for an answer and nobody seems to have the same problem. I've tried restoring my Ipod and stuff, nothing seems to work. Can someone help?

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Was not copied because it cannot be played on this ipod

I am getting this message when I try to put songs on my ipod.
I have had the ipod for over a year and have never had any problems until now.
I bought an album of iTunes Store, burned an audio CD,imported it into iTunes as MP3 and tried to put the mp3 files on my ipod, but I keep getting the message This song was not copied because it cannot be played on this ipod, This has never happened before, any help appreciated. This is the way I have always managed my purchased music, has something changed within iTunes to stop you from doing this??

I'm having the same problem with files purchased from Apple, burned to CD, then imported as .mp3 files. The problem just started recently. This needs a fix as it is very annoying and makes me want to ditch this IPod.
The two solutions proposed in this forum will work but...
Rebuilding the library is very time consuming when you have a library with 30 GB. The other work around of removing files from the library then reimporting them also works, but is very time intensive for multiple files. Is there a way to get word to the folks who can fix this??
Thanks to those who offered the solutions.

"Was not copied...cannot be played on this iPod."

For some reason I cannot copy some of my songs to my iPod touch for I don't know what reason. The file is not corrupt, the file is there, plays in itunes and its an MP3 format, file isn't to big and I still have 29GB left. Try to transfer it over and it says "...was not copied to the iPod -insert name of ipod here- because it cannot be played on this iPod."
Can anyone help me here?

Is it that the software that came with the shuffle in late 2008 can't deal with ALE files?
That or a hardware limitation.
If so, is there a place I can upgrade the shuffle software?
No. Click here and follow the instructions.
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Song was not copied to iPod because it cannot be played on this iPod

i copied a song to a folder from the internet then added the folder to itunes. Then when i try to put the song on my iPod nano i get the message (song title) was not copied to the iPod "Mike's iPod" because it cannot be played on this iPod. i can play the entire song on the itunes library though, and there is a little wave icon thing next to the song title. How can I make it where I can copy this song to the iPod?

Ok, I tried changing the file format and when I select the song and go to the advanced menu it says convert selection to... but the text isnt selectable but is when I select a different song. I guess this means its protected from being converted? If so is there anything else I can do to be able to get it onto my iPod?
Also does it matter what format I try to convert it too?

"cannot be played on this iPod" - NOW WHAT?

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