IPod Nano Won't Play Songs...Stays on Menu

Hi! My husband's 2GB iPod Nano will not play any songs. It will charge and it will show the menu with Music, Photos, Extras, Settings and Shuffle Songs...yet it won't let you click on any of these. I have tried resetting it by holding the Menu and Center Buttons, and it will show the Apple logo and then go back to the menu it was on before. Any suggestions on what I can do now???
Any help is appreciated! Thanks in advance!

You may have a hardware issue and need to have it serviced, but before going that route, try this. Connect your iPod and in Device Manager or My Computer, right click on your iPod, then select disk management. Format the iPod (FAT32) and while you are there, assign it a different drive letter, try M or P or Z. Now Restore it in iTunes, fully charge it, resync it, and try again.
Is this iPod in warranty?

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Please HELP! iPod Nano won't play songs

I just got my iPod nano yesterday and absolutely loved it. I took some of my friendssongs from his PC. Then I tryed using ipod agent to put them into itunes. It said that there was an error. Now when I chose a song the song will come up, it won't play, but instead go to the next song and same thing happens. Now itunes won't even recongiz or pop up when it is plugged in

The iPod is designed to sync to one computer as it copies the music to a special file for the iPod OS and software to play.
You can enable "disk mode" and use that to transfer any file back and forth, but the iPod won't play music files stored in the "disk mode" portion you set in iTunes Preferences with the ipod plugged in.
Basically the software you used to transfer the music out of the "special file" back into iTunes is not authorized, it's a "hack". So Apple routinely disables the hacks because of agreements to protect the music from piracy.
Another thing is the music you got from your friend may indeed by ACC/"Fairplay" copy protected music bought from the iTunes Music Store, unless your computer is one of the five authorized, it won't play.
Also because you hooked your iPod to your friends PC, the "ownership" might have changed and Apple may have employed something that your iPod is no longer recognized as yours.
What you probably have to do is use the iPod software to "reset" your iPod, clear out everything in the process and just hook it to your computer.
If you want to transfer uncopy protected, non-copy righted "free" music to your computer from another computer, enable the iPod's "disk mode" and set a size to balance between the music in your "special file" and the needs of what you intend to transfer.
Once you get home, transfer the music files into your iTunes, then you can copy them to the "special file" so the iPod can play them.
It's a bit complicated, but's it's designed to prevent mass theft of music (so the artists will provide their music online) and keep the benefit of syncing/playlists in line.

My ipod nano 6 quits playing songs every few seconds

my ipod nano 6 quits playing songs and shuts off every few seconds. any ideas? don't know how to delete this, but i've found my answer from previous discussion. It was the headphone jack not completely in

Then back it up and do a restore. If that does not work and if you are still under warranty, call Apple tech support or take the iPod to your local Apple Store or an AASP.
iPod Tutorials
iPod Manuals
iTunes & iPod Hints & Tips

6th gen iPod Nano does not play songs

Today, for no apparent reason, my 6th gen iPod Nano has stopped playing songs. When I select a song, the Play button changes to a Pause button, just as it normally would if the song was playing, but the track does not play, and no time elapses on the song progress bar - it just remains at 0:00. If I fast forward through the song, the song progress bar remains at whatever time I advance it to. I've pressed Play/Pause repeatedly to try and get the songs to play, but nothing happens other than the Play/Pause icon toggling back and forth between playing and paused.
This happens when I try to play any song or podcast on the iPod. It was able to play every song as recently as yesterday. All of these songs and podcasts play just fine on iTunes and on any other iPod, iPhone or iPad that I sync them to.
I have restarted the Nano several times. I've also done a complete restore of the Nano from scratch. I've got the latest version of iTunes, and all of the other functionality works just fine on the Nano.
Any thoughts?

Problem appears to be solved, thanks to the downtown Portland Apple Store Genius Bar. Apparently there was some sort of conflict with the permissions for the music (even though I own all of it, and all of the media played just fine on all of my other iOS devices).
To fix it, I went to the iTunes "Store" menu, chose "Deauthorize this computer" and followed the prompts. I then quit iTunes, restarted iTunes and double-clicked a TV show that I had purchased. This prompted me to re-authorize my computer, which I did.
I then synced a couple of songs, and they played just fine. I restored the rest of my playlists, and I'm happy to say that everything is behaving a-ok now. Phew!

Ipod touch won't play songs from the beginning

After upgrading to version 4.0.2, my ipod touch won't play music from the beginning. This happens no matter I play music in iTunes or using my ipod touch without connecting to the computer. I restarted the device and this still happens. What can I do about it? Can anyone help?

Hello lc_llc,
Double check each track to make sure the *Remember Playback Position* option has not been abled from under the Options tab of the track's *Get Info* window in iTunes.
B-rock

Ipod Nano won't play any songs downloaded from MySpace pages...

My first generation Nano was initially sent back to Apple due to the battery losing it's charge to quickly. They sent me back what appears to be a replacement Nano and now this one won't play any songs downloaded from MySpace pages of bands, shared from friends (unprotected mp3 files) or otherwise downloaded from the internet.
Whats unusual is that any songs imported from a CD to the Nano play fine as do any songs purchased from iTunes. I know Apple has stated that any files the user wishes to play on their iPods will play as long as the format is compatible. (All of these songs in question played on the original Nano and the problems started when they said they fixed it and sent it back (although it is missing the engraving which to me indicates they gave me a refurbished Nano). My Applecare runs out in mid-October so I need to figure out what is wrong. I sent it back a second time and they told me they couldn't recreate the problem so they just updated the software and sent it back.
Someone suggested that some iPods have a part of the firmware activated (which Apple may have been testing) that prevents any non-ITunes store music or music no t off an original CD to fail to play.
When attempting to play downloaded songs from sites like Purevolume and MySpace the iPod plays for a few seconds then shuts down and restarts itself, all of these songs worked fine before Apple took it in for service.
Any suggestions?

Hello,
I have exactly the same problem. It`s so annoying.
I did a little bit research on this discussion board and this problem seems to be known for quite a long time. It`s confusing me Apple is not able to fix that prob or give customers quick introduction to resolve the prob.
I am currently on vacation in Florida and just bought the new iPod 30 Gig. I transfered already songs from my music cd. That worked fine.
I bought 2 music video files, synced them with no error to the iPod, but it only shows me a black screen when I want to start the video on the iPod itself. itunes plays the files with no problem.
Any ideas how to fix it??
DELL Latitude D800 Windows XP Pro

Help! My iPod nano refuses to play songs, won't show album pictures, etc.

I'm not sure what I did or how I did it, as I just got my iPod nano for Christmas and am fairly new to this new technology bit, but whenever I go from Music, to Songs, or try to play a particular song in general, it won't, it just goes on and on and won't stop or play any song, except for the two I just recently updated, and it won't display the album pictures, or only will sometimes, of this one band. I'm sorry if that sounded confusing - it's the only way I know how to explain it: I press play, and it just goes on it own free will through the songs like it's shuffling, will only show little white boxes where the album pictures should be, and when it reaches the last song just goes back to the menu area. All of this disincludes the two songs I updated after I discovered this problem, thinking maybe somehow that would work - they play fine.
It's very frustrating, because I have no clue what's going on or what to do about it. I went through the entire troubleshooting page, and nothing seems to describe my unusual problem. I tried resetting it, by 'toggling' the hold button, then holding the menu and select button until the apple logo appears on the screen. Please, please, help me.

Hi,
Welcome to Apple Discussions
Ok, if resetting it hasn't worked you could try a restore:
Restoring iPod to factory settings
I see you're on Windows 98 - according to the Tech Spec that is not supported:
Windows system requirements
* PC with USB port or card (USB 2.0 recommended)
* Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 or later, or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later
http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/specs.html
As you're new to this technology then the iPod 101 might be helpful:
http://www.apple.com/support/ipod101/
Regards
Colin R.

Ipod Nano 2GB Not Playing Songs

When I turn my Ipod on and try to play a song, it just cycles through all of the songs and does not play any of them, I can change my settings and look through the playlists but when I try and play one it will start acting up. Can anyone help?
1st Gen. 2 GB Ipod Nano Windows XP

I believe I have remedied the situation. I took my ipod to another computer, and downloaded itunes and restored my ipod from there. And that seems to have fixed the issue. Course now I have none of my apps and only the music that I did purchase, but hopefully when I sync it with my other pc it will bring all that back, without the song skipping problem.
-CDHHYATT

Ipod nano no longer playing songs sequencially

I don't know why, but after I charged my ipod the other day, I knwo itunes came up and did somehting. but now, for some reason, it won't play the songs sequencially. What I mean is, when I hit play, it flashes the song titles on the screen, hit it again and it holds then it will play the song it's on. It won't go any further unless you go through the procedure again. It used to just keep going until I stopped it, it would play the songs in order if I hid next or previous, it would go to the next and previous songs, now it just goes back to that flashing the songs. It's very annoying, I want it back to the old way, can anyone tell me what happened or how to get it back to the other way? Thanks.

Honestly, I was hoping it wouldn't come to that but if it does, it does I guess. I was hoping it was just a setting or something first.

Ipod mini won't plays songs, keeps skipping

I've had my ipod mini for the last year but 4 to 5 months ago it stopped working and I'm just now finding the time to deal with this. My ipod is a mess and I'm not sure if it can even be fixed without some technician messing around with it but any help would be GREATLY appreciated. This is a long one...
The problem was:
When I selected a song from a playlist (or any category) to play it, the song information would pop up on the screen and it would play the first milisecond of the song and then the next song on the list would pop up and the ipod would do the same thing. It would do this over and over for every song on the playlist until it reached the end of the list. It did this for every category. I restarted it and NOTHING worked. But at least it turned on then. Now it doesn't.
The problem now:
I reset my ipod and took all of the songs off of iTunes, just in case. When I tried to turn the ipod back on, the folder with the exclamation point alert popped up and now the ipod won't turn on at all.
I put songs back into iTunes and tried to update my ipod and iTunes said that it was importing the songs but the ipod still won't turn on. I reset it once again just in case and I didn't put any more songs in it because that just seems to make it worse. So now the ipod has no songs in it and it still won't turn on.
It keeps giving me the same alert after a few minutes of the apple symbol and I've plugged it into my computer and it says that it's charging but it will do nothing else but charge.
Windows XP

step 1: try to restore it. this will remove everything on the ipod. then it will make sure it is current and nothing will be left on the ipod. then, just reload your music

Nano won't play songs anymore - cover flow shuffle shows no artwork

All of a sudden, my ipod nano 3g will no longer play songs via cover flow. The artwork is gone even though it is there in iTunes on my computer. If I click an album to play it, it briefly selects that album (with the missing artwork still) as if it is going to play it, but then it just goes back to the cover flow shuffle and never plays anything. I just had iTunes erase everything on it and resync, but that made no difference.
I tried playing songs through the play list instead of the cover flow and still it just acts like it is going to play the song and then gives up and returns to the previous menu. So basically, I cannot play any songs on this nano, which is only a few months old. Help!? Thanks!
Message was edited by: lowcountrybird

Ok, I've fixed it. I read a few other posts about resetting it. I held the Select and Menu buttons down at the same time (this works better if you place the nano on a flat surface first) for several seconds. Then the Apple logo appears while the nano is being reset. After that, cover art work appears and more importantly the songs play. Whew. That was scary.

Ipod Nano won't play in car...

Our car has an ipod USB but when connected, it says no music on my Nano. Does anyone know how to get it to play the songs off it?

Are you sure the car installation is compatible with the Nano you have? Some older installations won't work with new iPods.

Nano won't play songs and iTunes won't recognize it.

After disconnecting my Generation 5 Nano from my clock radio yesterday, the nano would freeze every time I tried to play a song. Any song. I've tried about everything, with my goal now to just "restore" the nano.
I reset it 25 or more times with select/menu.
I reset the settings numerous times.
Tried resetting it by going into Safe Mode (select/play) many, many times.
Tried to restore by hooking up to iTunes, which doesn't recognize my nano (although the computer sees it).
Upgraded to iTunes 11 -- No change.
Tried a different computer. No change. Still not recognized, although, again, the computer (Windows) does.
Tried different USB ports. No change.
Tried "iOS: Device not recognized in iTunes for Windows" and all the different Windows fix possibilities -- nothing worked.
The only thing that has changed through all of this is that now when I click on a song, the screen swipes briefly over the acyual cover art song screen, then comes back to the song to click on again. So, now it's now freezing, just not playing. Other things like a few short saved videos, games, etc, do work fine.
If appears to me that I have a catch 22. I need to restore the nano, but can only restore through iTunes, which doesn't recognize my Nano.
Is there any other way to restore it?
Dennis

Replying to myself. Kept trying different areas of the ipod this evening, clicking various buttons, including some I'd never used before. All of a sudden I could see my Nano in iTunes. I quickly clicked on Restore before iTunes changed its mind about recognizing the iPod. Moved some songs onto it and it appears to be back to normal. Keeping my fingers crossed.

New iPod touch won't play songs or videos from iTunes!

Hello,
I purchased a 64gb iPod touch for my niece for Christmas. We set it up and synced her library this afternoon. None of the songs synced from iTunes will play (cover art appears but the song never plays - we have tried pressing pause and restarting, etc.). Also, the iPod says it "cannot open" the movie we synced. It will play one song that we purchased from the store using wifi (and will play that song instead of playing some of the other synced songs if you try to play them now).
We have restored twice (once from a PC, once from a mac). The same issue recurs each time.
This is turning out to be a huge disappointment for her, so any suggestions will be appreciated!
Thanks!

Have you seen this?
iPod does not play content purchased from the iTMS.

New nano won't play songs in linear order

The shake to shuffle is turned off in settings and I am not inadvertently selecting shuffle to play. Is there some other setting I've overlooked to turn shuffle off?
Where it is showing up most maddeningly is while playing a three-hour radio program I download. Each hour is a "song" and iTunes sorts them by date/hours 1, 2 &3. I want to listen in order by date and hour. Nano wants me to listen to hour 1 from 5/23/13, random song, hour 3 from 6/10/13, hour 2 from 4/20/13...you get the idea. It happens whether I'm allowing to go to the next song on it's own or if I'm hitting the FF button. I'd be really nuts if I was trying to listen to an audiobook and it was skipping around like this. What am I doing wrong?
New nano is 7th gen 1.0.2.
Thanks.

Delete this post. Figured it out from "more like this" sidebar Q&A. None of those relevent posts showed up when I originally searched or I'd not have posted new. Answer was on pg 21 of the manual, btw.

IPod Nano Won't Play Songs...Stays on Menu

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