Ask the iTunes guy: Why does iTunes say some of my music is ‘no longer available’?

laptop user

What do Apple tune, network connected storage gadgets, and the iPod nano have in commonplace? well, they’re all subjects of questions I take a look at on this week’s column. Why is some music in an iTunes library “now not available?” I provide a fix for this issue. how are you going to make sure that iTunes works effectively with a NAS? check out my recommendation. Does Apple song work with the iPod nano? and the way do you quick get all of an artist’s tune to a playlist?

Unavailable song
Q: i’ve approximately one hundred songs in my iTunes library that display an iCloud fame of “no longer available.” but, those are not songs I added from Apple track; they may be all both ripped from CDs or purchased from iTunes, and i have all of the non-DRM documents on my Mac. i’m guessing that after I first signed up for Apple tune, these were “matched” with the aid of Apple track, and were available for streaming on my different devices. Now, seeing that those were pulled from the Apple song catalog, i’m able to now not play them on secondary devices. Is there a way to pressure Apple music to upload these tracks, as it is meant to do for tracks it cannot fit in its catalog?

There are some of viable iCloud fame labels in iTunes. these let you know what type of tracks they are. you might see Matched, purchased, Uploaded, or, if you have a subscription to the provider, Apple music. but there is additionally the not to be had reputation; that is for tracks that were as soon as to be had to move on Apple tune, however had been pulled by way of report labels.

now not to be had
when a label pulls its music from streaming, the tracks on your iTunes library are dimmed and display a standing of no longer available.
What you describe need to likely not happen, considering that, as you say, the documents are rips or purchases. You should best see no longer available for tracks which you delivered from Apple track for your iTunes library, now not for nearby tracks that had been matched or uploaded.

you could possibly restore this through eliminating the tracks from your iTunes library and re-adding them. discover all the tracks, drag them to a folder in the Finder, then delete them from your iTunes library. (pick out all of them, and press choice-Delete, and then click Delete tune to make sure that iTunes doesn’t simply do away with the nearby report and now not delete the cloud copy as properly.) subsequent, drag the documents you copied to the Finder again to iTunes. on the grounds that they’re nearby, non-covered files, iCloud song Library must either in shape them or add them.

lacking NAS
Q: I shop my iTunes library on a NAS, and a number of my music were given copied to the iTunes folder on my MacBook pro while the NAS drive turned into no longer related. How am i able to stop iTunes from losing the path to the iTunes Media folder at the NAS?

that is a commonplace hassle with NAS gadgets. if you launch iTunes earlier than the NAS (network-attached garage device) is hooked up, iTunes doesn’t see it, and switches its default media folder place to the song folder in your property folder. every now and then NAS gadgets drop off the community for a 2d, and if iTunes can not see it, it does the identical element.

masses of humans store their iTunes libraries on NAS gadgets, and it looks like a very good choice, because if you don’t have the neighborhood disk space it lets you hold your song some place else. but this hassle seems to occur regularly. i might recommend that when you have iTunes set to launch at login, you dispose of it from your Login gadgets. many of those issues arise due to the fact iTunes launches quickly and the NAS, or any community volume, takes a few seconds to mount. And in case you do see that the NAS is now not seen in the Finder, check iTunes’ superior possibilities to peer where the iTunes Media folder is presently being saved.

Artist Playlist
Q: I’ve created a playlist for one artist. How do I take all his music and put it into that playlist. All i’m able to figure out is a way to do it tune by song. Please inform me there’s an easier manner!

there may be. In iTunes 12.four, click on Artists within the sidebar, and discover the artist you need to add to the playlist, then drag that artist access onto the playlist.

artist to playlist
to add all of an artist’s song to a playlist, just drag that artist when viewing their track in Artists View.
Apple music on an iPod nano
Q: i recently bought an iPod nano with the hope that I may want to positioned all of my tune on it, so once I run I don’t must take my iPhone. i have an Apple track subscription and feature downloaded a few hundred songs using this provider. however after I attempt to sync my iPod it gained’t sync any of those songs. is this viable, and, in that case, how do I accomplish this?

regrettably, Apple music simplest works with iOS devices. whilst Apple still sells two non-iOS iPods—the $149 nano and the $forty nine shuffle—you can’t placed Apple song files on them.