Q: Song shows as "Purchased" in iTunes and won't let me re-download it, but it doesn't show up in my Purchased list. I want the song back, don't mind re-downloading, but it won't let me

Thank you SO much! this fixed everything!

thank you, this solved my problem :-)

This link solved the same issue for me-
http://ipod.about.com/od/UsingiCloud/ss/Using-Icloud-To-Redownload-From-Itunes.h tm

My situation was i purchased album, but songs never downloaded (I think because there was some access privilege problem with the location of my iTunes account). I tried everything - with no luck, until I found link above-

Good luck

In one of my purchases, Sodom's Epitome of Torture, all I did was to delete the whole thing from my library and strangely the iCloud download icon showed up next to each of its songs instead. Downloaded it again.

I went to this web site: Download past purchases on the iTunes support site and used the instructions for i-Phones. Then when I synced my phone, all the purchases that I had lost went back into my music library. 

This site also had the instructions for all the devices that play iTunes, PC and Mac etc.  Not just music recovery either but instructions for recovering movies, apps, ringtones and all that other stuff.

I hope this helps you.

Thank you, this solved it

Hi Go to iTunes store. In the Quick Link section,on the right, go to 'Purchased' and it should be there. Then scroll down to Download it. I had the same problem with the new U2 album and this is where I found it. Hope you get success.

I figured it out! Most of your old album, or song purchases are hidden therefore you can't re-download them until you "unhide" them.

1. Go to your Itunes Store

2. Click Account, under Quick Links

3. Go to the category that says Itunes in the Icloud

4. Go to Hidden Purchases and then click Manage

5.  It will lead you to your music tab and all the songs that are "hidden" just click Unhide or something of that nature and viola, your old music purchases will be in your itunes library.

Jemmie_J wrote:

I figured it out! Most of your old album, or song purchases are hidden

Why did you hide them?

works for me. thank you

I have a similar issue.

I somehow deleted the music on my Mac while cleaning up and when I go to my itunes library now my purchases no longer have a download link.

New purchases are directly downloaded to my Mac but not all the music that was there before.

Same ID, same iTunes store, same country, music still available in the store, still showing in my library as purchased.

The songs that I'm missing do not show up under not in my Library.

Songs that are supposedly in my library can't be played and itunes asks me to locate them on my Mac, which it can't as they are no longer there.

-> Download past purchases - Apple Support

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your reply but that doesn't help at all.

The problem is that these songs show up as in my library under Purchased but they are not actually on my Mac.

There must be a way to play music bought on the itunes store without having every single file downloaded on my mac.

It can't be that if I have 20Gb in music in my Library that I need to download 20Gb of music to my Mac.

The library file should be enough but this isn't working.

Would I be better off moving the whole library file to trash and start all over?

flemishgael wrote:

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your reply but that doesn't help at all.

Yes it does help.

There must be a way to play music bought on the itunes store without having every single file downloaded on my mac.

You did not ask for this in your previous post...

The problem is that these songs show up as in my library under Purchased but they are not actually on my Mac.

The iTunes library.itl file (which is the database file that manages everything) has them listed but the files are not on your computer because you inadvertently deleted the files when you were cleaning.

Do not mess with anything inside the /Music/iTunes/ folder. Let iTunes do it all.

There must be a way to play music bought on the itunes store without having every single file downloaded on my mac.

iTuness prefs > Store > tick Show iTunes in the cloud purchases.

Items you have purchased but are not on our computer will have a cloud icon.

You can stream them to play them or download them to you computer.

-> http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/in-the-cloud/

It is not working, which means it didn't help me.

I indeed did not ask for playing music without downloading it to my Mac in a previous post as I was hoping to make it work in the normal way.

The iTunes library file (.itl) is still there but the purchases are not

I'm using the same song as an example. I've purchased the song and can play it on my iPad and iPhone but not on my Macbook as it can't locate the song and I can't download it from my purchases either.

I also have iTunes in the cloud set up and iTunes match

I can download and/or play those songs on my iPad and iPhone without downloading them first, but I can't upload them to my iPod as iTunes on my Macbook tells me the file it is not in my library and it can't locate. It can't locate it because it is not on my Macbook and because I can't download it.

I should be able to upload files to my iPod though without downloading each song I want in my iPod to my Macbook first.