cybillkd

Q: HELP - Greyed Out (Ghost) songs in iTunes Devices iPhone Music

I am so frustrated I am sure someone knows the answer to this question but I have yet to find it.  I just upgraded to IOS 7 on my iPhone and I upgraded my iTines to thelatest and greatest version.  Now when I connect my phone to iTunes and look at the phone under device I see that there are a number of songs listed...all are greyed out and can not be selected.  NONE of these songs are on my iPhone.  I AM using iTunes Match and have been since Jan 2013.  I had a similar issue with the last upgrades and for the life of me can not remember how I fixed it.  I have a feeling that I had to completely eliminate everything from my library which is something that I do not want to do.

 

Does anyone know of a fix for this problem?  I have tried everything that I can think of...from shutting off iTunes Match on my phone from reloading iTunes Match within iTunes.  This is what my screen looks like...

 

ItunesScreen.jpg

 

Most but not all of these songs are in my Itunes Music.  Originally the all were there but in my attempt to solve the problem I deleted some from my Itunes (on purpose) to see if any individual some was the problem. 

 

No suggestion is silly - I have tried many things - too many to list and I am truly getting desparate.  I truly believe that this is an Match issue but I can't find any resolution for the problem.  When I take all music off of my phone as it is right now the problem still exists.  If I add music the music that is added will be seen in black lettering beside the grey lettering listing...that is in iTunes.  I am sorry if I am not making any sense it is easier to show someone than to explain it.

 

Thank you for any assistance...

 

oh yes - I am using a Windows XP as my Operating...I know time for an update but my laptop works so well - so far anyway and I hate to invest $ where I don't need it YET.  ;-)

iPhone 4S, iOS 7, iTunes version 11 & iTunes Match

Posted on Sep 22, 2013 3:16 PM

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Q: HELP - Greyed Out (Ghost) songs in iTunes Devices iPhone Music

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  • by michaellanson,

    michaellanson michaellanson Oct 4, 2015 6:41 PM in response to dfw fence
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 4, 2015 6:41 PM in response to dfw fence

    SO I just saw this thread and needing some help. bare with me as I'm a little iTunes slow. So I elected to use iCloud for my backup which  thought meant  don't sync up with my PC anymore. a huge amount of songs are greyed out and all references keep saying to sync up or delete. I want these songs so not sure what to do. Any help? I have an iPhone 6 And just did the most recent update.  Thanks

  • by Tomhamilton3995,

    Tomhamilton3995 Tomhamilton3995 Oct 4, 2015 6:44 PM in response to michaellanson
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 4, 2015 6:44 PM in response to michaellanson

    Have you tried plugging the USB into the back of your computer?

  • by michaellanson,

    michaellanson michaellanson Oct 4, 2015 9:05 PM in response to Tomhamilton3995
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 4, 2015 9:05 PM in response to Tomhamilton3995

    THanks for the response. So I have not hooked up the phone since I went to icloud. I thought once iCloud was started I was no longer to go to the pic and sync. Was I wrong?

  • by EHB90,

    EHB90 EHB90 Oct 31, 2015 7:23 PM in response to allisonneedshelps
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 31, 2015 7:23 PM in response to allisonneedshelps

    Had the same exact problem but found a very simple solution - Unplug the phone from the computer, make sure the music app on the phone is closed (force stop it) and then plug it back in. Without reopening the app begin copying the songs from itunes onto the phone. You should see a blue progress bar at the top of the screen under the song info showing they are being copied. This bar does not show up if they are not being copied correctly. I have not had a single problem since doing it like this. Hope it works for you as well.

  • by dhugg,

    dhugg dhugg Dec 13, 2015 5:28 AM in response to Nicodemeus
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 13, 2015 5:28 AM in response to Nicodemeus

    Thanks, this seemed to fix the problem, I just deleted the play list and then redid it and it copied fine.  Strange deal.  Why some transfer immediately and some don't.  I'm trying to put all my CDs on an external hard drive

  • by TexanGal1,

    TexanGal1 TexanGal1 Dec 27, 2015 7:33 PM in response to allisonneedshelps
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 27, 2015 7:33 PM in response to allisonneedshelps

    The advice above WORKED, but for those of you that need a step by step guide, here it is:

     

    * FROM YOUR PHONE go to My music

    * Find the song that is grayed out on your Mac's iTunes

    * Tap the three dots (...) next to the song (for iPhone 6S). A pop up menu will appear with some options.

    * Choose "Delete..." A pop up menu will appear with two options.

    * Choose "Remove Download".

    * Go to your Mac's iTunes and sync again.

    You will see your grayed out songs come to life again.

  • by TexanGal1,

    TexanGal1 TexanGal1 Dec 27, 2015 7:35 PM in response to dhugg
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 27, 2015 7:35 PM in response to dhugg

    Hey dhugg, the advice above WORKED, but for those of you that need a step by step guide, here it is:

     

    * FROM YOUR PHONE go to My music

    * Find the song that is grayed out on your Mac's iTunes

    * Tap the three dots (...) next to the song (for iPhone 6S). A pop up menu will appear with some options.

    * Choose "Delete..." A pop up menu will appear with two options.

    * Choose "Remove Download".

    * Go to your Mac's iTunes and sync again.

    You will see your grayed out songs come to life again.

  • by Christopher Bourne,

    Christopher Bourne Christopher Bourne Feb 19, 2016 9:06 AM in response to cybillkd
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 19, 2016 9:06 AM in response to cybillkd

    Actually it fixed pretty easy for me with no external software needed. I switched to manually manage music and videos in the summary in itunes. Then I deleted all the greyed out tunes. Switched off the manual select in summary then reconnected the phone and hit sync - all the songs came back. Cheers!

  • by fdhnez,

    fdhnez fdhnez Mar 15, 2016 11:13 PM in response to TexanGal1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 15, 2016 11:13 PM in response to TexanGal1

    followed your step-by-step guide...it didn't work.

    Screen Shot 2016-03-15 at 11.10.56 PM.png

  • by youknowwobbles,

    youknowwobbles youknowwobbles Mar 25, 2016 10:13 AM in response to cybillkd
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mar 25, 2016 10:13 AM in response to cybillkd

    OK, So not wanting to try any of the solutions other people offered like deleting everything off my phone or downloading an app to fix it, I just tried something that I thought maaaaaybe would work, and it actually did, and it took like 10 minutes, and I'm so happy because I've spent two days trying to will my phone into syncing properly.

     

    - First of all, for this to work you have to have "only include checked songs" (or whatever it actually says) selected.

    - From there, I unchecked like 4 songs in my iTunes that had been grayed out in the "on the iPhone" list

    - I synced my phone

    - I re-checked all of the songs I unchecked (again, only like 4)

    - I synced again, and about 1,600 songs started transferring to my iPhone (the ones that were grayed out!)

     

    I ended up doing it again because a couple songs were still grayed out, and it worked just fine again. I'm actually not sure that ALL the grayed out songs are working again, but enough of them are that I am totally convinced that this is the best method for me. If I find another song that's still grayed out, I'll just uncheck it and recheck it, easy peasy.

     

    Hope this helps!

     

     

    (By the way, I'm using a MacBook Pro, which is another reason I just tried finding my own solution because many of the other solutions were for people using PCs.)

  • by StuntJay,

    StuntJay StuntJay May 21, 2016 3:46 PM in response to youknowwobbles
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 21, 2016 3:46 PM in response to youknowwobbles

    I may not be the first to post this however, the fix was WAY more simple than anything I have read so far.

     

    MacBook Pro with latest iTunes update

     

    It's a bit tedious but nothing compared to deleting everything (especially if all your greyed out songs were all in one playlist like mine)

     

    make sure phone is not connected to computer.

     

    1. HIGHLIGHT (OR SELECT) GREYED OUT SONGS

    2. RIGHT CLICK (TWO FINGER ON TRACK PAD)

    3. CLICK "CHECK SELECTION"

    4. QUIT & RESTART ITUNE

    5. PLUG IN AND SYNC PHONE.

     

    If its just a few songs you can click the 3 dots that show up beside it that brings up the menu options for the selection as well.

     

    Worked for me, hope this helps someone. Cheers.

  • by foxhollowrick,

    foxhollowrick foxhollowrick Aug 22, 2016 10:14 PM in response to TexanGal1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 22, 2016 10:14 PM in response to TexanGal1

    TexanGal1 - Thanks - only one that worked.  I appreciate the detail.

  • by doggyleo,

    doggyleo doggyleo Aug 24, 2016 5:56 AM in response to dpx
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Aug 24, 2016 5:56 AM in response to dpx

    thank you!!!

  • by cameronw,

    cameronw cameronw Sep 7, 2016 3:43 PM in response to cybillkd
    Level 1 (14 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 7, 2016 3:43 PM in response to cybillkd

    Hi people- Actually in some cases (like mine) I think for some reason iTunes is not downloading the file to the iPhone, and rather keeping it in the "cloud."

     

    To fix, I went to Music on my iPhone, selected the red menu in the center (Songs, or artists, etc) then scrolled down and unchecked "Only Downloaded Music"

     

    (Additionally it looks like at the top right you can choose "Show All Music")


    Then I could find my missing albums, and they had the magic "Cloud with down arrow" icon next to them. I clicked it and it appeared to have downloaded them locally to the iPHone.

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