"Lyrics detected but unable to retrieve"

Question

"Lyrics detected but unable to retrieve"

I get this message on my iPod classic 30 GB when I try to see the lyrics to some songs on an entire album; specifically, just one, the most recent album I added to my library. I can see the lyrics to other songs, just not the ones on the album. I have checked to see if I actually have the lyrics on the song information, and I do. I've also tried resetting and resynchronizing. What now?

Toshiba Laptop, Windows XP

Posted on Oct 16, 2007 7:46 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

TrUzApalOOza

Level 1

0 points

Jan 25, 2008 5:47 AM in response to eterealtaste

I have not been loading lyrics into my songs consisently, only a few over the last 2 years -- however they always seemed to work on my old iPOD 5g 80gb. Then I sold it and got the iPod Classic 160GB, and starting loading up lyrics.

I can consistently replicate the "Lyrics detected but unable to retrieve" on my MP3 files. The fix, which seems to work everything I have tried is to right click the files and convert them to IDtag v2.3 (2.4 did not work).

I believe there is some kind of problem in the recent iPod firmwares that has made this bug surface.

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Answer 2

Nov 22, 2007 5:08 AM in response to Cantos.Gitanos

In iTunes select you iPod, then the Music folder and next the file(s) you want to convert. Right click on the selection, then "Convert ID3 tags" (please note that I'm using the italian iTunes to the translation may be different). Select "ID3 tag version" checkbox and v2.2 (or v2.3) from the list, then simply press ok. If the option is grayed (disabled) your files are not in mp3 or aac format....
Another useful utility for manage tags is mp3tag ( http://www.mp3tag.de/) but works only on windows: in this case you must convert the tags before copying the file on the iPod.

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Answer 3

Nov 15, 2007 3:28 AM in response to Cantos.Gitanos

I had the same problem on my iPod classic 80Gb. I found the solution: convert the tag version to v2.2 or v2.3! Is the v2.4 that creates the problem, I hope that Apple will fix that on the next software release.

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Answer 4

simonvx

Level 1

9 points

Oct 30, 2007 10:38 AM in response to simonvx

This is weird! Must have somthing to do with the way they (Radiohead tech staff) encoded the album. Will try to upsample to AIFF and then convert back to mp3 or AAC and try again with the lyrics. Will keep you guys posted.

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Answer 5

simonvx

Level 1

9 points

Oct 17, 2007 11:37 AM in response to Cantos.Gitanos

Same here. But on iPod nano 3g 8GB black. Can't display lyrics on Radiohead's "In Rainbows" mp3 album it even if I manually copied the lyrics in iTunes -- twice, and with 2 different techniques (one directly from a web page, and the other one, from TextEdit).

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Answer 6

Oct 20, 2007 7:34 PM in response to Cantos.Gitanos

This is so weird... I'm having the same problem with the same album... all my other lyrics are fine, but neither my 160GB classic nor my 8GB nano will let me view lyrics for In Rainbows.

I've tried everything I can think of, re-importing the lyrics, deleting the whole album from my iPod and reloading it, etc. and nothing has worked. It's incredibly frustrating.

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Answer 7

Oct 18, 2007 2:31 AM in response to simonvx

How weird! It's the same album! I wonder if it's a conspiracy...

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Answer 8

Oct 27, 2007 10:03 PM in response to The Dormouse

.. I'm having the same problem with the same album.. in ipod nano 3g

"In rainbows" radiohead dont show the lyrics

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Answer 9

Nov 20, 2007 9:09 AM in response to eterealtaste

How do you convert the tags? I tried going the "Convert ID3 Tags" route, but the option isn't available (it's gray).

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