Greyed-out songs problem

Brilliant. This worked for me as well. Thanks!

Come on Apple. Fix this ****!

that worked. thanks.

Take that back... Nope. songs no longer greyed out on Mac/iTunes in the playlist, but they WILL NOT sync to the phone... Very frustrating to buy music and not be able to listen to it.

THANK YOU, Thank you Thank you. I only hope this works for everyone experiencing this problem with Apple products, as there seems to be a solution for windows products . And that everyone tech support person with Apple reads your post so they can be of some use to customers seeking a solution to this problem.

I wish I could give you a big effing kiss, you just saved my brand new iphone from getting smashed into little pieces

Solution:

1/ Click on the greyed-out music track within iTunes and press the Delete key.

2/ When asked, 'Do you want to move the selected song to the Trash, or keep it in the iTunes Media folder?', click on KEEP FILE.

3/ Locate the original music file (for the song you just deleted from your iTunes library) on your hard drive.

4/ Drag the music file back into iTunes using the mouse.

And there you have it - the song is no longer greyed-out in iTunes and you can sync it to your device.

Ok, I was also feeling frustrated about this problem for so long already but then was able to solve it finally! Here's what I did to resolve this problem: (I'm using iPad mini 2, so I'm not pretty sure if it will work for other devices but hopefully they will)

Greyed-song problem solution on iOS 7 and latest iTunes:

1. Connect your device to your computer (I'm a Windows user).

2. Open iTunes.

3. On the 'Summary' tab under 'Settings' in iTunes of your device, check the box 'Manually manage music and videos'. Click sync.

4. On the 'Music' tab under 'Settings' in iTunes of your device, make sure that 'Sync Music' is unchecked.

5. Then go to 'Music' under 'On My Device' in iTunes of your device,

6. Make sure it is indicated at the bottom 'Autofill from Music'

7. There is a 'Settings' button on the right of this 'Autofill from Music'. Click it and make sure to uncheck every option there.

8. Now, right click on any of the grey songs you have from that list. Click 'Delete'.

9. Now locate that deleted song from your computer. Drag this song back to this list. (IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU DO NOT DRAG THIS SONG TO YOUR iTUNES LIBRARY, BUT INSTEAD, DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE'S MUSIC LIBRARY)

10. Then click 'Sync' at the bottom of the list.

11. Enjoy your grey-free music!

Hopefully this works to people who still have this problem. It's pretty weird why this happens though, but being able to fix it makes me want to just forget why this error has occurred in the first place. Finally fixed! 😀

Anyway, if it works tell me about it! 😀 Also, I think I have read one of the articles (can't remember where) but I think they said that one of the causes of this problem is the habit of not clicking the Eject button on iTunes before ejecting the device, which results into syncing problems... So I guess the next time I do syncing, I must always click the Eject button...

Had the same issue, so frustrating. Finally got it; try these steps:

From your phone:

Settings > Music - toggle "Show All Music" to off.

Open music app - identify all songs that are on your device.

Settings > Music - toggle "Show All Music" to on.

From the music app, download songs from iCloud identified in step 2

Settings > General > Usage > Manage Storage > Music > Edit > All Songs > Delete

(Optional) Settings > Cellular - In "Use cellular data for" locate Music App and toggle off.

Settings > Music - toggle "Show All Music" to off.

Sync with iTunes

At which point I had about three quarters of them gone. If there are more remaining:

Download and install iExplorer http://www.macroplant.com/iexplorer/

Plug in device first, then open iExplorer

Delete the iPhone\Media\iTunes_Control folder (you may want to copy this, just in case)

Restart the iPhone / iPad

Start iTunes. Not restore iPhone from back up, select New iPhone (don't worry, you will not lost apps or data on your iPhone doing this)

Sync with iTunes

Just do the synch and you're good. Yes, you will have a lot of songs that you wouldn't want to import from your Mac library to your iPhone, but that's the only thing that works for me.

This fixed my greyed-out problem. My iPhone was recently restored from backup, totally sync'd to the mac, BUT was missing many songs in play lists. I scratched my head, re-sync'd, problem persisted. The FIX: On the iPhone version 8.3, go to iTunes, Store, More, Purchased, Music, "Not on this iPhone" and download all.

I've been having this exact same problem. I tried everything from the different checking / unchecking of boxes.

Eventually I tried to back up my music, then delete all the music in iTunes and importing it all back in. But this was to no avail.

But then what did work was:

1) In the settings part of your device click Music

2) Un-click sync music

3) Click the "Selected playlists, artists, albums and genres option" rather than the entire music library.

4) All the greyed out songs that you are getting under music on your iPod, put these under a new playlist on your iTunes.

5) Now select the playlist with all the music that would not properly sync beforehand (Within the Music section under settings in your device).

6) Click the option "Automatically fill free space with songs"

7) Sync

Hopefully this works for you, I have a 5th generation iPod and iOS 8.3 - Running iTunes on a 2010 Macbook Pro with OS X Yosemite.

I was having the same problem - somehow I had uncheck the box and then the item "un-greyed". OMG - pain in the "you know what". But I think that is the solution. I was able to drag the song into the Playlist I wanted once it was unchecked. That is if anyone is having the problem in 2015.

YUP! At least for me my 4th gen iPod touch does not like the "Sync over Wi-fi" setting". It makes it angry and stubborn.

I fixed my grey-song problem in my iTunes 12 Music library by resetting my sync history. Note, this did not fix the grey-songs on my iPhone 6 Plus which seem to be related to songs I downloaded directly to the iPhone.

I use iTunes 12 on Windows and found the reset sync history feature here:

1) Click icon in top left corner and select "Preferences..." or hit "Ctrl+," (hold down control and press comma) or if you can see the menu click "Edit" > "Preferences..."

2) In "Device Preferences" dialog, click "Devices" icon at the top

3) click "Reset Sync History" button near bottom

4) click "OK" button to close "Devices Preferences"

Cheers!

It's iTunes servers not being available; probably overcrowded. It's them, not you.

I HAVE A SOLUTION 3rd AUGUST 2015

I don't know WHY but this problem has plagued me for what seems like years.

The only thing I have found to fix this is to plug my iphone's USB connection cord into the 3.0 / blue / extra fast USB outlet on my computer (mine is on the back of my tower). After doing this EVERYTHING syncs like it's no trouble at all. I don't know why this fixes it, but if it helps even one other person then I had to post!!!!!