itunes match says "this item cannot be downloaded"

I've having this problem, too. It's only with certain songs, though; I'd guess that the only ones are affected are six or seven of my matched (not uploaded) tracks.

I'd list the names, but I don't think that will get us anywhere except "oh, me too!"

Same here. Came looking for a solution too.

I'm pretty confident that I will not be renewing my iTunes Match after the first year.

I am also experiencing this issue and have only noticed it in the last few days. Similarily to above, it only appears to be impacting certain songs (i.e. not every song from a particular album). I experienced the issue first on my iPhone 4, but am also getting the same message on the same songs on my iPad (3rd Gen).

This thread may be of use to some:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1316369

Although the particular tracks I am experiencing this issue with are Matched (not uploaded), so I don't think the thread above applies to my situation.

in addition to being unable to download these songs on the iphone and ipad, I have also tried deleting the song from iTunes on the PC (leaving it in iCloud), and subsequently attempting to redownload it - I get the same error message in iTunes on the PC. Good job I copied the file first! 🙂

The album in question for me, is "Infernal - From Paris To Berlin" 😐 Don't judge me!

On the PC I get a more detailed error which follows immediately after the "This item cannot be downloaded" which is attached:

This album is available in the iTunes store (albeit slightly different in order and content than the version I have), and I have rescanned my library and the songs are still "matched".

Perhaps this is a result of an impending merging of the iTunes / App Stores for iOS6 and it's a temporary issue.

Or maybe it's a bigger issue. Probably worthy of a support request from Apple I'd say.

Apple have responded to my support request to say that they are aware of and investigating the issue:

"Apple apologizes as this is a system-wide issue affecting several customers. This issue is being investigated, and you will receive a follow–up email when further information becomes available."

That sounds promising I guess. Where did you submit a support request? I like to submit feedback for such things to at least get them to know what's going on, since they supposedly don't monitor the discussions.

As a side note, I'm trying to download a playlist which has tracks that "cannot be downloaded". I know for a fact this worked before because when I first subscribed to iTunes Match I downloaded this playlist in its entirety. I restored my phone a few weeks ago and attempted to download the same playlist, and am now receiving errors. So something changed on their end.

Thats a shame to hear. Although this is quite an annoying bug with iTunes match, once it's fixed (which Im sure it will be) it'll be business as usual. The functionality of iTunes match and the availability it gives to your own music collection is invaluable to me personally and something I have wanted for a long time. For the price, I think its a great deal despite the teathing issues.

Spotify is good too, true, but it's a different type of service.

I suspect that iOS6 and it's associated updates will bring some extensive improvements. Hopefully :)

Hi Philip, I submitted a support request to Apple via Express Lane:

https://expresslane.apple.com

I logged it as an iTunes problem and received a response promptly (less than 24 hours).

For general feedback there is also this page:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/

I'm also receiving "This item cannot be downloaded" message from my iPhone. What's weird is that other songs from the same album were played/downloaded but a handful were not.

Same issue here, opened an Express Lane Ticket on 6/14/12 as well as worked with a representative who contacted iTunes support while on the phone with me, and they didn't have much to offer.

Did they leave your ticket open for further investigation or close it without resolution?

I think the more people that raise tickets for this (and any) issue, the better - apple will get more visibility about the impact. Although if they close you're call, then there wont be much in their system telling them that the masses are unhappy with a particular issue. Probably delaying until iOS6!

Having said that, I havnt updated my desktop iTunes to the latest version which was released just after the WWDC keynote - has anyone tried it in the latest version yet?

I've updated iTunes to the latest, syncd iTunes Match, and the prolem persists.

However I do have a work around from Apple that kinda blows, but it will get your tracks downloadable again:

- backup the problem track somewhere

- delete the track from iTunes and iCloud

- sync iTunes Match

- re-add the track to iTunes from the backup location

- sync iTunes Match

While this works for me it's incredibly tedious. I have 19000 songs and I don't know which all are having the problem. Also, every time I sync iTunes Match it takes an eternity to "send information to Apple" (10 plus minutes each time). So while this is allowing me the ability to download my tracks again it's frustrating

Concerning Apple's awareness, I hope more people are raising the issue with them using the support and feedback links in this thread. It was clear to me while working with the very kind support lady that they're biased towards troubleshooting a matching problems (e.g. the song being matched doesn't meet the requirements in the first place) and nor Apple server side problems.

Which it must be, right? Nothing changes on all of our devices, and then the track is no longer downloadable. So hopefully they're working on it!

I actually just thought to try this very thing this morning! Unfortunately for me though, even though i have completely removed the song from iTunes and iCloud, reAdded, then rematched, I STILL cannot download the track from the cloud :(

I agree that it hast to be an Apple / service problem. My iTunes is telling me that the song is matched, even after rescanning. It was always matched, and we didnt have these problems previously.

I think I'll just continuosly ask for updates on the issue. I was told that it was a known issue, so I do find it surprising that when we call with an issue that the support reprasentatives dont automatically check some central list of known issues. Or maybe the "its a known issue that Apple are working om" was just a way of getting rid of the ticket for a while!

Aha! I think I just noticed what was different about your workaround and what I did... You resynced iTunes match both after deleting the file AND after adding it in again.

I'll try that now :)