my itunes won't sync with my ipod

Okay, first I'd like to apologies for not making a new thread (as I thought I did) and thank you for your help.

Second, I am using a 3rd Gen iPod Touch 64GB and all music has been purchased through the iTunes store from my PC (as I didn't know if it would affect my other devices), so the PC is the master account I do all of my purchases.

I did all the thing you said and all of my songs are in my current library, but they all have the cloud icon above them except 2. I looked at preferences and it was correct. Then I used file manager and noticed it had double files on the, "Music" folder. I went inside the next Music folder and found only 1 of the newer album that I recently played from the cloud for a test, but nothing else.

I noticed I had selected, "iTunes Media" folder in preferences. This seems to be in error and think why I got all of the duplicate folders. I corrected the path so it stops at, "iTunes" folder which contains the, "iTunes Media" folder. Rebooted and resynced the ipod, but still no love. All of my PC iTunes albums have cloud icons on them still.

There are two option in advanced preferences just below the iTunes Media folder location called.

Keep iTunes Media folder organised

Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library.

Should they be checked? Currently they are both unchecked.

Also, why doesn't the iPod touch list the albums as on the cloud, like the PC?

When I tried to add to library, all it did was make duplicate files. All files were correct, they just had the word copy added to them all.

So, long story short, all of the songs are in my current PC's Music library and listed as in the cloud.

Thanks again for your help.

-=Mark=-

So, I guess when you said "CD," you meant albums purchased from the iTunes Store. If these are all purchases, you can re-download them again at no cost. That is probably what those "cloud" icons indicate. The two songs that do not have the cloud icon are stored locally, at least as seen by iTunes. You may have other song files stored on that home server, but iTunes is not seeing those files as being linked to the songs in your iTunes library (except for those two) for some reason.

What happens when you click on one of those clouds? That should download that song, and the cloud icon should go away for that song (because that song's file is now stored locally). So having the cloud symbol there next to the song actually means that the song is ONLY stored in iCloud, and NOT locally. (Again, that's as seen by iTunes... I'm not saying you don't have the song files on that home server, but iTunes does not acknowledge them.)

If you were able to make the cloud icon go away for one song by clicking on it, you can re-download all of those songs. Select them all at once on a list in iTunes, right-click on the selection, and choose Download from the menu.

After you have re-downloaded your purchases, do a Get Into on one of those songs (right-click and Get Info). On the Info window's Summary tab, it shows the path to that song's song file (Where it is stored locally). It should be the path that you set up in iTunes preferences Advanced tab, for iTunes Media folder location. If your previously existing song files are stored at a different location, those are now duplicate.

NOTE: You are using the same Apple ID on the iPod touch that you use in the iTunes Store (on the computer) to make purchases, correct? If that is the case, it does not matter whether purchases are made on the iPod touch or on the computer. All songs purchased with that Apple ID are available from the iPod touch and the computer's iTunes. The Apple ID is the "master account," not the iTunes library that is on the computer.

Also, in your case, the likely reason for the iPod syncing problem is because your song files (the ones that did not sync) were NOT store locally. iPod syncing using iTunes only works for songs that are stored locally.

Oh, I did not answer these questions

Keep iTunes Media folder organised

Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library.

Should they be checked? Currently they are both unchecked.

This is what those options mean. Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library (when checked) means that if you manually add song files to the iTunes library, a copy is made and stored in the designated iTunes Media folder location, and iTunes uses that new song file. The song's "original" file (where you added it from) remains there, but is not used by iTunes. So, that can create duplicate files. If that option is NOT checked, iTunes uses the song file from its original location.

NOTE: When purchasing from the iTunes Store, song files are automatically stored in the iTunes Media folder.

Keep iTunes Media folder organized means that the song files are stored (organized into sub-folders) in the iTunes Media folder, first based on media type (Music for songs). Then, by Artist, and finally Album. If you change the name of a song's album or artist in iTunes, iTunes also updates how the songs are stored in the iTunes Media folder to match.

I like to keep BOTH options enabled, so that everything is stored in the iTunes Media folder, and it is nicely organized into sub-folders, based on my iTunes library.

Also, why doesn't the iPod touch list the albums as on the cloud, like the PC?

If you are using the same Apple ID in the computer's iTunes Store and on the iPod touch, you should be able to use the iTunes app (on the iPod touch) to show Purchased songs and download them directly from the iTunes Store (at no cost). Once downloaded, they will appear in the Music app. They will not appear in the Music app automatically, unless you subscribe to Apple's iTunes Match service ($25 per year). iTunes Match puts your iTunes music library (including playlists) in iCloud, including songs that were not purchased from the iTunes Store, and makes them accessible from your computers (with iTunes) and supported iOS devices.

Ah, I assumed the itunes media folder was a replacement for the original files. Not an alternate folder. So you were right, the albums being exported to itunes were the ones stored on my C: drive of my PC. Once I downloaded them from the cloud, they all transferred over to the ipod without issue.

Thanks for clarification on the second posts. Now hopefully it will go smoother the next time I need to reinstall windows. I remember the whole thing was when I plugged in the ipod for this new reinstall and said this PC wasn't authorized or not the original PC and that it would erase the ipod music and download the new music from the new pc.

Is there a simple way to get it to recognize the windows reinstall is actually the same PC and not a new one?

Thanks again for all of your help

-=Mark=-

For the iPod's recognition after wiping a PC and reinstalling/restoring, the PC itself does not matter. What matters is the iTunes library. If you use automatic syncing to load and maintain content on an iPod, it can only do so with one iTunes library at a time. After you reinstall Windows, if the iTunes library is new, the iPod is not saying that the PC is different; it is not recognizing that new iTunes library as the one currently used for syncing. Therefore, if you want to set up automatic syncing with that new library, whatever is on the iPod now (from the old library) will be replaced with content from that new library.

What you should do is back up your (complete) iTunes data. If you use the standard settings, your iTunes data is in the iTunes folder, which is in your user account home folder under Music. This folder includes the database file which tracks all of the content in your "iTunes library." Normally, your iTunes Media folder (with all music and other content files) is also in that iTunes folder. However, if you changed the setting to put the iTunes Media folder at a different location, you'll need to back that up separately.

After doing a Windows reinstall (and also reinstalling iTunes), restore your old iTunes folder from the backup, to replace the (blank library) iTunes folder in the new installation. Do this when iTunes is NOT running. The next time iTunes runs, it uses your old iTunes folder, and everything looks like it did before. Your iPod recognizes that iTunes library as the same one.

NOTE: If your iTunes Media folder was stored at an alternate location, you'll also need to restore it to the same location, so that the path to the iTunes Media folder is the same as before. If the path is now different (like using a different "drive letter" in Windows), iTunes will not see the song files. (So, if it's on a home server, make sure it connects to the new Windows installation in the same way so that your old iTunes library sees it where it's expected.)

Thanks again. This will be useful for future use so I have bookmarked it for reference. I lost my old one, but it was more of a guide than an explanation of how and why it's doing things.

-=Mark=-

i recently had trouble with itunes. my itunes wouldn't see the ipod5 touch when plugged in but windows did, even though it made the plugged and and unplugged sounds so I searched and searched i restored the ipod.....and finally after a clean sweep of apple products installed the newest itunes. it saw the ipod!! but it didnt sync!! on the summary page where options is "sync only checked songs and videos" was checked....hmmmm...so went up top where summary apps music etc is and clicked the music button and to my surprise the bold "Sync Music" box was NOT CHECKED.....*** so i checked it and BANG it started syncing!!!! so just in case anyone else has this problem hope this helped...windows 8.1 itunes 113054 ipod touch ios 712. i hade used this link read carefully. Removing and reinstalling iTunes and other software components for Windows Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8

I purchased some songs on my iPod touch (4th generation) and I can't find them in my library on my laptop. Also, I just purchased a song on my laptop on iTunes, but I can't seem to find it on my iPod in my music. PLEASE HELP!!! Thanks for your time.

It is very important that you are using the same Apple ID on the iPod touch, that you use when you sign in to the iTunes Store on your laptop. Something that you buy on the iPod touch does not automatically appear in your computer's iTunes library (but there is actually a setting to do "automatic downloads" in iTunes preferences Store tab).

Most media items (including songs) that you buy from the iTunes Store using a particular Apple ID can be downloaded again at no cost. To download something purchased on your iPod touch, run iTunes on the computer and make sure you are signed in to the iTunes Store using the same Apple ID used for the previous purchases on the iPod touch. From the iTunes Store Home screen, click on Purchased under QUICK LINKS. On the Purchased screen, you can find previous purchases (for that Apple ID) and download them again, as needed.

Again, the key here is to always use the same Apple ID.

iTunes doesn't recognize any of my songs, they all have the ! next to them. I've un and re-installed iTunes and the problem still happens, please help!

That "!" usually means that iTunes can no longer find the song file linked to the song in your iTunes library. Select one of the songs with the "!" next to it, and do a Get Info (right-click Get Info). On the Info window, Summary tab, there is a Where field. That tell you where iTunes expects to find the song file.

If you did something like move the song files or the folder with the songs files (using Finder on a Mac or Windows Explorer), or changed the "path" to the song file, or drive letter (for Windows), that could cause this problem. Take a look at the expected path to the song file (shown in the song's Info window), and see if did something to change the location of the song file.

If you know what you did to cause iTunes to lose track of the song file locations, undo it. After iTunes can find all of your song files again for its library (no more "!"), you can use the commands in iTunes to move the song files to a different location, if you need to do so. If you let iTunes move the song files, iTunes does not lose track. You can post back to get more info on how to do that, if needed...

I downloaded the latest ITUNES software and now my IPOD will not sync with ITUNES. I downloaded 20 songs from my Father's funeral and could not get it downloaded to my IPOD. I have spent over 10 hours trying fix this mess Apple made of the latest ITUNES software.

I was able to download music to my IPOD before updating my ITUNES to Version 12.3.1.2.23. Apple needs to correct their software. I have bought several IPODS over the years and ALWAYS been able to download the latest songs NOW it will not download anything even though it say Synchronizing and Completes it never downloads any song the recently added folder. Apple what is the solution to correct this problem

I am also having a similar problem to XC1 I have both an iPod Touch 2nd Gen & an iPod Nano (not sure which gen) which have both been working fine until I have done the most recent iTunes update and now neither of them will allow me to sync certain songs to them, even though some songs have previously been synced to them.

Everytime I sync it says there are at least 100 errors on some it says iPod does not support this track, others its says unable to find iPod I'm not sure how either of the are valid reasons when a) the songs have been on iPod before and b) it's syncing all other music so it must be able to find it.

Anyone any ideas??

Apple please can you fix this??

After hours of troubleshooting my wife's iTunes and not being able to find the **x??!! sync button and being warned that if I clicked selected sync all music that it would erase all the music currently on the ipod, I finally took the leap and told it to sync anyway, it told me that it would no longer be synced up with her computer named xyz. Well that was OK because she had a new computer. I completed the action and lo-and-behold everything was there and on her ipod that was supposed to be. Talk about NEVER LET PROGRAMMERS WRITE MESSAGES TO THE USER - this is the perfect example of indicating that something horrible could happen from a typical action required by a user. Anyway, don't be afraid of that message that it will erase all your old music. And by the way if you connect an ipod to a computer that does not have iTunes, it will simply appear as a mass storage device and you can manually copy all your music from the ipod to your computer so that you have a spare and backup copy. Hope this hint helps some poor soul with a similar problem. Oh, and now I do have the missing SYNC button.

If you make a change to the iPod's settings in iTunes (like setting it to automatically sync Entire music library), the Sync button becomes the Apply button. After the change is made, it goes back to being the Sync button.

If the iPod was set to Manually manage music, and you changed it to automatically sync "everything" in her iTunes music library, that message is a warning that whatever is currently on the iPod will be erased and replaced by content in her iTunes library. In your case, if everything on the iPod was in her iTunes library (on the computer), iTunes put the same songs back on the iPod after erasing it. So everything is fine.

But you should not tell people to ignore that message. If the iPod has all of the user's music, and the iTunes library does not have that music, any songs on the iPod that are not in the iTunes library (on the computer) WILL be lost. And that would be "something horrible."