error -12894 when trying to play certain songs on iPod/iPhone

Hello there, Eccentric Tom.

Being that your content is not playing properly and generating that error message, you may want to report the issue using the recommendations from the following link:

Report a problem with an item purchased from the iTunes Store, App Store, Mac App Store, or iBooks Store - Apple Support

To report a problem or request assistance with an item purchased from the iTunes Store, App Store, Mac App Store, or iBooks Store:

1. Visit reportaproblem.apple.com in your browser.
2. When prompted, enter the Apple ID and password used to initiate the purchase of the item, then click Sign In.
3. Find the item you're having a problem with, then click Report a Problem next to it.
4. From the Choose Problem menu, choose the issue you're having.
5. Follow the onscreen instructions. You might be asked to describe the problem in a text field.
6. Click Submit, and we'll review your problem.

Thanks for participating in Apple Support Communities.

Cheers,

Pedro.

Helo Pedro D

I have the same error of 12894 on my new iphone 6+ for the U2's Songs of Innocence Album. All the songs in the album having the same error. I follow your instruction but the album was free and it didnt show under my music purchase. Any further advice?

I had this problem also on my iPhone 5S with iTunes Match. I found that if I deleted the song, then selected the "remove download" and re-downloaded it, it ported over to the iPhone correctly (and now plays). The key sequence is: right-click on the offending song in iTunes on the Mac, select "delete", select the "remove download" button, then re-download the song by clicking on the cloud with the down-arrow on it on the offending song. This solved my problem.

I´ve come across the same issue with my iPhone 5S. In my case, with songs that I added from my PC, not directly purchased in iTunes (there is no iTunes to purchase where I live).

Anyways, the only way I´m able to add songs successfully, is by adding them one at a time. You know, when you go to the iPhone option in iTunes, and from there you have two lists on the left (settings and device). On the device list I choose "Music" and then on the top right "Edit list". Then I add one song at a time, being careful that I add the song and wait for the syncing process to finish before dragging the next song.

Of course, this is completely inconvenient and needs to be fixed.

1. DELETE THE SONGS THAT WILL NOT PLAY

2. PLUG DEVICE INTO ITUNES

3. IN YOUR DEVICE SUMMARY, SCROLL DOWN TO OPTION

4. UNCHECK "CONVERTER HIGHER BIT RATE SONGS" (IF ITS ALREADY UNCHECK STOP READING BECAUSE THIS WONT HELP YOU ...SORRY)

5. PUT SONGS BACK ON YOUR DEVICE AND ENJOY

Thanks a lot for your answer, it really helped!

I had the same problem, and the offending song was used as the audio for my alarm. When the alarm went off the phone would vibrate, but no sound, and would otherwise be unresponsive. I had to reboot in order to shut off the alarm.

i went to the song in Music and tried to play it, that's when it showed me the error code.

After several attempts to fix it, this finally worked:

In Music, I went to the options menu (...) for that song and selected Delete... then Remove Download.

I after that, I closed the Music app and rebooted the phone by holding down the power button and Home button until the phone restarted.

Then I went back to Music selected the song, and pressed the little cloud icon to download to the iPhone.

Now it works!

I had the same problem on my IPhone 6. I removed the downloads that wouldn't play, clicked 'uncheck' converter higher bit rate songs, re-downloaded the songs and now it works fine!

Very helpful, thanks!!

How do you delete the songs that won't play?

This fixed it!