Item Not Available: Apple Music error

Out of 200+ CDs I have imported into my library over the past few years, I only recently noticed that some of the CDs (10-12 of them) showed up with song titles that were grayed out. Then today I created a new Playlist on my MacBook Pro, and I could not access it on my iPhone or iPad, regardless of how many times I synced those devices with my MBP. I pay for iTunes Match, and I believe that at some point in the last 6 months, the way it works (functionality) changed and/or an iTunes upgrade overwrote at least one of my iTunes Preferences. Anyway, here is what resolved the problem for me. While in iTunes, I selected Preferences from the iTunes Menu. On the General tab, only "Show Apple Music" was checked - although I don't even pay for Apple Music. So, I'm thinking that must be checked by default when iTunes upgrades are installed. The surprising thing to me was that the box under it, "iCloud Music Library" was not checked. I don't use iCloud for everything, but I do use it for Photos, Contacts, Notes, and Music and I was pretty sure I had turned this on (selected it) in the past. Anyway, I checked that box, clicked on "OK", and suddenly all the titles that had been grayed out - were no longer grayed out on my iPhone or iPad, and everything I wanted to download to those two devices has now downloaded - including the new playlist I created earlier today.

Some songs I paid for in iTunes nearly two years ago are grayed out and I get the pop up can't be played. I don't have a computer to sync to. Tried messing with settings in music with no luck. Very frustrating having to put up with this.

its actually an easy fix!

Step 1: plug your phone into your computer and launch itunes on your computer

Step 2: on your phone go to settings, then music, then there's a tab to turn off icloud music library. Turn that off. Now go to your computer and sync your phone. Once it's done switch the tab back to on and it will update everything!

My experience was similar to DaveGinCT and rybegooch. Most of my songs (mostly ripped from CDs) were grayed out and said 'Item not available.' It took 3 syncs before they all appeared on my iPhone 6.

The same problem has happened with me multiple times and for me, I have found a cheeky fix. I'm not sure of I'll work for you guys but it did for me.

So you can't play the song beca its greyed out and when you touch it the message is displayed. What you have to do is play the song above this song which is not working and turn off shuffle if its enabled. Hopefully, like in my case, after the song you played is over, the song which is not working will play. Now it may still show as greyed out for some time but eventually it should be normal.

Thanks so much, I was going a little nuts...this fixed my problem.

Any ideas if there is no I cloud music box to uncheck??

For me, the problem was a box that was unchecked after an iTunes update. On my MBP, in the iTunes Preferences, on the General screen, the box for iCloud Music Library was no longer checked. I don't pay for Apple Music but I do pay for iTunes Match. Once I checked that box, all of my music was available again across all three platforms: laptop, iPad, and iPhone.

i have the same question as above. My Music is showing songs greyed out with a message that says this Item Cannot Be Played. Help please as I need this songs for my classes to teach tonight!!!

Hi..
I feel that your solution will work for me but I am a mac user and the alt key does noting in my case.I also don't have the option update iCloud Music Library.I can see a dashed circle next to my songs ( on iTunes when I have my phone connected with my laptop). Do you have something else to suggest?

This happened to my older iPad today. Note I never stream music using the Music app. Nor do I use Match. About 4,500 songs are downloaded to the iPad from my computer. But at least half the songs visible on the iPad were greyed and unavailable. A simple sync had no effect.

To get them back, I had to select every single album on the iPad to force this dialog. After that, the songs recopied to the iPad on the next sync.

Perhaps dropping the music, syncing to wipe the iPad, then turning music back on and syncing would have worked, too.

I had the same problem and it was getting me mad because it was one of my favorite songs so what i did was search up that song specifically by its self on itunes and clicked 1.29 and then my phone said i have already purchased it and then asked me if i wanted to download it, and i tapped on that and i could play the song now! I did this on my iphone not a computer, and it worked 10/16/16

Just passing this along in hopes it helps others. I tried this recommended method of turning off/on music cloud and it did not work. I only have an Apple Music subscription with no purchased music in my library. I would notice some songs would grey out suddenly and it would always tell me item not available. So if you are not having successful results with the above try this and I hope it helps.

I reset my device and opened Apple Music. I went through and found the songs grayed out and 3D touched on them to open up a menu. (As shown)

Delete the song from your music library. Go to search and find that same song. Click on the plus sign and then download it to your device if you so choose. I found that almost every single song that I had to do this for had a new album cover so I wonder if it changed the file as a whole and that's why it says it's unavailable and by following these steps your adding the refreshed file. I don't know I'm no techie. I only had 10 songs grayed out so this didn't take me long to fix.

Hope this helps those still stuck in this ruck!

I FIGURED IT OUT!!.I had this problem and have solved it by simply unselecting 'show apple music' in the music tab in settings this let me download the songs that were greyed the only problem would be for people who use apple music personally i don't use apple music and don't see a need for it.

I hope this helped somebody!

(I littary made an account just answer this)

that still didn't work for me just turning apple music will do it