If you can't play a song, video, or game you purchased from the iTunes Store, here are some things you can do.
Check your computer authorizations
If a purchased song won't play and that song is iTunes digital rights management (DRM) protected music, you may have exceeded the number of computers that can be authorized to play your music purchases (the limit is five at a time). Once you've authorized five computers (by playing purchased songs on those computers), you won't be able to listen to any purchased songs on a sixth computer until you deauthorize one of the first five computers.
To deauthorize a computer:
- In iTunes, choose Deauthorize Computer from the Store menu (your computer needs to be connected to the Internet).
- Click OK.
If you've reached your five-computer limit, you have a second option to deauthorize all five at once using these steps:
- Click here to view your account.
- Click the Deauthorize All button.
Make sure that all of your authorized computers are using the latest version of iTunes. For example, after purchasing music from the iTunes Store with iTunes 7, you must upgrade all other computers on which you make iTunes Store purchases to iTunes 7.
Shared playlists and authorizations
If you're listening to a shared library or playlist, iTunes will skip any purchased music in the list if your computer hasn't been authorized to play that music.
Older AAC files may not play
If you're trying to play an AAC file that was not created using iTunes or downloaded from the iTunes Store, the song may not play. Songs you download from the iTunes Store or that you import into your library using the AAC encoder are encoded with the new MPEG-4 AAC format. These types of files will play in iTunes and on your iPod. Older AAC files that you find on the Internet or elsewhere may not play in iTunes.
Issues with songs burned to disc
If you're trying to play a song on a CD or DVD that you burned using iTunes, make sure that the equipment you're trying to play the disc on is appropriate for the disc's format.
For example, if you burned an audio CD to a CD-RW disc, you will only be able to play it in your computer. If you burned an MP3 disc, it should play in your computer and on special MP3 CD players, but not on standard consumer audio CD players.
Slow Internet connections can disrupt previews
If you have a slow Internet connection (128 kbit/s or less) and are trying to play a song preview in the iTunes Store, the preview may not play smoothly. You can avoid this by making iTunes load song previews before playing them. To do this:
- Open iTunes Preferences:
Mac: From the iTunes menu, choose Preferences
Windows: On the Edit menu, click Preferences. - In the resulting dialog, click the Store tab.
- Select the "Load complete preview before playing" checkbox.
- Click OK.
- Preview the song again.
Check for permissions issues (Mac OS X only)
If you're using Mac OS X, you may have incorrect permission settings on your computer hard drive. Follow these steps to repair the permissions:
- Open Disk Utility (it's in /Applications/Utilities).
- Select your Mac OS X volume in the left column, then click the First Aid tab.
- Click Repair Disk Permissions.
For additional information about Disk Utility and any messages that might appear while repairing disk permissions, see "Mac OS X: Troubleshooting Permissions Issues." If you you're using Mac OS X 10.1.5, see "Mac OS X: About the Repair Privileges Utility 1.1."
Issues with iPod play
If a song plays fine in iTunes but doesn't play (or is skipped over) on your iPod, see this article.
If you can't copy songs that play fine in iTunes to your iPod, see this article for more information.
