You got a messages “Items Not Available: This items can’t be played” problem when you use Apple Music. The song problem is available before and suddenly can’t played. Don’t worry. This article will help you out.
Apple Music item not available
I get this error when trying to access my playlist in Apple Music. It had been working perfectly until today. Interestingly. It just told me this item can't be played
- Question from macrumors
You may spend lots of time enjoying music in Apple Music. This popular music streaming service provides you with millions of songs. But sometimes, you may find some songs in your Apple Music are suddenly unavailable and won't play.
It can pop pop a message in Apple Music "Item not available: This can't be played" or "this song is not currently available in your country or region". If you have this or a similar problem. Don't worry, you can refer to the following content, we will explain why this happens, and offer you 7 solutions to fix this.
Reason 1: The song is not licensed for your region or is no longer licensed for your region.
Apple Music streaming varies from different regions and countries. It's nearly impossible to access all songs from around the world in the Apple Music app, no matter what region you're in.
You can purchase tracks or albums through the iTunes Store and keep them available. It is not how Apple Music works. You scribe the Apple Music service, but it doesn’t let you retain the ownership of the songs.
Reason 2: Apple Music is unable to match your song to its database.
If you want to import your own music files into the Apple Music library. Like transfer music from CD to iPhone. Once added, your music files will be scanned and matched to songs that already exist in Apple's own database. If the match is successful, you'll get a new 256 Kbps AAC file (DRM encrypted) that can be streamed on all your devices.
If the song match fails, you will see the cloud status displayed as a dashed cloud or a fail icon - a cloud icon with a slash.
Reason #3 On Apple Music, older songs have been edited for newer versions.
If older songs in your playlist are suddenly unavailable, check to see if newer versions of the songs are available on Apple Music. These older songs may have been reclaimed by artists or record labels in all regions or selected regions. You can remove the old tracks from your library, search for the new versions on Apple Music, and then add the new versions to your list.
Cause #4 Software update followed by an error in Apple Music or iTunes.
Apple's latest iOS update not only brings new features and bug fixes, it may also bring unknown errors to your current apps, such as Apple Music.
In this part, we conlude 7 fixes help you to fix this issue. You can try them one by one until it get fixed.
To check if your Apple Music working well, you can go to this page: System Status screen on your iPhone.
Find the Apple Music. If the dot next to the Apple Music is green, Apple Music is working well. Or you may get a message saying apple services are operating normally. It means your Apple Music status is good.
Although not confirmed by the official, restarting your iPhone/iPad is always a good idea to fix an iPhone problem. It has the chance to solve the Apple Music playlist item not available problem. Before you get down to further steps you can restart your device.
Some users on the Apple forums say they fixed this problem by deleting and adding the songs again if a song suddenly becomes unavailable. Re-adding an item on Apple Music will download again from the server to your iPhone. If the song was transferred from your computer to iPhone, you can also import it again.
Step 1: Launch the Apple Music app on your iPhone. And search for the unavailable song/album.
Step 2. Choose the “3-dots” icon and choose "Delete"/ “Delete from the Library”.
Step 3. Search the song/album and add it to your library again. And tap it to see if the problem is solved.
In addition, you can download the music to your local storage in case the Apple Music item not available happens again.
Apple Music streaming is different according to the local licensing agreement. If your set up a VPN service or use Apple Music in a location where the song/service is not currently available, some songs from your library may suddenly become unavailable. You can turn off your VPN to see if the problem can be fixed.
If your Apple Music library is syncing from your iCloud. You can turn off and on iCloud Music Sync. This process will delete all downloaded songs and redownload them again. It may you’re your songs available again.
Step 1. Go to your “Settings” app on your iPhone. Scroll down and choose Music.
Step 2. On the Music settings screen. Toggle off the “iCloud Music Library”.
Step 3. Wait for a while, and toggle on the iCloud Music Library again.
The item unavailable error may caused by the restriction on your device. In this case, you can disable the restrictions on your iPhone/iPad. Removing the restrictions is quite easy and here's how you can do it.
Step 1: Go to the “Settings” app > Choose “Screen Time” option.
Step 2: Tap the “Content & Privacy Restrictions” on the following screen option.
Step 3: Make sure all restriction for your Music is disabled.
Sometimes you may need to update your Music Library in the iTunes. So you can keep all your purchases on your device. Follow the steps below.
Step 1. Run iTunes on your computer.
Step 2. Click on the "File" menu > select the "Library" option > Click "Update iCloud Music Library".
Wait for the updating process to finish. Then go to Apple Music on your iPhone to check if the songs/album is available.
This is how to fix the Apple Music item not available problem. If all these methods can't help you, you can contact Apple support or visit the nearest Apple Store to seek help.