How to restore grayed out songs in my Apple Music library while syncing iTunes?

For years, (since the days of the iPod) I have had my thousands of songs converted to MP3s from CDs. I need to use iTunes obviously to sync the music to my iPhones and iPads. Randomly some songs will become grayed out and unavailable. The Music app pops up a message and says 'This item is not currently available in your country or region. ' or the song will just not play, and in some rare cases will be removed from the portable devices library and all playlists. This problem has been occurring for a few years. Multiple tech support calls. The only answer I ever received was today. I cannot play that music unless I subscribe to Apple Music or iTunes match, and only then if the Apple music library has the music available. Even though the songs work fine one day then suddenly they start becoming unavailable. 2 different songs on the same album, one is unavailable. the other is fine. This does not sound like a licensing or region issue, this is an error. Or based on the response from my last support representative, a shake down to be forced to pay a subscription. For music they don't even have in some cases.

It was insinuated that downloading to the computer only guarantees I can play it on the computer. And that unless I purchased through iTunes (which in some cases I have) they will not look into the problem.

There is no consistency in the policy. Can I download Cds or No? Are you phasing out the ability and don't want to tell customers. I am tired of being told to subscribe or pay for music again. Especially when there is no guarantee the Album is available through iTunes. I even have 2 mp3s that are self created that just get removed sometimes. Someone from Apple needs to say, Yes you can downloads music and we don't know why it is disabling songs, or we are removing that ability to do so. I have had multiple phone calls and I am being dismissed. I can see I am not the only person having this issue. But it seems we are being forced to subscribe to something.

And now then just hung up on me while I was waiting for an answer. Why can't they own up to whats happening.




[Re-Titled by Moderator]

iPhone 16 Pro, iOS 18

Posted on Feb 11, 2025 07:58 AM

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Posted on Mar 22, 2025 04:14 PM

I have tons of music I can’t get into!! I bought and paid for them all! I’m very angry!!

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7 replies

May 10, 2025 07:34 PM in response to Jan Costenbader

That solution did not work for me. Same problem continues. And as others have noted, I have had this problem for years. I just don't use my iTunes for music much anymore. But tonight I thought I would look into this problem again. I agree with Stitch178's comment of 2/11/2025. I don't subscribe to Apple Music. I do subscribe to iTunes Match, but will not renew - waste of $25. I'll just let happen whatever happens when it expires in a few months. If there is any music remaining on my hard drive, so be it. Very disappointed in Apple with regard to this issue.


Feb 12, 2025 11:42 AM in response to Stitch178

I had the same problem - music would play fine on my desktop but kept getting "This item is not currently available in your country or region" on my iPhone for many songs but not all. I looked at some of the other posts about this - but finally solved it by logging out of my Apple account on my phone and then simply relogging back in as shown here: Sign in to your Apple Account - Apple Support


May 21, 2025 01:05 AM in response to Stitch178

Same here. I have Music which is nowhere near Apple Store and not playable, or simply just removed. Most of these are DJ mixes made, some of them are free downloads from the musicians' website, etc.


Right now the affected songs are 2 of a set of 13, made freely available by NRK (Radio Norway) a 14 years ago. Parts 10 and 12 are greyed out on my new iPhone. The same songs work fine on my old iPhone. Same Apple ID. I used the usual out-of-box features to install / move things to my new phone from the old.



Jun 26, 2025 09:46 AM in response to Stitch178

Ok, I may have the solution to this problem - if your symptoms are the same as those I have experienced. Here is my situation (see if this fits yours): (1) I have many song files, ripped from CDs onto my Macbook, that I sync to my iPhone (no problems playing on iPhone for many years); (2) These songs are grouped into Playlists that are synced to the iPhone from my Macbook, using the Sync and Backup functionality of the MacOS; (3) Recently, the songs, viewed on the iPhone in the "Playlists" view (iOS Music App) are greyed-out, and selecting them causes the pop-up "This item is not currently available in your country or region" to appear, and the song won't play; (4) (important) the song files ARE selectable and playable from outside of the Playlists (from the "Library / Songs" alphabetical list of iOS Music App (iPhone). A side-effect of this apparent country/region issue is that the songs will just fly by and not play if you try to do a shuffle within a playlist. Another possible symptom, though not sure if it is relevant, is that there are a bunch duplicates of song files on the iPhone now (viewed from within the "Library / Songs" sort.


I was on with Apple support (several levels of tech support) and they just don't know what's up. No help.


But the problem is not with region or country - it's with the playlists on the iOS device and manifested after a sync with the computer (MacBook in my case). Here is what worked for me (if your songs are indeed playable on the iOS device, via the "Songs" list):


(1) Attach (USB-C) the iPhone to the MacBook - select it in a Finder window - Go to the Music "tab" - make sure "Sync Music to [iOS device] is selected - uncheck all playlists - press "Sync" button, lower right (may have to do this a couple of times). This will delete all playlists from the iPhone - but THEY WILL REMAIN UNCHANGED on your computer!

(2) Verify all playlists are gone on the iPhone (from within iOS Music App)

(3) Manually delete all redundant song files on the iOS device (iPhone) if there are any

(4) Return to MacBook, now check a single playlist for sync-ing - then press "Sync" button, lower right (may have to do this a couple of times)

(5) Verify that the playlist is on the iPhone and now works (songs are not greyed-out, and play without the "country/region" message)

(6) If successful, add in any other playlists.


This is what worked for me - circumstantially, it seems as though there was some sort of corruption on the iPhone - a use case that Apple never anticipated or encountered in testing - something that is very likely to happen with things as complex as they are in the Apple world now.


In any event, these problems, even if your other symptoms are not exactly the same as mine, are not because of new regional restrictions - these are song files that we own after all - and Apple has not taken away the ability to play them or required an Apple Music subscription now. So if you end up on Apple Tech Support, don't let them take you down that rabbit hole. Best of luck

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How to restore grayed out songs in my Apple Music library while syncing iTunes?

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