I BOUGHT music from iTunes and it isn't letting me transfer it to an iPod. The error message is "Apple Music songs cannot be copied to an iPod." I purchased these songs, and a subscription that I also pay for is interfering with transfer to my iPod? What exactly is the point of purchasing music or a subscription anymore? How can I transfer music to my iPod?
iMac 24″, macOS 13.0
TVN,
I assume you are dealing with an older iPod? Purchased tracks can be copied to the iPod. Apple Music subscription tracks that you have DL'd for offline listening cannot.
See info in here: Sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod using your computer - Apple Support
There are two types of iPods.
The iPod touch runs iOS, and is similar to an iPhone that happens to lack GPS and the ability to connect to cellular voice and data service. Apple Music subscription songs might work on an iPod touch, assuming that its version of iOS is recent enough.
Other iPods run different operating systems, and they were on the market long before the Apple Music subscription service came along. While they can play the DRMed songs that the iTunes Store originally sold (until 2009), I would not expect them to be able to handle the DRM on Apple Music subscription songs, or to be able to play such songs. They wouldn't be able to check the Internet to see if a subscription had expired, and might not have any support for enforcing an expiration date based even on a local real-time clock.
I would suggest double-checking the songs that are causing grief to see what category they fall into:
Transferring music to an iPod.
