This article was published on July 18, 2015

Apple’s iPod Nanos and Shuffles reportedly won’t sync Apple Music songs


Apple’s iPod Nanos and Shuffles reportedly won’t sync Apple Music songs

So you think you might be in the market for one of those colorful new iPod nanos or shuffles that Apple refreshed earlier this week.

Be aware as you consider the new music player that the Nano and Shuffle models reportedly will not sync offline Apple Music songs. Several sources have reported that in attempting to sync such Apple Music tracks to those models, a message appears saying, “Apple Music songs cannot be copied to an iPod.” Thus, only tracks bought or imported through iTunes can be synced with those models.

The new iPod Touch, however will sync with Apple Music tracks.

While Apple has not made a specific statement about this, the speculation has been that anti-piracy concerns are the motivation. If someone went for the three-month Apple Music trial, streamed a quantity of songs and cached them for offline listening — and then cancelled the service — any music synced with the Nano or Shuffle would be obtained free of charge as long as it’s not synced with their iTunes library.

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For connected players like the iPod Touch though, once you cancel an Apple Music subscription, DRM kicks in to allow Apple to delete cached tracks from iTunes or iOS.

➤ iPod nano, iPod shuffle won’t sync offline Apple Music tracks [AppleInsider]

Read next: Apple unveils new iPod Touch along with new colors for iPod Shuffle and Nano

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