Problems Transferring Songs to Portable Devices
If you are having problems transferring music to a portable device, check to be sure it is compatible with Yahoo! Music Unlimited and Yahoo! Music Jukebox. Click here to see the list of compatible devices. If you are sure your device is compatible, continue on to the solutions below.
If you are seeing messages such as:
- "device transfer license not found"
- "No License to Play, Sync License With PC"
- "Yahoo Music Unlimited subscription tracks cannot be transferred to your portable device because the device or device firmware is not subscription-music compatible"
... please click here and check the solutions on this page first. If this solution does not resolve your issue, then continue on to the suggestions below.
Additional Steps If Device Transfer Problems
There are three types of problems; check each of these possibilities, in order, to diagnose the problem you're having. They fall under the category of "license request errors."
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Device: an issue with your portable device or your computer
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Service: if you subscribe to Yahoo! Music Unlimited, and you are transferring subscription music to your portable device
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Licensing: if you subscribe to Yahoo! Music Unlimited, and no problems exist with your device(s) or membership, you may need to manually update the licenses associated with your subscription music. This is explained below.
Device Issues
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Do you have the right portable device for the service you use?
- If you have Yahoo! Music Unlimited To Go, you must have a subscription-compatible portable device. You may see an error if you try to transfer subscription music to a non subscription-compatible device. You will see an error of this type if you try to transfer Y! Unlimited subscription music to an iPod, which is not a subscription-compatible device.
More information on iPod compatibility
Solution: Use a subscription-compatible portable device
- Yahoo! Music Unlimited burnable downloads can only be transferred to a Windows Media (WMA)-compatible device . You may see an error if you try to transfer WMA files to a non WMA-compatible player such as an iPod.
Solution: Use a Windows Media-compatible portable device
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The portable device doesn't recognize the song file type. On occasion, a song you burned or imported yourself, outside of Y! Music Unlimited, may have been encoded in a way your player or the Yahoo! Music Jukebox cannot transfer. We cannot support song files that come from outside the Yahoo! Music Unlimited library. This may also happen if you try to transfer a file which the device does not support; for example, if you try to transfer a WMA file to the iPod through the Yahoo! Music Jukebox. (Note: You can choose which format the Yahoo! Music Jukebox will use to import from CDs by going to Edit > Preferences > CD > Import Options > Format. The default is MP3, which should transfer to most portable devices.)
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Your portable device is not recognized or compatible with the Yahoo! Music Jukebox. The Yahoo! Music Jukebox transfers non-subscription music (i.e., music you imported yourself) to most Windows Media portable players. Occasionally it may encounter a device with which it is not compatible. In this case, you would not see your device recognized by its name in the Yahoo! Music Jukebox's left navigation pane.
If you know your device is compatible but it still does not appear in the left pane, it may be you have an older version of Windows Media Player. Yahoo! Music Jukebox requires WMP 10 or higher. Click here to get the latest Windows Media Player.
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The player is full. You should see an error message telling you the device is full.
Solution: Reduce the number of songs you want to transfer, or delete some from your player.
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Is your computer compatible with portable device transfer?
If you are running Windows 2000, we regret that the device manager in Microsoft's Windows 2000 is not updated to transfer tracks using the Yahoo! Music Jukebox. If you're running Windows 2000, you won't be able to transfer to devices with the 1.0 release of the Yahoo! Music Jukebox.
Service Issues
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You must have Yahoo! Music Unlimited To Go. You must have a subscription to Yahoo! Music Unlimited with the To Go tier to transfer music to portable devices. You may be a subscriber to Yahoo! Music Unlimited, and you may have a subscription-compatible portable device, but you must have the To Go option in order to transfer subscription music to portable devices.
At this time, Yahoo! Music Unlimited To Go is only accepting new subscribers through select partner channels. Yahoo! Music Unlimited for PC remains available for all new subscribers. Yahoo! Music will continue to support the To Go tier of Yahoo! Music Unlimited for the foreseeable future. If you already have a To Go subscription and a compatible portable device, there will be no change to your service.
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The song is not available for transfer. On occasion, a music publisher does not grant rights to a particular song for download or transfer to devices. You may have one of these songs saved as a bookmark in your music library, but if you try to transfer it to a portable device, you will see an error. If this is the case, we regret the publishers set such rules and the song file cannot be transferred.
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Your Yahoo! Music Unlimited subscription has lapsed. If your music subscription has lapsed, you will not be able to listen to your subscription music, nor will you be able to transfer it to devices.
License Issues
Check these solutions if you have the Yahoo! Music Unlimited subscription service.
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Limit on Devices for Transfer.
Subscription song files have a limit to the number of portable devices they can be transferred to (generally two); if you have transferred the song to the limit number of devices, you will see an error. This might also happen if you reformatted your device; the Yahoo! Music Jukebox will see that as a new device and count it toward your device limit.
Solution: If you have hit the device transfer limit, to continue transferring songs:
- Click My Music in the left navigation pane.
- Select and right-click the song name(s) in question.
- Select Edit > Reacquire License from the right-click menu.
- Try the action again, i.e., playing or transferring the song.
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Your music subscription license (root license) may have expired if you have not connected to the Internet for a period of time.
The Yahoo! Music Jukebox must check and confirm your subscription license at intervals throughout the month. It may be that you have not logged on or connected to the Internet and the Yahoo! Music Jukebox has not been able to confirm your subscription license. You can "force" a manual license renew to resolve this:
- Detach your portable device from the computer.
- Sign in to Yahoo! Music Unlimited. Be sure you're online.
- Download a Yahoo! Music Unlimited subscription song, or play a previously downloaded subscription song from My Music while online.
- Reconnect your portable device. When the name shows up in the left pane, your license should now be updated.
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Individual track license may be missing or expired.
On occasion, a license for a single Yahoo! Music Unlimited subscription track may be expired or missing. If you have a valid Y! Unlimited subscription and you encounter a license error, try manually relicensing the individual track:
- Click My Music in the left navigation pane.
- Select and right-click the song name(s) in question.
- Select Edit > Reacquire License from the right-click menu
- Try the action again, i.e., playing or transferring the song.
For more information on compatible devices and file types for Yahoo! Music Unlimited and Yahoo! Music Jukebox, check the Help topic:
Yahoo! Music Jukebox and Yahoo! Music Unlimited Compatible Portable Devices