What to do When iTunes Won’t Recognize Your Touch

One of the things to frustrate iPod Touch users the most is when they try to download songs onto their model and they can't seem to get iTunes to reco...

One of the things to frustrate iPod Touch users the most is when they try to download songs onto their model and they can’t seem to get iTunes to recognize their iPod Touch device. When iTunes can’t recognize the device, it won’t be listed along the left-hand menu as it usually is when your Touch is plugged into the computer. This is extremely frustrating because no songs can be downloaded and you can’t move information from your computer to your iPod Touch. There are a few things that can be done if you ever find yourself in this hair-pulling situation.

Firstly, make sure that you don’t have anything else plugged into your computer through a USB cord. Having other devices plugged in and running can interfere with iTunes and the many things that it can do. Try unplugging all of your USB devices, including the one attached to your Touch, and then plug the iPod Touch USB cord back in. If that doesn’t help, try this next step.

Make sure that your computer isn’t confusing the iPod Touch with a network drive. Open My Computer and look to see the drive that your Touch is in. If there is an “E” showing, it means that Windows and Explorer have both made the confusion. If that happens, start by opening the Control Panel. Find “Administrative Tools” (which is only available in Classic view) and double-click on it. Find “Computer Management” and click on that. Then look over to the left-hand column and click on “Disk Management.” After doing this, you should see your iPod pop up on the right-hand side. Right click on it and choose “Change letter drives and paths.” Click the “Change” button and then select a drive from the drop-down menu. It’s important that you don’t choose a drive that is being used by another network, or that is a system drive.

When finished, click “Okay”, and then click “Yes” when the dialogue box pops up. Close out of all your windows and restart your computer. Once your computer has rebooted, start iTunes and you should see your iPod Touch fully recognized, and waiting to be loaded!