Q: I downloaded an iTunes Store rental movie, transfered it to my iPod classic, and watched it on my TV. After the 24-hour expiration period, the movie no longer appeared in my iPod’s “Rented Movie” library accessed by iTunes, as expected. But on my iPod itself, the movie is still listed under Video/Rentals and says “Reconnect to iTunes” under the movie title. When I access the movie, my iPod says “This movie cannot be played.
Please reconnect to iTunes to watch this movie.” Needless to say, reconnecting to iTunes does nothing. I’m assuming my iPod has the remains of a corrupted file. Since then, I’ve downloaded and watched other rented movies on my iPod that have successfully expired. While this “stuck” movie on my iPod is not a big problem, it is annoying.
What are my options? Do nothing? Attempt to remove the corrupted rental movie?
– Bob
A: This was a problem that occasionally occurred with earlier iPod firmware versions, so you may want to try upgrading to the latest iPod classic firmware if you haven’t already done this.
If you’re on the latest firmware and the item still remains stuck, the usual solution is to manually delete it from your iPod—the “Delete” option should be available when you attempt to access the item in question, and since it has expired anyway, you should just be able to delete it outright right from your iPod itself.
Failing that, you could also try to connect your iPod to your computer and delete the item via iTunes. This can be done either through the “Movies” tab where you normally transfer your movies, or you can set your iPod to manual mode and delete it from the “Rented Movies” section, which appears when you click on the small triangle to the left of your iPod to expand the folders and playlists that are on your iPod.
