How do you delete songs from an iPod touch

June 29, 2009

“Whats the easiest way to delete or remove a song from an iPod Touch?”

Unfortunately there is no way to delete songs from the iPod touch itself. To delete songs from your iPod touch you will need to do it through iTunes. If you don’t have iTunes yet you can download if from for free from Apple at http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/.

Note: To delete songs off your iPod touch or any other iPods you will need to set your iTunes settings to “Manual” mode. You can do that in iTunes by clicking your iPod under “Devices” on the left hand side and under the Summary tab make sure “Manually manage music and videos” is checked.

Check this

Open iTunes and plug in your iPod touch.

Under “Devices” click on the iPod touch icon. Then click the side ways triangle beside your iPod touch icon.

Click on the triangle

You can now see a list of different media categories such as Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts, and more. We want to delete songs from the iPod touch so select “Music” from the menu by clicking on it.

List of Media in iTunes

All your songs will be listed in the main content area. Click on the song you want to delete from your iPod touch and press the “Delete” key on your keyboard or “right click” on the song and scroll down to “Delete” to remove the song. To select multiple songs at once, hold down the “Ctrl” and click on each song. To select multiple songs in a row click on the first song to delete and hold down the “Shift” key and select the last song.

This method will only remove songs from your iPod and not your iTunes library.

Tagged as: iPod, ipod touch, itunes

{ 64 comments… read them below or add one }

← Previous Comments

Regen March 29, 2011 at 5:02 pm: HI- I have the same problem that Maggie had a year ago (I hope she figured it out, because it’s really frustrating me ). I would like to delete songs from my iTouch, not my iTunes library, but when I tried to set it to manual mode it asked if I wanted to delete all of my apps, and that’s not worth it! Is there a different way to manually select which songs to delete without the risk of losing my apps?
Tyler March 31, 2011 at 10:14 am: I cant delete songs from my itunes what should i do.
If I cant remove songs from itunes will i be able to sync songs to my ipod and not have songs on there i dont want on there.
jordan April 9, 2011 at 5:28 am: Thx now the songs i dont like are gone =D.
habz April 11, 2011 at 4:40 am: i cant delete the songs :,(
JSM April 14, 2011 at 10:16 pm: Excellent reply, easy to follow and on target, Thx
Eva May 1, 2011 at 12:26 am: this is an excellent reply, as JSM said…but it does not work with my iTunes / iPod. I tried to right click, but the only thing iTunes asks is whether i want to play the song. I’m so frustrated, I really want to have some nasty songs off my iPod -.- Please help me ! ):
Carole May 12, 2011 at 8:09 am: I wanted to delete stuff from my iPod touch. I followed the above instructions. Its important to click the manual box and then it works. then you can unclick it when you are finished. Works a treats – thanks!
riley taupin September 18, 2011 at 12:32 pm: hi my name is riley and im trying to figure out how to delete songs from my i pod touch
elle November 3, 2011 at 8:25 am: thanks!it help me a lot!gotcha!:)
myipodthanksyou December 25, 2011 at 8:10 am: Thank you, it rly helped me!
Jonny December 25, 2011 at 12:16 pm: Hi there, very annoying problem. I want to delete a song from my iPod Touch and iTunes. I delete it from Music, Purchased and my own playlist, but when I Sync my iPod, the song just transfers over on the PC. What can I do???
Sharon B December 26, 2011 at 2:22 am: Ho, the above explanation was very clear and others seem to have managed it perfectly well. I deleted about 5 songs after I changed the settings but now nothing happens when I select the song and press the delete key. Still struggling. Arg!!
Sharon B December 26, 2011 at 2:44 am: Hi, so I’m still stuck!

Do you delete the songs from the list of those in your i-tunes library on your computer and then sync? I have done this and they are no longer on my lap top but remain on my i-pod.

Or do you delete them from the song list on your i-pod (chosen from the device list shown in i-tunes on your lap top)? I have done this and it does not let you delete.

Any help?
Kobe24Bryant December 27, 2011 at 8:35 am: Now i have deleted all the songs not needed on my iPod. Thank you very much. Hoping to see you in the next Lakers game, Adam.