What do you mean I can't watch Dora the Explorer on a brand new iTouch?

November 26, 2009 2:09 AM

Brand new iPod Touch 3G 32GB running 3.12 software and synched to the latest version of iTunes. Getting a "This movie could not be played" error notice when attempting to play an iTunes-purchased commercial video from a major television network (and for Youtube videos as well). Why?

Asking this up for a non-techie friend . . . and I'm stumped.

I've googled this problem and, to my amazement, it's apparently widespread but there's no mention of it on Apple support forums and no canonical solution. This is a fresh out of the box 3G iTouch, connected to the latest version of iTunes running on Windows XP. Music and photos transferred and work fine. Email set up and working fine. But both Youtube videos AND a commercial television program (if you must know, it's an episode of "Dora The Explorer," and a sweet little girl is very sad tonight) bought and downloaded from iTunes give me a "This movie could not be played" error. I've re-synched; rebooted the iPod. Removed the offending video and reloaded it. No luck.

A few forums suggest a full software restore of the iPod, as does Apple as a last resort for this problem, but specifically (and only) for inability to play YouTube videos.

I can restore it, but it's damn annoying to have to do this on a brand new iPod that's already been set up, plus my friend has slow DSL, so the 300MB download is taking all night. And I have my doubts it will work.

WTF, Apple? Anyone have this problem and solve it? Any ideas?

posted by fourcheesemac to computers & internet (8 comments total)

Try Settings > General > Reset > Reset All Settings
posted by rom1 at 3:44 AM on November 26, 2009

In the mean time, can you watch the downloaded episode in iTunes, on the computer?
posted by rokusan at 5:07 AM on November 26, 2009

Rom1, tried that, no luck. Should have said so.

Rokusan, alas this is for spend tgiving somewhere else.
posted by fourcheesemac at 9:19 AM on November 26, 2009

I think rokusan is asking if the media you've downloaded plays correctly on your mac/windows box. That would validate that the media as ok. I have had files corrupted during the download process (it was a bad wifi hub)

I would call support and be prepared to get it exchanged. It sounds broken and there's not a lot of knobs to twist on these little devices.
posted by chairface at 9:58 AM on November 26, 2009

Yes, it plays fine on the computer. Exchange is going to be a hassle, since this was mail ordered in the Alaskan bush via WalMart. Grrr.
posted by fourcheesemac at 12:11 PM on November 26, 2009

Have you tried downloading other content (anything free) with video to test if it's just one item or every item from itunes? How about non-DRM video?
posted by filmgeek at 7:40 PM on November 26, 2009

Yeah, I was trying to determine whether the download itself was fine (it seems to be) so you don't need to download it again.

I'd zap the iPod, do whatever updates it might need (Wal-Mart stock is often old and missing firmware), and try adding that single file again.
posted by rokusan at 9:32 PM on November 27, 2009

Back to say that a complete restore did the job

Now back to Dora.


Thanks everyone.
posted by fourcheesemac at 11:00 AM on November 28, 2009