Kim Bach . Org

112 Responses to “iTunes 5002 error blues cured”

1. Kim Says:
   October 28th, 2005 at 9:52 pm

   I just got an answer to my original request from iTunes Music Store – 18 days later!

2. Kim Says:
   November 5th, 2005 at 8:31 am

   The iTunes store returned with an acknowledgement that they recieved my suggestion. In the mail they asked me to send feedback using the iTunes Feedback page (http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunes.html), to ensure that my suggestions are considered for future product enhancements. I find it quite strange that iTunes support couldn’t redirect it, so I suspect that what I recieved was some kind of automated answer. Anyway, I acted “decent”, and submitted the solution to iTunes Feedback as well.

3. Matt Shannon Says:
   February 5th, 2006 at 5:48 pm

   Hello Kim,

   Your blog sent me off in the right direction. I, too, experienced the same problem you did (eror 5002, authorization). After reading your entry I went to Preferences -> Sharing and realized that my sharing name was *shorter* than my original sharing name (taken from your users name in WinXP). So I set my sharing name back to the original sharing name from when I purchased the music from iTunes, and voila! Back in business.

   So, I dont know if it is length or exactitude that is the issue. In either case you got me going the right way, and for that and you blog entries, I thank you.

   Regards,
   Matt

4. Kim Says:
   February 5th, 2006 at 6:52 pm

   Hello Matt,

   Glad to hear that my post started you off in the right direction, and thanks for the feedback.

   Regards

   Kim

5. D.P Says:
   March 19th, 2006 at 9:09 pm

   This sounds like a good tip, but what exactly needs to be changed to overcome the error #5002? My “computer name” in the sharing panel is only 6 characters long, but the address at which “Other Macintosh users can access your computer” is ridiculously long. Please help!

6. Kim Says:
   March 19th, 2006 at 9:46 pm

   Hello D.P.

   I changed it like I wrote in the post (going to System Preferences/Sharing and changing the computer name), and this worked for me. As you can see Matt who posted a previous comment, had a different problem, because he had made previous purchases on iTunes on Windows.

   I don’t know for sure, but I believe that error 5002 can be caused by other things.

   Do you have any special characters in your computer name?

   I suppose that you have tried to re-authorise your computer?

7. Kim Says:
   March 28th, 2006 at 2:10 am

   Since I’ve noticed quite a lot of traffic due to the iTunes 5002 error, I’d like to share some information that I just became aware of.

   As expected the 5002 error can be caused by other reasons…For instance when accessing a saved shopping basket.

   It seems that it’s a bad idea to use saved shopping baskets as a wish list. This is because you might get the 5002 error when accesing a saved basket, if one of the titles in the basket has been deleted from the iTunes Music Store, since you last accessed it.

   The only way to fix this problem seems to be to contact iTunes Music Store support, and have them delete the saved basket.

   The recommendation is to use playlists as wishlists, instead of saved shopping baskets.

   Thank you to the friendly people at MacNyt.dk for this tip (in Danish).

8. Holly Day Says:
   June 28th, 2006 at 6:56 am

   Thank You.
   I have been chewing my fingers off about this problem for the past few weeks, AND HAVE FINALLY FOUND THE @##@$ SOLUTION!!
   Hopefully Apple Support will acknowledge this error and address it to others with the same dilema.
   Cheers

9. Kim Says:
   June 30th, 2006 at 3:15 am

   You’re welcome, and thanks for the feedback. Was your solution to shorten your computer name or did you experience a problem with saved shopping baskets?

10. Karen Says:
    September 8th, 2006 at 8:53 pm

    I’m getting the same error (5002) but only on one song. I purchased another song just fine right in the midst of this problem. Darn that I need this one particular song for my work, and soon!

    I’m running XP, and I shortened my shared name to 4 characters long. No luck. It had been 12 characters. Still waiting on a reply from Apple. Any thoughts? Thanks.

11. Karen Says:
    September 8th, 2006 at 9:03 pm

    Oh, yes, two more data points: I’m using one-click shopping and the error code says ‘Could not purchase “Unknown”‘… Could it be that they are confused over the song title?

12. Kim Says:
    September 9th, 2006 at 7:38 am

    Hi Karen,

    Thanks for posting a comment on my blog.

    I’m getting LOTS of traffic due to the 5002 error, and Apple isn’t really doing enough to address the issues.

    To my knowledge there are to reasons for this error, as described in my blogpost.

    1. Too long a computername, if you have that NO purchases can be made at all
    2. A saved shopping basket with a song that has been removed from the store at a later point.

    But I’m sure that there are many, many more. Have you authorised
    several computers for fairplay?

    Can you tell me which song it is, and I’ll try to see if I can make the purchase. If so, I’m willing to help you by trying to buy the song for you.

    Best regards

13. Alice Says:
    December 16th, 2006 at 6:53 pm

    I changed my computer’s name and my “other macintosh users who can access your computer” name to just three characters. This was after buying a song with no problems, but after iTunes wouldn”t let me purchase a movie. Any suggestions?

14. Duncan Calam Says:
    December 17th, 2006 at 11:59 pm

    I struggled with this for days, but found that if I de-authorised my computer and then re-authorised it, all of the problems went away. I hope this helps! DC

15. Dana Says:
    December 21st, 2006 at 7:50 pm

    I have been getting the same 5002 error code, however not while buying songs, but while trying to write reviews for podcasts. It’s odd, I have 2 podcasts on ITunes and have been getting emails from listeners that they have tried to write a review, but get the 5002 error code instead. If I go to a podcast other than my own, there is no problem. I have checked the RSS feed and have had people write reviews in the past, however all of a sudden everyone that I know gets this error message when they try to write a review of my podcasts. Seems to be a weird generic message and there is NO support available for podcasters other than a discussion group of other broadcasters.

16. Geoff Says:
    June 25th, 2007 at 4:38 pm

    Thanks for the post Kim. I had exactly the same problem as yourself. My computer name defaulted to a ridiculously long name. I renamed it as you suggested in ‘System Preferences’ -> ‘Sharing’ & ‘Computer Name’. This resolved the problem; so thank you very much!
    The support you received from Apple is very discouraging as well as disappointing.

17. Josh Jung Says:
    June 25th, 2007 at 8:44 pm

    Hey, just downloaded iTunes 7.2.0 and it removed the 5002 error for me.

18. Kim Says:
    June 25th, 2007 at 8:55 pm

    That’s great news, even though I’ll loose some trafic to my website

    Thank you.

19. Mike Says:
    June 29th, 2007 at 7:50 am

    I have this same error message, but it pops up when I try to load my podcast onto itunes. The rss feed is fine, there is nothing wrong with the link.

    I am running itunes on a dell XPS, does anyone know how to fix this error 5002 message on a windows machine?

20. Derrick Says:
    July 2nd, 2007 at 6:37 am

    I’m getting the 5002 when trying to submit a feed for a podcast. I’ve tried shortening the name, deauthorizing and reauthorizing the computer, and nothing works. I have the most current version of iTunes.

21. Bill Says:
    July 3rd, 2007 at 3:57 am

    Well, I just upgraded to 7.3.0, and it just started happening. I’ve always used 1-click shopping, and I’ve never touched my computer name. Any suggestions??

22. Kim Says:
    July 3rd, 2007 at 4:33 pm

    Hi Bill

    And you didn’t have a saved shopping basket?

    Have you tried to reauthorise your computer?

    It seems that there are new bugs in 7.3.0, I’m getting reports about
    errors related to submission of podcasts now.

    The 5002 error seems to be quite generic – and back with a vengence.

23. Tricksdlapper Says:
    July 3rd, 2007 at 6:47 pm

    i’m having the same error. everytime i try to continue my download of national lampoons van wilder it gives me error 5002

24. Kim Says:
    July 4th, 2007 at 7:26 pm

    Update: One of my readers has sent me the following feedback (July 4th 2007) regarding an error in the Podcast submission process:

    I’m just gonna wait on it for now, because an iTunes head-honcho-type person posted in an iTunes forum online that iTunes is having problems and currently isn’t accepting new feeds as a result of one of them.

    When the problem is fixed, they’ll remove their post so that people know when the submission process will be working again.

25. Matthew Says:
    July 19th, 2007 at 8:33 am

    Hey all, I had recently lost my macbook due to a catastrophic event (my fiance dropped a can of soda on it). When I received my replacement laptop I tried to use the iTunes store and received the same 5002 error when attempting to make a purchase. I attempted to change the sharing and also tried to authorize my computer and continued to get the 5002 error. I finally just clicked on sign-in, answered my bday and entered a security question and was able to download error free.

    For those who are still having problems give that a try.

    ciao’

26. Chad Says:
    September 17th, 2007 at 4:03 am

    FYI, basket w/ 2 albums was screwing me. So i did one album on it’s own, fine. went to “buy album” on that album, got the erorr…so my issue was with a particular album (i presume some kind of databasing error at apple)

27. Melissa Says:
    September 17th, 2007 at 4:30 am

    i have been trying to follow your directions for error 5002, no luck. my problem is that i received a store gift (album) but i get the error message when i try to redeem it. I have been able to redeem two monetary gifts but not the gift album. Can you help?

28. Adam Says:
    October 21st, 2007 at 8:01 am

    YES! Awesome! It works again!

    Just go to itunes, store menu, de-authorize, enter account, then same again but re-authorize, enter account. and then log in and buy songs!

    thanks!

29. Alexandre Says:
    December 6th, 2007 at 2:14 am

    I also had some problems with Error 5002 on iTunes while purchasing an album. The solution that worked for me was to de-authorize my computer and re-authorize it to play the songs. My computer’s name has changed in the past so I think that’s what makes iTunes crazy…

30. david Says:
    December 7th, 2007 at 8:37 am

    hey there. i was recently plagued by the seemingly notorious error “5002″. after reading your blog, i found many options that might work, but for me i was still baffled. i changed my computer name, tried changing the itunes downloading setting from “one-click” to “shopping cart” and visa-versa, tried downloading the most recent itunes version, attempted to change credit card info, etc. nothing worked. finally i switched over to another itunes account that i hadn’t used in over a year. this actually worked. the account that had the 5002 error wouldn’t even allow me to switch my payment option. the whole thing was tainted through. i’ll keep my fingers crossed that this account doesn’t catch the 5002 “bug”. the 5002 error almost seems like a virus. my advice: open multiple accounts as back up. better to be safe than sorry.

31. david Says:
    December 7th, 2007 at 8:39 am

    oh yeah… i also tried to de-authorize and re-authorize but that didn’t work either.

32. Christina Says:
    December 9th, 2007 at 10:22 pm

    Just wanted to say thanks for the fix– I’ve had numerous iTunes issues over the past 2-3 months and the Apple Support has been woeful at best. Changing my sharing name was an instant success. Kudos & thx!

33. Travman Says:
    December 13th, 2007 at 2:17 pm

    I fixed this problem (finally). I changed my password and then when I tried to buy a song it said my address needed updating because it wasn’t a regular US address (huh?). I left my address alone but my credit card security code was no longer entered. I reentered it and everything’s fine now.

34. Big Murf Says:
    December 22nd, 2007 at 3:12 pm

    Thank yall for everything. I used Travman’s suggesting for the quickest fix: I just changed my password and that fixed it. I’m back in business.

35. Big Murf Says:
    December 22nd, 2007 at 3:13 pm

    Sorry….I’m on Vista (if that helps)

36. SpencerGamer Says:
    December 25th, 2007 at 5:43 pm

    “I fixed this problem (finally). I changed my password and then when I tried to buy a song it said my address needed updating because it wasn’t a regular US address (huh?). I left my address alone but my credit card security code was no longer entered. I reentered it and everything’s fine now.”

    This instantly fixed my problem. Maybe some recent update caused my card’s security code to be deleted.

37. Markus Says:
    December 27th, 2007 at 7:01 pm

    Thanks for all your hints. Unfortunately, none of them worked for me. I’ve tried all of the following:
    1) Change computer’s name in Sharing settings
    1a) from ‘Gandalf’ to ‘qwe’ to make it shorter
    1b) from ‘Gandalf’ to formerly used name ‘BLACK’
    2) Change iTunes account password
    3) Re-enter credit card’s security code
    4) Deactivate and activate account
    5) Change purchase behavior (one-click vs. cart)
    6) Buying whole album or just a song from that album
    7) Kicking myself in the ass.
    I’m lost

38. Markus Says:
    December 27th, 2007 at 7:03 pm

    Adding to my previous comment:
    I’ve been trying to buy the Album “Treasure Box” by “The Cranberries” for three months now. Furthermore, I can’t buy the song “Les chants magnétiques, pt. 2″ by “Jean-Michel Jarre” from the Album “Les chants magnétiques”.

39. Kim Says:
    December 27th, 2007 at 8:05 pm

    Sorry to hear that none of the tips helped you, and thank you for making a summary of all the things you can try to solve the problem, I’ve considered doing that myself, since the comments are stacking up, and it’s easy to get lost.

    Have you managed to make any purchases at all? A wild guess could be that you have the wrong “store” selected. You’re limited to make purchases in the iTunes Store of the country in which your credit card is registered.

    You can change the country by scrolling to the bottom of the iTunes Music Store and select the correct store under My Store in iTunes.

40. Markus Says:
    December 28th, 2007 at 12:01 am

    Hi Kim,
    thanks for your appreciation. I’ve managed to buy several other songs from the same iTunes (Germany) Store and have, for example, even managed to buy songs from the same artist (Jean-Michel Jarre). As I’m a software developer myself, I keep wondering if Apple has a default error message that pops up when all other error mechanisms don’t apply, as a sort of fallback message when the system itself is somehow baffled…

41. Tina Says:
    January 2nd, 2008 at 6:34 pm

    THank you! Thank you! Thank you! I added another account and IT WORKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much!!!

42. Cat Says:
    January 15th, 2008 at 5:29 am

    I managed to get my Itunes working again by following Matthew’s suggestion. I just clicked on forgot password, answered my birthday and security question, and retyped the password I had originally chosen. Then I went back to Itunes and it worked without a problem.

43. Makani Ula Says:
    January 18th, 2008 at 12:36 am

    Thanks for the help everyone. I was having the same error (5002), even got the “address in a different county” – error – message (then to my surprise the USA was not a listed choice….. hummmmm).

    I went into my profile, found that the security code from my credit card was missing – (where did this information suddenly disappear too?) I edited my personal info and was immediately able to make my purchases.

    As this is personal and private information I find it unsettling that my info should suddenly be tampered with, however I am happy to be back.

44. Dawn Says:
    January 18th, 2008 at 3:30 am

    I had the same (5002) problem. It happened after my computer updated to the newest version of iTunes. I signed out and then signed back in and retyped all of my information. And voila, it worked! Thanks Kim for the feedback!

45. Dave Says:
    January 23rd, 2008 at 7:25 am

    I got the 5002 error, after seeing that some were having a security number missing, decided to check that and realized i was using an out of date credit card. Changed that and now I am downloading fine.

46. Kim Bach . Org » Blog Archive » BarCampCopenhagen: Party for your right to geek Says:
    January 28th, 2008 at 7:34 am

    [...] Music Store doesn’t like long computer-names, strangely enough the fact that I’ve written about the solution, is the biggest driver of traffic to my [...]

47. David Says:
    January 29th, 2008 at 4:03 am

    Hello, I just solved my “Error 5200″ problem by following these instructions to repair the permissions of the iTunes Music Folder:

    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93069

    I hope this helps other people!

48. Les Says:
    January 29th, 2008 at 8:46 am

    None of the solutions fix the bug “Error 5002″ for me I’ve tried it all.The only solution that was said is to delete shopping cart and start over.THAT DOESN’T WORK FOR ME.I believe the people with the shopping cart access problem lies with the store and not our computers,correct me if I’m wrong.I never had this code before i updated like most people.David says he’s solve code “5200″ NOT “5002″,I don’t have a permission problem.I can connect to the store and buy with “1 click purchase” selected I can’t with my shopping cart.So anyone with the REAL solution respond SOON PLEASE!!!!! ITS BEEN LONG ENOUGH ( Jan 14,2008 -9:00am )

49. Kim Says:
    January 29th, 2008 at 9:46 am

    Les, I’m sorry that none of the tips worked for you, and the tip David links to, is for Mac OS X.

    It seems to be a complex problem, and it might be time to try to submit all these experiences to iTunes Music Store.

50. narvut Says:
    January 30th, 2008 at 11:28 am

    5002 is going on.
    Please God Apple tell us the truth and give us the good way !

51. narvut Says:
    January 30th, 2008 at 6:32 pm

    Apple gives me a good answer and now it’s working well.
    Be patient with them and they do it.
    In French they advise its better to create Playlist rather than using the shopping cart…
    Merci d’avoir contacté le support iTunes Store et veuillez nous excuser pour le retard dans notre réponse. Durant certaines périodes, nous recevons plus de demandes de support qu’à l’accoutumée et nous nous retrouvons dans l’impossibilité de répondre dans des délais acceptables, j’en suis sincèrement désolée.

    Nous vous prions de bien vouloir nous excuser pour la gêne occasionnée par ce problème. Vous devriez maintenant être en mesure de vous connecter à l’iTunes Store et d’accéder à votre panier d’achat.

    Remarque : il était nécessaire de vider le contenu de votre panier d’achat pour résoudre le problème que vous avez rencontré.

    Si vous utilisiez votre panier d’achat comme liste de souhaits, créez plutôt une liste de lecture avec la liste des titres que vous souhaitez acheter sur l’iTunes Store. Vous pouvez ajouter des extraits de morceaux à une liste de lecture existante ou créer une nouvelle liste de lecture iTunes pour constituer votre liste de souhaits.

    Pour en savoir plus sur les listes de souhaits, consultez l’article suivant :

    Création d’une liste de souhaits iTunes Store

    Si vous rencontrez toujours un problème avec votre panier d’achat, répondez à ce message électronique en fournissant une description précise du problème ainsi que le texte des messages d’erreur que vous avez éventuellement reçus.

    Cordialement,

    Audrey Leray,
    Support iTunes
    http://www.apple.com/fr/support/itunes/store/

52. Kim Says:
    January 30th, 2008 at 6:47 pm

    Thank you Narvut. The list of possible fixes to the problem is long, and difficult to get an overview of reading the comments here. You’ll see that the advice to use playlists instead of shopping carts has already been mentioned. I find it strange that Apple can’t fix the problem.

53. Les Says:
    January 31st, 2008 at 5:31 am

    Me too Kim,I think there’s not enough people complaining.Someone posted a message and I thought it was a good one;They said why can’t apple retrieve the cart info in a text format and give it to the people that request it?With all the smart tech’s they have you would think this would be possible.I think it’s very hard to make a playlist after the fact. (can’t access you’re cart)

54. Lance Vaughn Says:
    January 31st, 2008 at 7:02 pm

    Hi, all. I just thought I’d join in the fun. I am running the latest version of iTunes on Windows XP SP2. I have been able to publish multiple iMixes, but get the 5002 when I try to update any of them. I also downloaded iTunes to my laptop, where I have Windows Vista running. Same exact issue there. I will try some of these tricks, as well as contact Apple support, and report back with my findings. Wish me luck… (Ugh!)

55. Les Says:
    February 1st, 2008 at 12:08 pm

    Spoke to another Apple Support person yesturday they were able to tell me exactly how much songs were in my cart but not the content (Hmmm) so they still can’t give me a list. Well hope they figure it out soon!!!!!

56. Les Says:
    February 2nd, 2008 at 8:10 pm

    My new message on the forum:

    Well I’m **** MAD right know after talking to two support person and telling them that i would wait till they fix the bug of 5002 these incompetent people took it upon themselves to delete my cart without my permission.I have been bragging about how better APPLE is than the rest but it stops now,you might think that this is a small mistake and I’m being over the top but I don’t.They’re songs I was looking for for months and found some i had forgotten about and now the reality of starting over, THIS REALLY ***** !!!!!!! So forum be prepared this their solution DELETE your cart without your permission if you’re having problems accessing it.BE PREPEARD !!!!!!!

    Notice;they even auto delete the word damn and sucks

57. Oscar Godson Says:
    February 4th, 2008 at 11:11 pm

    I finally got it to work after I went to my settings (your email at the top right of the iTunes store) and changed my address. For some reason, at a random time since I bought music before, it didn’t like that my address had a . after Ct. like that. My address had a period and I changed it because it wasn’t a valid “United States Address”. That one damn period was hours of frustration. Worst of all, it RANDOMLY didn’t like it. All I did was Changed Ct. to Ct and voila it worked.

58. Lance Vaughn Says:
    February 6th, 2008 at 4:34 am

    Well, it looks like I’m all out of luck. (I am receiving the 5002 error whenever I try to update one of my iMixes.)

    iTunes Support: “I would have to be physically at your computer to recreate this error, and since I cannot do that, your only recourse is to remove the iMIx completely and resubmit the new one.”

    No big deal, I guess. It just makes the whole RSS function totally worthless. TTFN.

59. Jay Schmitt Says:
    February 13th, 2008 at 12:24 am

    I just fixed my 5002 error. I went into “View account” and re-entered my credit card security code.

    Hope that helps someone out there.

60. Kevin Says:
    February 14th, 2008 at 7:56 pm

    Jay: Thanks! That was exactly the problem for me too. It’s annoying that Apple are so incompetent they can’t just say “sorry your credit card has expired.”

61. Kim Says:
    February 14th, 2008 at 8:06 pm

    Yes, it seems we’ve found one of the main reasons for the 5002 error. and I’d like to use the opportunity to thank all of you for the feedback on this frustrating problem, and I really need to write that summary article now, since comments now are running 60+

62. A,amda Says:
    March 21st, 2008 at 7:40 am

    I am having the same issue when I try to open my shopping cart. I updated my ipod and itunes today, as well as entered an itunes gift card I got for my birthday. I’ve done everything I know possible to fix this. I’ve deauthorized and authorized my computer, entered a NEW credit card, entered the OLD credit card, changed my password, changed it back, changed it again, etc.

    I really do NOT want to lose my shopping cart! I had TONS of music saved in there! Ughhhhhhh stupid stuff.

63. amanda Says:
    March 21st, 2008 at 7:40 am

    I’m using Windows XP on a Toshiba laptop.

64. SholVa Says:
    March 22nd, 2008 at 2:46 pm

    I’m facing the same issue as Amanada, also after an update to the latest iTunes version on my Win XP Toshiba laptop. So, I guess it might be a problem with this iTunes release…

65. Kim Says:
    March 22nd, 2008 at 3:34 pm

    Amanda and SholVa: When Apple does a new release of iTunes, I think that they also have the habbit of “shifting” the inventory, unfortunately I know of no other way to fix the problem with the saved shopping carts, than contacting iTunes Store support, and have them delete it ;-(

66. Clea Says:
    March 23rd, 2008 at 2:44 pm

    Hi all, i am getting the messege error 5002 when i try to open shoppiing cart. I’ve try most of the suggestions here and still having problems ….Somebody PLEASE HELP ME!

67. Kim Says:
    March 23rd, 2008 at 4:51 pm

    I’d love to help you, but I’m afraid that you need to contact iTunes support and have them delete your shopping cart, maybe some of my other users can help, but it seems that we keep drawing blanks

68. Fredrik Says:
    March 29th, 2008 at 9:40 pm

    Hei Kim

    Jeg er fra Norge så jeg snakker på norsk til deg, tror du forstår..
    Jeg får error 5002 når jeg prøver at logge på iTunes…. Og jeg finner ikke noe som heter systeminnstillinger/deling på pc-en min. Jeg har Vista om det betyr noe. Håper du kan hjelpe!!

    Fredrik

69. Kim Says:
    March 30th, 2008 at 2:03 am

    Hej Fredrik,

    I sure understand Norwegian, but I hope that you don’t mind me answering in English.

    My tip regarding change of the computer name is for Mac OS X, that’s the resean you can’t find the Systempreferences/Sharing. I do have experience with Windows as well, so I’ll try to suggest something.

    I’m not really sure how to change it for Vista, but I believe that you can right-click the My Computer (or whatever they’re calling it Vista) icon, and select properties and something with computername etc. should show up, either as a tab or “something else” (this was, at least, true for XP).

70. Whitney Says:
    March 31st, 2008 at 9:00 pm

    Hey all, been having the 5002 error message for a couple of weeks now. I too, had a large saved shopping cart and really don’t want to have to contact iTunes to have them delete it… Are there any updates on this topic? I’ve tried all of the above mentioned… I’m on a Mac OS X. Thanks!

71. Lamna nasus Says:
    April 1st, 2008 at 7:40 pm

    Hmm.. don’t know whether I am re-assured to discover other folks have been experiencing this problem for years or not.. like Witney I suddenly started getting the 5002 error a week or so ago over the Easter w/end, I assumed the problem was a temporary issue with the iTunes servers and so wasn’t too concerned.. now I discover that its a regular problem for iTunes users and appears to be a generic error code generated by a multiplicity of causes.

    So far none of the fixes have worked for me.. yet iTunes can still see my shopping cart because it can tell me if I already have a tune saved to it!.. coming hard on the heels of discovering Apple had nerfed iMovie in the 2008 version, I am currently a less than joyful Apple customer.

    I strongly suspect that the source of a large number of the problems that do not respond to the fix suggestions is iTunes deleting tracks from its catalogue.

    I’m going to run fix permissions om my OS and if that doesn’t work I may wait for the next version of iTunes and see if it sorts the problem; however If not then I will use 1-click and Apple can kiss goodbye to the extra revenue generated by impulse buys from my saved shopping cart list.. smart move Apple… NO CAKE FOR BAD CODING!

72. Lamna nasus Says:
    April 1st, 2008 at 9:26 pm

    I would shout.. FIXED!.. WOOT!.. but in view of the effort involved it should be all lower case and in a font size so small it is indecipherable..

    Ran OS 10.5 fix permissions.. made no difference.. so went into my iTunes account and went through every single box from top to bottom typing in my details again.. quit iTunes.. reopened iTunes.. shopping cart is now functioning again, with my original wish list.

    So the culprit in this case appears to be a glitch in Apple’s software update to the latest version of iTunes because all those details have not changed and worked perfectly for my last purchase prior to upgrading to the latest version of iTunes.

    Software upgrades.. Chaos Theory demonstrated in the comfort of your own home.. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!…

73. Lamna nasus Says:
    April 1st, 2008 at 11:25 pm

    …and the saga continues.. Error 5002.. again.. I now suspect that since the upgrade to the latest version of iTunes, there is actually something in my iTunes account details that the new version of iTunes does not like.. as per Oscar Godson’s post on the 4th Feb.

    However I am not going to change my name, move house, open a new bank account or be restricted to 1-click, simply to accommodate Apple’s unstable coding.. that would be rewarding shoddy work.. so iTunes goes on the boycott list until Apple fix it.

74. Lamna nasus Says:
    April 2nd, 2008 at 11:14 pm

    Consensus seems to be gaining ground that the trigger for the 5002 error code is often iTunes deleting product from their catalogue, that you have saved in your shopping cart as a ‘wish list’.
    Here is a link to the 5002 error code discusssion on the Apple forum –

    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6624703

75. Freddy Says:
    April 3rd, 2008 at 4:21 am

    Everybody calm down. It’s your billing information. Update it. Apple wants the money, Apple wants the big big monnnnneeeeeyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!

76. Stevie Says:
    April 27th, 2008 at 10:14 pm

    welcome to the future of music…..all gone a bit quiet, iTunes.
    spend hours trying to sort the problem or simply order a CD which arrives in a couple of days that actually sounds like it’s supposed to, not that 128kbps rubbish.

77. David Cimini Says:
    May 8th, 2008 at 7:51 pm

    I just got this error too. Come on Apple, I just decided to start buying my media, don’t make me go back to … um.. other methods.

78. Peter Says:
    May 9th, 2008 at 3:43 pm

    Does anybody know if this error appears in a log?

79. Kim Says:
    May 9th, 2008 at 11:54 pm

    That is a very good suggestion Peter, I’m sure it does. On Mac OS X logfiles are easiest accessed using the Console tool, on Windows check the Logviewer under Administrative tools or look in the iTunes program directory, or the folders under the Windows folder. If any of you see the 5002 error, please try to investigate the logfiles, and help us by posting your findings here. Thank you.

80. Arianna Says:
    May 15th, 2008 at 1:26 am

    I have been pulling my hair out over this too; tried everything I found in this and various forums. All I had to do was go to my itunes account information, then billing information, and enter my credit card security code. I guess I originally signed up before itunes required it.
    Hope this helps!

81. Kim Says:
    May 15th, 2008 at 5:11 am

    Thanks for sharing Arianna, this could indeed be the most likely reason these days

82. Chris Wesselman Says:
    May 16th, 2008 at 4:59 am

    Thanks for this useful info! Hope someone at the Fruit Company wakes up. They’re losing sales on this. Yes, my credit card was out of date. I thought I fixed it once, but maybe it didn’t take. They never were good on this stuff. Many sales on iTunes are impulse, if not whimsical, so for all those who don’t bother googling 5002 and find this answer — it’s a lost sale. Hello….

83. Johnny Canuck Says:
    June 28th, 2008 at 5:06 pm

    Thanks for the awesome tip. I had been trying to figure this out for the past couple of weeks. The security code did the trick. Great Stuff

84. Jamison Says:
    July 1st, 2008 at 3:17 pm

    I am getting the 5002 error now. I have never ever used shopping cart or wish list, and have made about 100 purchases from the start of iTunes until just yesterday, 6/30/2008.

    I get the error when trying to click on the “Buy Album” button. Might be the last straw for me. I’m already kicking myself that I’ve spent a bunch of money on stuff that is tied to Apple unless I go to extremes to “free the music” from it’s DRM chains.

85. Kim Says:
    July 1st, 2008 at 3:27 pm

    If you’re on Mac OS X, you should also try the “repair disk permissions” function from the “Disk Utility”.

86. msurowiec Says:
    September 10th, 2008 at 4:16 pm

    here is the error that appears in my log. Dont know what it means, but I thought it might helps some.
    .com.apple.iTunes[225] Child: NULL command dict read, exiting…
    Please help.

87. Kim Says:
    September 10th, 2008 at 4:43 pm

    @msurowiec: Did you also get the 5002 error?

88. Tery Says:
    September 10th, 2008 at 11:27 pm

    Error 5002 too, itunes 8.0 vista x64, errors when checking new apps update

89. Tery Says:
    September 10th, 2008 at 11:34 pm

    just found the solution I had an application on itunes that I had not the file in application directory so I delete it and could update.

90. Kim Says:
    September 11th, 2008 at 2:41 am

    @Tery: Thanks for sharing, it also seems that major updates to iTunes result in an increased number of the 5002 error.

91. Julian Says:
    September 11th, 2008 at 5:15 pm

    [Editors note: This is a possible fix for an issue with iPhone/iPod Apps after updating to iTunes 8. For more information check this Apple Forum thread iTunes 8 Upgrade Results in 5002 unknown Error when trying to update Apps]

    My fix for the dreaded 5002 error:

    NOTE: If you screw up and wipe out your Apps, you’re SOL. You should also know that iTunes may want to reinstall all your applications on your iPhone/iPod, so it might be best to hold off doing this until you’re ready for this (and bear in mind that my experience with iPhone application remove/install hasn’t been stellar, and I’ve had to completely restore from scratch a few times).

    1. Back up Mobile Applications from /Users/myusername/Music/iTunes by dragging them to another disk — simply moving them elsewhere on the same disk doesn’t work, since iTunes keeps track of their location. Duplicating the folder would likely work too, if you haven’t got anywhere else to copy them.

    2. Once you have the Mobile Applications folder backed up, and have verified and reverified that you’ve got a copy and haven’t simply moved the folder, open iTunes WITHOUT YOUR IPHONE/IPOD CONNECTED and select all your applications and delete them. (if your iPhone/iPod were connected, it would now start helpfully deleting apps)

    3. When they’re all gone, quit iTunes

    4. Start iTunes again and verify that you have no apps listed.

    5. Drag your backup Mobile Applications folder to your open iTunes window — if you have default iTunes settings (copy/manage my music), then iTunes will start re-adding your applications. The nice thing about this is that it also eliminates all the duplicate apps and renames along the way — all those updates you keep doing don’t get rid of older versions, so these just pile up as “Application 1″, 2, 3, etc. You may end up saving a lot of disk space. Many apps have gone through name changes too, so you may clear up some confusion and duplication too.

    6. Read the iTunes notices carefully — you will likely get something like “an OLDER version of this app already exists, do you want to replace it” (you DO), or “a NEWER version of this app already exists, do you want to replace it” (you DON’T), or sometimes a mention that this app already exists as the same version (replace it).

    7.0 Quit iTunes, then restart it to “set” the changes

    You will end up with a pristine iTunes Mobile Applications folder at the end of this process, and will likely save some space too.

    Your 5002 error should also be gone too.

    REMEMBER THAT YOU COULD POTENTIALLY LOSE ALL YOUR APPLICATIONS IF YOU SCREW UP, so please do this at your own risk, and as always, make sure you have backups!

92. Kim Says:
    September 11th, 2008 at 7:35 pm

    Thank you for your tip, it’s very much appreciated, and it has resulted in me updating my post.

    So upgrading to iTunes 8 can mess things up a lot, and result in the 5002 error related to iPhone/iPod Apps? Amazing, or rather…I’m not that surprised

    I’ve added a note to your comment, I hope you’re ok with that.

93. sidney Says:
    September 15th, 2008 at 7:43 pm

    Thank YOU! I’ve been struggling with a 5002 error for weeks now and finally decided enough was enough! my iPhone wasn’t able to update apps for whatever reason but now thanks to Julians post I’m up and running again! Thanks!

94. mike Says:
    September 19th, 2008 at 1:56 am

    Julian’s tips worked for me as well.

95. Jim Says:
    September 19th, 2008 at 8:44 pm

    Julian… you da man! Worked great and no more 5002 errors.

96. Jasmer Says:
    September 21st, 2008 at 2:12 pm

    [Editors note: This tip seems to be similar to the tip from Julian above, but it looks like it's simpler and "safer".]

    I solved my problem by…

    1. I right clicked (ctrl click) on an app in iTunes app list and selected “show in finder.”

    2. Once the finder window appeared I noticed there were more apps in iTunes than in the finder window.

    3. So apparently I have orphaned Apps in the iTunes app list that had no source in the finder window.

    4. So I went through the iTunes app list and found the two that were not in the finder window and deleted them.

    5. Once the apps in the finder window matched the apps in the iTunes app list I closed the finder window and clicked “check for updates”

    6. Problem solved

    7. If you are having the Error 5002 when clicking on “check for updates” in the App list in iTunes then it has something to do with the databases not matching up or possibly a corrupted app.

97. Jason Says:
    September 23rd, 2008 at 5:15 pm

    nothing worked until i removed the apps from the “music/itunes/mobileapplications” file.

    just removed the original file copies and kept the latest in the in numerical sequence. (i.e. removed files “tap tap”, “tap tap 1″, “tap tap 1.2″, “tap tap 2″, kept “tap tap 3″)

    problem solved – thanks.

98. John Says:
    October 27th, 2008 at 11:27 pm

    After about a year locked out by 5002, I read a post saying to just go through and update all your personal information. Even if you haven’t changed anything, retype every field. It worked for me and I’m downloading an album now! Good luck!

99. Markus Says:
    November 12th, 2008 at 7:51 pm

    I just closed itunes, restarted it and the problem went away.

100. Joanne Says:
     January 8th, 2009 at 12:50 pm

     Hi, ive been downloading music through itunes for years, however recently i have tried to purchase a movie through itunes, thats when i received the 5002 error code for the first time. im using the lastest version of itunes 8. something and a new aluminium macbook, and have never had problems before. i tried using other peoples accounts but had the same error message.

     i then tried to send the movie as a gift to myself and then redeem the voucher code but the same error occured. so now ive padi £6.99 for a movie i cant even download!!!

     grrrr!

     ive tried authorising, changing password, securuty code, address, shopping cart, one click. EVERYTHING!

     please help me im going mad!

     thanks

101. Karl Says:
     January 14th, 2009 at 5:26 am

     I’ve had success with updating the billing info/credit card stuff, de-authorizing the computer, and re-authorizing it. YMMV

102. Taylor Says:
     January 17th, 2009 at 9:33 am

     It seems to me that anybody i’ve spoken to, or emailed, has had problems with itunes. The solution that seems most succesful is re-entering tour account/billing info. Itunes doesn’t like it if you don’t capitalize adresses, and use proper punctuation. Thanks for the help itunes

103. Kim Bach . Org » Blog Archive » Happy Fifth Blogaversary - i brought the noise! Says:
     February 16th, 2009 at 1:08 am

     [...] sobering fact is that the biggest drivers of traffic to my blog remains the article about the 5002 error in iTunes and the article that contains a photo of chalk art by Julian Beever, which is heavily copied and [...]

104. anon Says:
     March 1st, 2009 at 5:27 am

     That’s a great idea … I’m going to move ALL of my business for any track that gets the 5002 error to Amazon, since none of these solutions work for me. Apple, if many people do this, is that motivation enough?

105. Margaret Says:
     March 7th, 2009 at 2:36 am

     I did everything you all said and the only thing that worked was to put my security code in for my credit card. I deleted everything out of my shopping cart and then switched to one-click purchasing. I signed out and in. Then I entered the security code and it works! Go figure.

106. Brian Says:
     March 29th, 2009 at 2:24 pm

     I’m getting this every time I try to purchase the ‘Wine & Conversation” iTunes Essentials playlist. Very unfortunate – past experience says an iTunes Essentials playlist purchase will remain broken for months.

107. m hill Says:
     April 7th, 2009 at 5:26 pm

     Following the advice on this thread, to remove a 5002 error I kept getting after depositing a purchase in my shopping cart–I couldn’t even access the cart after this–I went into preferences, switched from shopping cart to one-click purchasing, and…success. The change automatically removed the shopping cart from my iTunes, and all subsequent purchases went through. (NB: It looks like the problem was a change in the sales mode for the saved purchase, from three pieces (Bach) for one price,. to individual purchase only.)

108. CitrixLemon Says:
     April 23rd, 2009 at 3:49 am

     I found a fix for 8.1.1.10 running on Vista 32bit (Possibly other versions of Windows).

     1. Close itunes.
     2. Open Programs and Features (Add or Remove Programs in XP).
     3. Select itunes and click “Repair.”
     4. When finished open itunes again and things should be fixed.

     I’ve heard that reinstalling also fixes it if you still have the Setup.

109. F Han Says:
     April 27th, 2009 at 10:14 pm

     Just get a new account. That’s the easiest way to solve the problem if any of the above suggestions do not work.

110. Catherine Says:
     June 13th, 2009 at 5:47 am

     Well I have tried all your suggestions and I am still locked out. So much for movie night with the kids!

111. Mindloss Says:
     December 19th, 2009 at 1:00 am

     I just deauthorized and authorized my computer and can redeem itunes cards again. I also restarted by router first.

112. Australia Ugg Boots Says:
     September 10th, 2010 at 9:46 am

     Just get a new account. That’s the easiest way to solve the problem if any of the above suggestions do not work.

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