What is the meaning of 'Error 5002' on iTunes?

Answer 1

Apple Care's AnswerI just had this problem (when trying to purchase a free App from the iTunes store), so phoned up Apple Care. Their advice was simple and worked, so I'm reproducing it here:

• Download and run "App Cleaner". You can get it from here: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/appcleaner.html
• Find iTunes in your applications folder and drop it on to App Cleaner's window.
• Download a new copy of iTunes for Apple, and install it. You can get it form here: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

That's it. Pretty easy, and seems to work. My music and applications are all still in there, and I didn't have to take any special care to make sure they didn't get deleted.

iTunes Error 5002

Before doing ANYTHING ELSE i would unplug your router if you are using wi-fi. Wait 5 to 10 seconds then plug the router back in. This will allow your computer to reestablish a connection.

Go to preferences and turn off the shopping cart feature and order with one click ordering. this bypasses the whole shopping cart error and allows you to download your song/tv show/movie easily.

Second answer from different user:

None of the fixes I found online fixed this problem and I still want to use the cart so didn't like the one click ordering work-around. My fix was simple - I deleted the items already in my cart and this cleared up the problem. I discovered this because buying a song on iTunes on our home computer worked when my husband was logged in but not when I was. He had nothing in his cart, I did. This fixed my problem the last time iTunes had a big shopping cart bug too.

Problem with permissions

Mac OS X users can try to solve the "Error 5200" problem (and other cryptic iTunes errors) by following these instructions to repair the permissions of the iTunes Music Folder:

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

The permissions may have been altered when migrating the music folder between computers or partitions. They may also be altered by an upgrade of the OS (e.g.m moving from Tiger to Leopard) or by an iTunes upgrade.

The Apple artnum=93069 makes no mention of error 5002 and did not help. Setting "one click" only worked after quitting and restarting iTunes. Changing back to "shopping cart" now also works. I suspect there was no need to set "one click" and that any change to account information (even a null change) would work. I don't know how to make the problem return to test this.

Changing the nickname works.

Too many apps and updates!

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. 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!

i was using a gift card and when i tried 'redeeming' it it would come up with error 5002.

all i did was make a new account. it worked.

Answer 2

It means there's been an issue with the internet connection.