Purchased Music

[Abysmal]

Can someone explain to me how all of this works exactly? I'm having trouble understanding some of the nuances of managing purchased music from the iTunes Music Store.

Say I want to format my Mac and start anew, but keep my purchased music obviously, what's the best way of going about this? I have a .Mac account, can I back up my music to the web? Can I just use the iPod to back it up? And most importantly, do I have to deauthorize my computer before every format (and does the .Mac server count as another computer)?

I also get concerned about data integrity when downloading from the iTMS. I wonder if they error check, and what would happen if I accidentally quit iTunes.

ugh, it's all doing my head in

(posted this at AI but probably should've stuck closer to home here)

 

[intogamer]

if you back it up in the ipod... make sure you do it in the actual HDD

yeah you can activate a computer 5 times(each year you can deactive it all)
so if you format 5 times and forget to deactivate you can start fresh at 1... that is only once per a year

i'm sure it will redownload the unfinished part

 

[Black Morty Rackham]

I suggest buying from those iffy russian websites. It's just as legal, and not all that hazzle with DRM. Just make sure to buy via PayPal or something. I wouldn't trust them with my credit card number.

 

[Shorty]

^Why would you pay to steal?

With your .mac account came the program, Backup 3. In the settings, you can set it to backup your entire library, playlists, as well as purchased music, to a CD/DVD, or to your iDisk.

 

[cre8chaos]

Shorty's got it Backup has a check box to back up your paid iTunes. If you have and external HD you can drag the iTunes file to it and back up the whole library. That is how I do it anyway. One more way is to burn them to a cd like you would do to play them in a cd player and then rip them back in, you loose a little quality doing this but it kills the DRM at the same time.

 

[Jasonx82]

I wish Itunes had a history of your music purchases and you could redownload them again later. That would be awesome.. BUt im sure multiple downloads on multiple machines and such would cause problems, then again you could backit up and spread it around the same way.

 

[Black Morty Rackham]

^Why would you pay to steal?

Because it's not against the forum rules to suggest it!

 

[Abysmal]

Does the iDisk server count as 1 of the 5 computers I'm allowed to have the music on? Anyone know?

Just how in the hell do you keep track of these stats? There's gotta be some way in iTunes to check and see how many computers/burns/whatever you have left for your music.

I don't mind DRM really, but goddamn they need to clarify things better right from the start.

 

[KaosDG]

Does the iDisk server count as 1 of the 5 computers I'm allowed to have the music on? Anyone know?

Just how in the hell do you keep track of these stats? There's gotta be some way in iTunes to check and see how many computers/burns/whatever you have left for your music.

I don't mind DRM really, but goddamn they need to clarify things better right from the start.

It's not about where you store the music, it's about which computer is allowed to play it.

For example, at home I have a file server that I keep all my music on.

I have my Mac mini, and my HTPC that are authorized to play any itms music that i've purchased.

If I try to play it on my gaming machine, itunes will tell me that it isn't authorized, and present me with the chance to authorize the machine (via apple id).


You can check how many computers are authorized via itms://phobos.apple.com/accountSummary

 

[RiDDLeRThC]

if you back it up in the ipod... make sure you do it in the actual HDD

yeah you can activate a computer 5 times(each year you can deactive it all)
so if you format 5 times and forget to deactivate you can start fresh at 1... that is only once per a year

i'm sure it will redownload the unfinished part

How do you start fresh? I have like 4 computers activated on my account but yet i only use one...

 

[Black Morty Rackham]

Does iTunes rely on an internet connection to do the whole DRM thing, or is it an offline thing?

 

[KaosDG]

Does iTunes rely on an internet connection to do the whole DRM thing, or is it an offline thing?

You need the connection to initially authorize (and purchase, of course) the music

After the computer is authorized though, you don't need the connection.

 

[KaosDG]

How do you start fresh? I have like 4 computers activated on my account but yet i only use one...

If you have access to the other machines, just go over to them and de-authorize them.

If not, you'd have to activate one more, then deactivate all (allowed only once per year, and its almost the end of the year anyhow)


That's about the only way I can see to do it.