help! I forgot to deauthorize iTunes....again!

[Dlatu1983]

I just reinstalled OS X on my iMac, and before I did so, I forgot to deauthorize the computer as one of my 3 itunes music store computers...it's the second time I've done this. So basically, apple thinks this is my third computer, when I've been using the same one all along. Is there any way that I can deauthorize the other 2 computers (the ones I did a clean install over)...if I get a new computer, I'm not gonna be able to listen to my itunes music store purchases on it. Thanks

 

[chevy]

That's a REAL problem.

We should be able to issue/print a code/number/phrase or anything that we could send to Apple in case of necessity to deauthorize a computer.

It may also be linked to our .mac account, but that would say that the .mac account is mandatory what we don't want. So we need another way to identify our account and computer and then deauthorize the computer.

BTW, can we just deauthorize songs ? Or do we deauthorize the whole library ?

Other BTW, can we backup the songs, just in case, and then re-install without losing one authorisation ?

 

[bobw]

Go here;

http://www.info.apple.com/usen/itunes/musicstore.html

and follow the info to contact Apple for help on this.

 

[Dlatu1983]

Thanks Bobw...there was a special form on the page for my problem plus a few others.

 

[chevy]

They really thought about everything !

 

[Dlatu1983]

I got a reply back just a few hours later...there's no problem @ all. When you reinstall the OS, it wipes out a file that keeps track of the # of computers...so there's no need to deauthorize before you reinstall

 

[dlloyd]

That's nice to know

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Yep, had to do this three times -- I would be on my fourth computer, going by the original logic, but I'm still on number one even though I've wiped out and reinstalled three times.

There's no magic file that keeps track of the number of computers you've authorized, though -- it's information kept on Apple's servers in your .mac or iTMS accounts.

No, you cannot authorize or deauthorize one song. Authorization works on the computer, not the files themselves, so you're authorizing a computer to play songs purchased with a certain account.

Yes, you can back up your songs. The authorization process does nothing to the AAC files themselves -- this makes sense because you HAVE to have internet access in order to play the songs because of the computer authorization process.