m4p restrictions

cfleck

cfleck

tired
is there a place where i can find a complete reference for m4p regarding restrictions and what not? i'm curious about what happens to that computer limit when you authorize/deauthorize computers and what not. i just need something more managable than a liscence agreement to wade through.
 
Restrictions are set by the site, not by the file format.

m4p files will, therefore, will depend on where you got them.

If you got them from the Apple iTunes Music Store, then you're allowed to play them on 3 computers. When you de-authorize a computer, that computer can no longer play those files and another computer can.

Example: you have 3 computers authorized but you buy a new, 4th computer. You can de-authorize one of the original 3 and authorize the new one.

Is that what you wanted to know?
 
that answers one of my questions.

here is another. lets assume i have a song, A, on computer 1. i copy song A to computers 2 and 3. does that mean that i can then copy the song on 2 to 2 more computers and the same for the song on computer 3?

i know that sounds complicated. this is what i'm thinking will work. you tell me...

the lines represent copied songs to authorized computers. this tree could expand further, but maybe you see what i'm getting at. is this the case? does this even make sense?


1
/ | \
2 3 4
/ | \
5 6 7

[edit: i see that the formatting doesn't hold up in the post, but picture it as a tree with a branching factor of 3.]
 
I might be misunderstanding what you're saying and I"m not 100% sure of my statement, but I think you can copy the file all you want, the problem is that you aren't going to be able to play them on any more than three machines unless you unregister one and register the new one.
 
here is my concern...

if you copy a song from one computer to another, the original song has no idea what happens to the song you copied and hence can't possibly know that you authorized a copy to play on another computer.

my tree is a tree of authorized computers to play it, i guess.

there are a lot of scenarios that i would like answers to. its a shame i can't find any.
 
Very simple: It's the COMPUTER that is authorized. Not the song. The song doesn't have to 'know' anything but to which _account_ it belongs. No more than 3 COMPUTERS have access to your account's songs.
 
fryke, i get that, but the fact is, as you make copies of the song i imagine that each copy keeps a count of how many more computers it can be authorized to play on. so if i make 50 copies of a song authorized on my computer i could distribute one of those copies to 50 machines and authorize them at each machine. see what i'm saying?
 
It's not the song or the computer that is the issue. The songs are authorized by central server. When you want to authorize you need an internet connection. Once the computer is authorized you can play them without a connection. The server knows how many computers have been authorized so there's no way to achieve the n factorial scheme you were suggesting.

I knew it would happen eventually but I thought I would be smart and avoid the problem. I did a clean install of Panther on one of my computers which had authorized songs on it. Actually the songs were on a seperate drive but my iTunes library got erased on the main drive so I lost one of my authorizations. I only have 2 computers so it's not too big a deal but remember to deauthorize your library if you plan on doing anything funky.
 
Koelling: not to worry, because the authorization somehow knows your computer. I believe it's probably based upon the MAC address, which is unique to every computer. It doesn't matter if you forget to unauthorize a computer before you reformat and reinstall because the server knows it's still the same computer.

I ran into this problem and spoke extensively with a tech at Apple about this. My OS X installation got hosed, and there was no way I could access iTunes to deauthorize before I reformatted and reinstalled... so I sent an email to the nice folks at .mac requesting a deauthorization of that installation, and they replied that it wasn't necessary -- that when I reauthorized the songs after the reinstallation that it would still be the only authorized computer. They wouldn't explain exactly how they knew it was the same computer, probably because they didn't want to share their authorization system with just anyone, but I was assured that I could reformat and reinstall to my heart's content and it would still be only one authorization.

I have now reformatted and reinstalled four times (for various reasons) and authorized my purchased music five times now, all on one computer. Each time the authorization has gone through just fine. Trust me, the server knows your computer and doesn't care if you reformat and reinstall. People have speculated that there's some hidden file stored on your computer keeping track of authorizations, but there's not... it's all server-side stuff, and it's damn smart, too.

So, cf25, your logic just doesn't hold, although I thought of the same thing when I first started purchasing music from the iTMS. Each computer that you copy the file to must be authorized through the internet through iTunes in order to play the file. The authorization does NOTHING to the files themselves. So even if you've only authorized one computer to play a certain file, then you copy that file to 5 other computers, only two other computers will be able to play the file, since you have to authorize through the internet before you can play it. If you try to play it on the fourth computer, then when iTunes asks you to authorize, you'll be rejected... until you unauthorize one of the other 3 computers.

What I'd be interested to see is if new, third-party media players like iTunes that don't use Apple's authorization scheme and CAN play MP4/AAC files will play an iTMS-bought AAC file, or whether you're stuck using iTunes to play the music you purchased through iTunes. QuickTime plays my purchased music just fine, but I haven't had the opportunity to try and play a purchased AAC file with QuickTime without having authorized through iTMS first... that would be interesting.
 
The Music Store keeps track of which computers are authorized and which aren't; the songs themselves are pretty stupid and only obey the Music Store. Therefore, you can not authorize a computer without Internet access.

This tree may help you understand. The black computers are authorized to play a song and the red ones are not.
Code: 
[b]      1
     /|\
    2 3 [color=red]4[/color]
   /|\
  [color=red]5 6 7[/color][/b]

Etc.
 
Ah, many thangs ElDiabloConCaca. I suppose it wasn't anything factual that led me to believe that my authorization was lost, I just found that they were deauthorized and made the assumption. poor umption :)

If Apple made it so smart it seems like they should publicize it more but I guess that's not their way. They keep it simple. Thanks again!
 
i was not aware that authorization had anything to do with being online. i thought it just somehow "marked" the file. ahhh. all is well now.
 
Yep, and just for kicks, I ran a test last night. It seems that QuickTime and iTunes are the only programs that understand a .m4p file right now... so for the hell of it, I copied over a .m4p file to a Windows 2000 machine I have here with QuickTime installed and tried to play the file in QuickTime (mind you this Windows PC is NOT authorized on my account). I thought somehow since QuickTime would be playing the file that it wouldn't need authorization or something... however, when I hit play, QuickTime told me that the computer was not authorized, asked me kindly to open iTunes and authorize the file through there. Smart Apple!

I would be interested to see if these iTMS-bought .m4p files would play through another non-Apple player that understands the AAC format on an unauthorized machine, or if it would error out or something.
 
Of course, if you burn those .m4ps to CD, they could be re-imported as m4a or mp3 and you wouldn't have to worry about authorized vs. unauthorized…
 
You'll lose some quality on the way, of course. But just to make it again very simple and clear (just like Apple, I don't get the initial misunderstanding):

1.) You create an account.
2.) You authorize one, two or three computers.
3.) You buy, download and play songs. These songs can only be played on computers that are authorized through YOUR account.

So: The song only knows that it belongs to your account. Nothing more. Nothing about authorization. You can copy the m4p files all you want, they won't turn into anything and won't turn a computer de- or authorized.
 
I think he's gotten the idea by now, but we're discussing how the licensing rights would factor into a non-Apple player at the moment. We've all discussed and agreed that the authorization takes place over the internet through your account and makes no changes to the downloaded files at all, and that no amount of copying is going to change the number of authorized computers...

...but what about a non-Apple MP4/AAC player? Would that player be able to distinguish between FairPlay files from the iTMS and regular, non-Fairplay AAC files? Would it ask for authorization? Would they just be jumbled messes to that player?
 
i would assume that m4p would have to be off-limits to any other players. just seems like too much of a headache. at best i'm sure only the most reputible companies would be able to get the scoop on how to authorize.

i don't think this would happen though just for the sake of apple having you locked in to their itunes. why would they want you to be able to use another player? the only problem comes about if something becomes more popular than the ipod. itms goes down if the ipod struggles. that's my prediction.
 
I predict the same... and I just read an article in Newsweek that had an interview with Jobs on the iPod and the iTMS. Jobs says that the iTMS isn't a profit maker -- just a way to get more people to purchase iPods.

I don't see the iPod losing strength anytime soon. There's too many rich people just willing to plop down $500 on an MP3 player, especially if it's Apple-branded.
 
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