Q: How to re-download purchased music onto new laptop when first download unsuccessful on old machine?

These are purchases from the France iTunes store ? You have to be in a country to use its store (including redownloading), that is part of the store's terms, so whilst you are in France you can only use the France store (and potentially redownload your France store purchases). What you can redownload will show in the Purchased link under Quick Links on the right-hand side of the iTunes music store homepage (assuming that you haven't hidden them from the cloud, and if they are still in the store).