How2 hear itunes purchased music on the 6th computer

As your computer collection changes; buying new computers and getting rid of the old ones, you would deauthorized them as you get rid of them... should you forget or something else goes awry you can reset your authorized computer count back to five once every twelve months. You used to only be authorized to have your iTunes on three computers until Apple decided that five was a more generous figure and I would imagine as time goes on and it becomes commonplace for people to have five or more computers this number may increased again. If you get to that number before then, you could do what I have done and have a computer set up as an iTunes server at home or work by switching on the sharing option on – this is limited to having your iTunes serving computer on at all times.

...but if you really want to hear your music on a sixth computer, you can burn your music to a CD, then re-rip it on the sixth computer. However, be aware that the files you buy from the iTunes Music Store are not quite as high-quality as the original CD, and there is a further loss of quality if you burn and then re-rip your music. It's not particularly noticable to an audio neophyte such as myself, but if you're an audiophile, you will be able to tell the difference.

But if you have five or fewer computers, make sure that you deauthorize them when you get rid of them. Also, if you ever have to reinstall Windows -- if you have a Windows PC -- make absolutely sure to deauthorize first. iTunes can't always tell if the computer you're using is the same one that was authorized before if you reinstall Windows.

Alex Duzik:

But if you have five or fewer computers, make sure that you deauthorize them when you get rid of them. Also, if you ever have to reinstall Windows -- if you have a Windows PC -- make absolutely sure to deauthorize first. iTunes can't always tell if the computer you're using is the same one that was authorized before if you reinstall Windows.

It's more than just that. Supposedly a new "configuration" will be recognized as a completely new machine and will prompt you to reauthorize. If you can't restore the old configuration, you might not be able to deauthorize it individually. I would guess it takes a "fingerprint" of the entire system (HD serial #, RAM configuration, machine serial #) to identify a "machine" as part of their copyright protection scheme. I might have done this in the past when adding memory, but I don't recall. Apple says that you should deauthorize before performing a system hardware update. You probably also need to deauthorize before doing a complete wipe and OS install. I'm going to have my old iBook's HD swapped, and I probably should deauthorize before sending it in.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93014

Make sure you deauthorize your computer before you upgrade your RAM, hard disk or other system components. If you do not deauthorize your computer before you upgrade these components, one computer may use multiple authorizations. If you find you have reached 5 authorizations due to system upgrades, you can reset your authorization count by clicking Deauthorize All in the Account Information screen. Note: You may only use this feature once per year. The Deauthorize All button will not appear if you have less than 5 authorized computers or if you have used this option within the last 12 months.

I'm curious as to what might happen if a RAM module fails. Would you have to replace it with exactly the same type (size and latencies) to avoid iTMS thinking it's a new machine? I'd say - when in doubt don't reenter the authorization until you get it sorted out.

I checked my account. I have 2 authorized machines listed. I could have sworn I changed the RAM module from 256 MB to 512 MB once on my iBook G3 600. I also accessed purchased music with my iBook G4 1.42 before and after I installed an additional 1 GB. I've never actually deauthorized a computer with iTMS.

I would still follow Apple's recommendation to deauthorize before an upgrade and reauthorize afterwards.

As I understand it, iTunes has more trouble identifying upgraded Windows PCs more than it does Macs. I have no real reason to think this, but I think that iTunes can read the serial number off a Mac and identify it that way - the serial number won't change if you upgrade a Mac.

Windows, on the other hand, doesn't have a standardized way of identifying a PC, so it's understandable that iTunes can't always tell if it's the same computer. Deauthorizing is really simple. Just click "Advanced > Deauthorize Computer..." You'll probably be prompted for your password, and in a second or two, a message box will appear telling you that the computer has been deauthorized.

...it's true... it needn't be a new computer - recently upgrading my laptop from Apple OS X.3 to X.4 has used up one of my authorizations - but you can reset them all back to 5 once every twelve months.

Alasdair Weddell:

i ...it's true... it needn't be a new computer - recently upgrading my laptop from Apple OS X.3 to X.4 has used up one of my authorizations - but you can reset them all back to 5 once every twelve months.

I suppose that it's dependent on far too many variables for any sane person to understand. I've upgraded from Jaguar to Panther on my old iBook and it didn't take up an additional authorization. I've added memory and it didn't use another authorization. I haven't installed iTunes on my PC because it doesn't run Windows XP. However - it does make sense that it would be harder for the Windows version of iTunes to access the computer information and might take a system snapshot to "identify a computer".

However - now that I've read the info, I'm not taking any chances each time I add something to my Macs.

I think the reason you get five authorizations is not because Apple thinks most people have five computers, but because occasionally this sort of thing will happen. (Although, I've known families where it was just easier to buy everyone a computer than fight over the one(s) they already had. Then the five authorizations comes in really handy) If you've maxed out your authorizations, once every twelve months you'll be able to reset all of them at once. I had to do this myself recently. It's mostly because an install of Windows never lasts long on my PC.

you say to do this and i would like to. is there a way to figure out what computers have been authorized? thanks....gail

Easy. Look in the Music store pane, and if the machine is "authorized", the email address attached to the account will be near the upper right corner.

It'll look like the 2nd picture from the top in the following page:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300160

If there's a messup and the one machine gets authorized multiple times, then you might have some difficulty figuring out which machine that is. There is no easy way to figure it out or to eliminate a "ghost account". Apple recommends deauthorizing all computers attached to the account and reauthorizing each machine.

---But if you have five or fewer computers, make sure that you deauthorize them when you get rid of them. Also, if you ever have to reinstall Windows -- if you have a Windows PC -- make absolutely sure to deauthorize first.--

exactly right. I think that's the case no matter what OS you use. I had to reauthorize my laptop after reinstalling OS X.

My relatively new 2nd-gen iMac died on Friday so I took it to the local Apple Store. They had to replace the logic board(which I must say was done faster than I could ever dream - took them a whole 2 hours to give it back to me). After getting it back, iTunes was no longer authorized. There was no way to de-authorize it first as the old logic board was dead and the system wouldn't boot. As a side note, the serial number of my system as reported by System Profiler is now blank. It used to have the correct serial number in it.

---As a side note, the serial number of my system as reported by System Profiler is now blank. It used to have the correct serial number in it.---

If I were to sit here and think long enough I could probably come up with a half a dozen reasons why that would bother the crap out of me, were it my computer. I wouldn't like that at all. No serial number? Hmmmmmm...