This computer is not authorized to play "insertnamehere.m4v"

I am having the same problem and am stuck in an endless loop.

When I attempt to watch the video I get the warning that my computer is not authorized to play it (it is) and tells me to open iTunes - even though I am in iTunes already. If I press the Open Itunes buttons it just sits there forever.

I have never had any issue with the iTunes store until now.

I am having a similar problem with the latest two episodes of "30 Rock" and "The Office" that just downloaded automatically via my Season Passes to each show. Oddly enough though, only the latest two episodes ("Generalissimo and Lecture Ciruit, Pt. 1", respectively) are having the authorization issue -- all of the other previously-downloaded episodes of both shows play fine.

Deauthorizing and re-authorizing did not fix the problem. Anyone have a solution yet?

I'm also having this problem. Hopefully enough posts to this issue will draw some attention.

Same problem here. Seems to be only HD shows downloaded in the last 2 weeks or so. Works fine with the SD versions.

I have 2 recent HD episodes of Battlestar Galactica; they played fine on my Apple TV, but the HD versions won't play on my Mac - same error as above. But the SD versions will play on my Mac without problem. Older episodes, HD and SD, play without error.

I've tried deauthorizing and reauthorizing to no avail.

I have the same problem, only with all my previously purchased music. My old computer disk image was moved to my new computer. Now I cannot play any of my purchased music. I am presented with the "This computer is not authorized" message. I authorize the computer, "success." I try to play the song and am presented with the "This computer is not authorized" message. I authorize the computer and am presented with the "This computer is already authorized" message. sigh

Over and over again, loop, loop, loop...

Oh, I already ran "repair permissions" from Disk utility to no effect. See below for the disk permissions errors:

Verify permissions for “Macintosh HD”
Reading permissions database.
Reading the permissions database can take several minutes.

Group differs on "private/etc/cups", should be 0, group is 26.
Permissions differ on "System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.usbmuxd.plist", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are -rwxr-xr-x .

Permissions verification complete

Repairing permissions for “Macintosh HD”
Reading permissions database.
Reading the permissions database can take several minutes.

Group differs on "private/etc/cups", should be 0, group is 26.
Permissions differ on "System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.usbmuxd.plist", should be -rw-r--r-- , they are -rwxr-xr-x .

Permissions repair complete

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You may wish to check out the following knowledge base article for further assistance.


iTunes repeatedly prompts to authorize computer to play iTunes Store purchases
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1389

Thank you, but this did not solve my issues.
I followed each step, including removing the SC Info folder then rebooting, but did not help.
Several purchased TV episodes - seems to be HD versions of purchases in the last couple of months - refuse to play. Music, so far, seems ok.

I've tried all the steps described without success as well. NONE of my purchased music will play.

I've tried the suggestion from the above article and it didn't work for me either. I de-authorized, logged out, quit, restarted, logged back in and re-authorized. Then It said it authorized successfully.
I played purchased music just fine...some of it at least.

Here is a dialog of pop-up boxes.

Click on the movie "Charade" to watch it.
"This computer is not authorized to play "Charade". Would you like to authorize it?
The authorization for this computer needs to be updated. This will not change the number of computers authorized to play movies for your account."

Entered in password
Clicked authorize

"This computer is already authorized.
Including this one, you have authorized 5 computers out of your available 5."

Clicked OK
Re-selected "Charade" and the same thing happens.

I went to my account information to try and de-authorize all 5 computers but that won't work since I already did that this past August when we purchased new computers. So I'm unable to do that for another 6 months.

Now, like I said it's only happening to certain items. "It's a Wonderful Life" played just fine.

After further trial and error, it only happens to items purchased after 2/3/09 (in my case). Items purchased before 1/31/09 play just fine.

Message was edited by: Sybil M

Ok...I synced my 1G iPhone and now they work. Go figure. I wonder if it has something to do with the problems with the 2.2.1 update. The only thing is that my husband's Aperture is doing the same thing and it's not at all related to iTunes (that I know of). Unless they both use the same server to authorize???

Syncing my iPhone had no effect on items that wont play.

Hey guys, I had the same problem; all my HD tv shows would not play on my Mac Pro, but they would work on my appletv and my macbook pro.

Turns out the problem for me was with Quicktime, and I downgraded to 7.5.5 from 7.6, restarted my computer and the shows are working fine on my Mac Pro.

Here is the thread that helped me, hope it helps you: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1875726&tstart=0

I had the same problem with some HD TV shows I bought last month. I downgraded Quicktime as suggested and it worked. Last night I downloaded an HD episode of Torchwood, and I get the same thing. It won't play. Even with Quicktime downgraded. I just get the message that I'm not authorized , when I am. I too have tried de-authorizing and re-authorizing but nothing helps. I checked the episode on the AppleTV and that plays fine. It's just my MacPro that won't play it. I've sent an email requesting help from Apple, so we'll see if they can help?

I've tried emailing Apple. They had no suggestion other than to wipe & re-install iTunes (didn't help), reinstall QuickTime (didn't help) or deauthorize all machines and reauthorize (didn't help).

They let me redownload one of the affected HD episodes. Didn't help.

I'm getting this over and over. Trouble showed up on both music bought and trying to play on machine, and also on apps on my iphone. "This computer is not authorized to play" followed by "this computer is already authorized".