Can't authorize songs under old Apple ID

It's important to understand the difference between the Apple ID and the account itself. I didn't say that it's hard to change or remove an Apple ID - it is easy to do. It's another matter entirely to delete the actual account - that is what the other poster was referring to. As far as I can tell, a user cannot easily delete the account - that appears to require a request to Apple, and will likely result in the permanent loss of your ability to authorize music bought under that account, regardless of what Apple ID was used at the time it was bought. If the account was never deleted with Apple, it likely still exists (as mine did) and can be used to re-authorize songs transferred from another computer or backup disk.

Voila - i thinnk i just sorted the problem, for myself at least. I had the exact same problem, Apple ID no longer exists. Scarily simple. When you click on one of the affected tunes to play it, that nasty little "you need to be authorized" box pops up with your old Apple ID already in the field. Of course when you enter the password it says it doesn't exist. What i did was simply did was delete the autofilled old email address/Apple ID and type in my current one and current password and it all started working!! Gave me some message like you're already authourised (yeah, that's why you said 2 seconds ago that i wasn't!) and then they all started playing. Woohoo! I had well over 100 songs affected and they're all back and playing! Hope this helps/works for you too.

I'm having a similar issue. I purchased songs with an old .mac account that I no long have, and I don't remember the password. I can't authorize songs that I purchased with that account, and it only became a problem recently, so I'm not sure why this has happened. The only thing I can think of was either upgrading to 10.6, or iTunes 9. Either way, I sent an email to Apple, but I'm not very optimistic that this will help. Has anyone tried calling Apple customer support?

Since my old Apple ID tied to my purchases no longer works, I simply entered in the actual email address tied to it which is still in use.

That did the trick. Just enter in the email addy tied to your old and new Apple ID. That's all.

Exact same problem.

Removing the SC folder fixed it.

Thanks.

I had the same issue - I bought songs under several different email addresses tied to the same itunes account (i.e. kept the same account but changed the email address (and apparently the password too - can't remember).

Anyway - my hard drive crashed and I loaded my back up version of my songs back on the computer. I got the message to enter the password linked to the old address to authorize the computer. I couldn't remember the password and the email was no longer valid / active.

I clicked on "Store" in the itunes menu and then "authorize computer" and entered my current email and password. It worked even though I got a message stating that the computer was already authorized.

Hope this helps !

It was the first suggestion in the link below.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1389

I've tried everything too. I deleted the SC folder as some have suggested. That did not work. Over a period of 3 years, I created several accounts. Apparently, those IDs no longer exist according to Apple. I never deleted them. They worked fine until I upgraded my computer from Windows XP to Windows 7.

So... it doesn't matter what I do, the IDs no longer exist. Therefore, I cannot enter in a password.

I've written Apple Customer Service, but I'm not expecting much. I can promise that I will never ever buy music through iTunes again. Presently, Apple has stolen close to $2,000.00 worth of music accumulated over 6 years from me.

Hi, I had exactly the same problem but luckily only 50 ish songs. I tried everything above, and then tried the email helpline which was very quick and helpful. In my case, i actually had a third account which i had forgotten about. Although the get info on the track said it was the old (second)account, it was actually a completely different third one. Once i knew this i could authorise the compute and all works perfectly now...

So... it doesn't matter what I do, the IDs no longer exist. Therefore, I cannot enter in a password.

Go here -> https://iforgot.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/DSiForgot.woa/wa
and click on *Forgot your Apple ID*.

This fixed my problem too. Just bought a MacBook Pro and transferred my itunes files from my Dell last night.

When my wife and I bought iphones last March I created two new Apple ID accounts, which was recommended by apple support because we were having app sync issues. I stopped using the old ID, and every song purchased prior to this date was associated with the old Apple ID, that is now longer exists, and therefore cannot be authorized or played.

Since buying the iphones I have bought all music on my Apple ID as my wife does not but music often. I tried typing over the old Apple ID with my new one and got the same result as everyone else here. But then I typed my wife's Apple ID and PW and it worked! All music plays fine. Weird.

I am having the very same issue that some people above claim they have remedied, and some say they haven't. To be exact, I started up my account with Apple back when iTunes first came out several years ago. My Apple ID was an Earthlink.net email address. I no longer have that email address, and although I'm certain of what the password was, it doesn't work. I have tried to put in my new Apple ID and of course it says that computer is already authorized (Duh, it is authorized for the music I've purchased using that ID) but when i re-click on the songs/albums that are associated with the Earthlink.net ID, it says it's not authorized. I have HUNDREDS of songs that I purchased with that ID, and can't listen to them on any of my computers (as I have upgraded laptops and desktops several times over the years).

That doens't work if your Apple ID doesn't exist

Pardon my ignorance, but what is an SC Folder? And how do I find it to see if deleting it solves my problem?

Same problem as everyone else.

So what is the moral of this story. Don't ever change your e-mail or user id. I don't understand if the problem comes from changing computers (I changed from an iBook to a MacBook Pro in July), or is it because I changed my e-mail. I don't get it.

I just encountered this problem today for the first time.
I've been buying music/movies on iTunes since 1997.

Frankly, why would I buy anything again on iTunes now?

This is what worked for me! First, in the sign in field, I told Apple that I forgot my AppleID. It then instructed my to input my name, e-mail, and previous e-mail. For my 'e-mail', I input my current AppleID e-mail. For my 'previous e-mail', I input my old AOL e-mail. Then, I was instructed to create a new password for my AOL account. I did so. THEN, when I logged back into iTunes, I clicked the APPLE button (not the AOL button) and input my AOL e-mail & new password. That worked! The problem was that even though my old songs said that they were purchased with my AOL alias, the alias was actually an 'AppleID' account. Thus, even though my songs were purchased with my AOL account, I had to have the AppleID Button clicked (with the full address of the AOL e-mail) and NOT the AOL button!!!!