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Songs won't play - Continued problem with "computer not authorized"

Several songs in my iTunes library will no longer play. When I try to play them I get a pop-up saying "This computer is not authorized to play (song name). Would you like to authorize it?" When that happens I enter my user ID and password and get a pop-up that says "This computer had been previously authorized. It has been reauthorized." Then I go back and try to play the song and the cycle starts again.


Why is this happening? How do I fix it? There are hundreds of songs where this is occuring and there is no excuse for this because I paid for these songs.


Help!

iMac (24-inch, M1, 2021, 2 ports)

Posted on Dec 30, 2022 4:07 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 30, 2022 11:11 PM

This answer doesn't make sense, unless you're a software engineer. Could you please explain in simple non-technical language? What do you mean "without hiding from your purchase history"? How would one dfeleyte a tune hiding it from anything? What are "the cloud links that should remain"? Where in the world are "activity widget" and "the option that allows for simultaneous downloads"? I've been using itunes for decades without any of this complicated stuff, and these tunes that won't play have been in my itunes library for decades. Why do they need to be authorized when they've been authorized for decades? What is going on with all this "authorized" business all of a sudden?

I'm running Monterey on a recent mac with Apple M1 chip.




3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 30, 2022 11:11 PM in response to turingtest2

This answer doesn't make sense, unless you're a software engineer. Could you please explain in simple non-technical language? What do you mean "without hiding from your purchase history"? How would one dfeleyte a tune hiding it from anything? What are "the cloud links that should remain"? Where in the world are "activity widget" and "the option that allows for simultaneous downloads"? I've been using itunes for decades without any of this complicated stuff, and these tunes that won't play have been in my itunes library for decades. Why do they need to be authorized when they've been authorized for decades? What is going on with all this "authorized" business all of a sudden?

I'm running Monterey on a recent mac with Apple M1 chip.




Dec 31, 2022 12:17 PM in response to om45

When you delete a purchased song from the library you may get a prompt such as this, that allows you to hide the track from your purchase history, stopping it from showing automatically in the library when you are signed into your Apple ID. You don't want to do this while trying to fix your unplayable tracks.



Given that you are using Music rather than iTunes there is an easier approach. Select any problem tracks with this issue. Ctrl- or Right-click, or use the 3 dots menu, then click Remove Download from the pop-up context menu that appears, then open the menu again and select Download to download fresh copies of these items.


When you have some downloads in progress tap the icon at the bottom of the sidebar



to bring up this activity monitor



and uncheck the box for Simultaneous Downloads, which may reduce the incidence of problems when redownloading your past purchases.


tt2

Dec 30, 2022 7:50 AM in response to TheSoupJerry

Repeated requests to authorize an already authorized computer for recent store downloads typically indicates you have corrupt or incomplete copies. Delete the tracks that won't play from your library without hiding from your purchase history. Redownload using the cloud links that should remain, or close iTunes and reopen if they don't show up straight away. While downloading click the activity widget and turn off the option that allows for simultaneous downloads.


tt2

Songs won't play - Continued problem with "computer not authorized"

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