What does Apple expect me to do now that hundreds of my CDs can no longer be accessed?

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Level 1

29 points

What does Apple expect me to do now that hundreds of my CDs can no longer be accessed?

I put all of my CD's onto my computer back in 2009, HUNDREDS of them. I used another username and email and I haven't had access to that account or email for at least 10 years, but my CD files always played. They will play right now on my old 2014 Mac Mini that I exported them from. So something has clearly changed.

I just got a new Macbook Air 2023 (M2) and after nearly 2 hours on the phone with a CS rep I'm told that unless I can magically cough up a SIXTEEN YEAR OLD PASSWORD, I'm just outta luck.

Those songs are NOT the property of Apple and should not be "locked up".

"Meh, too bad", is NOT an acceptable answer.

And if anyone has any idea how I can get them reformatted into a different file type and/or a player I could use to play them, I'd be grateful. I thought they would have been old MP3's but somewhere along the line they were changed to M4P's and password protected.

And, I won't even ask about what happens to my iPod once my 2014 is dead.

MacBook Air (M2, 2023)

Posted on Jan 30, 2024 9:40 PM

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Answer 1

ed2345

Level 9

64,016 points

Feb 2, 2024 7:20 AM in response to IsaYonah

IsaYonah,

Don't give up yet!

The fact that "They will play right now on my old 2014 Mac" is very important. Can you look in Finder on the old Mac and verify that they are normal unprotected files (AAC, MP3, or whatever)? That is what you would have gotten when you did the original CD rip.

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Answer 2

IsaYonah Author

Level 1

29 points

Feb 2, 2024 6:09 PM in response to ed2345

OK here's where I'm at. I WAS able to go back and find the old passwords-I had kept something that had them back in 2016. Went to log in with those, and both old accounts ( I tried several ways) gave me the "not valid or not supported" message.

So I dug deep into the external HD that I have them backed up on and started at the beginning and went through about 3 years of albums...

It turns out the several CD's that I checked the other day when I was first noticing this, were old favorites-the first ones that came to mind, and I guess what I did is, I had the CD, but it was probably scratched and so, when I still had the 2 older usernames, I re-purchased a digital copy. Those are m4p's and won't unlock, but I noticed that a lot of them (that I am sure were CD's) ARE still m4a's and THEY PLAY! I even found a few aiff and wav files, LOL.

So it's not a total win-anything I purchased on those old usernames is "not valid or not supported". :|

But a lot of it is there. YAY!

Also some of them is in the wrong place, or a few even didn't have the right song name it just said like, "01 Track 01". So I have some work to do to tidy up, but yeah it seems that all the really obscure stuff that was always on CD is still playable. It was just the most popular (to me) stuff that I replaced early on that's no longer accessible.

Since they were and are stuff I still really love I will drop some $ and replace them.

TYSM everyone!

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Answer 3

turingtest2

Level 10

279,581 points

Jan 31, 2024 8:14 AM in response to IsaYonah

Apple sold music with DRM up until 2009, but content you ripped into the library from CD shouldn't have gained DRM. The only time this was likely to happen was for early adopters of the Apple Music service when if you used Apple Music to copy the library from one computer to another your personal tracks may have ended up with DRM on the destination system, and would have stopped playing when you cancelled the subscription.

See also If you forgot your Apple ID password - Apple Support. It should be possible to regain control of an old Apple ID, even if you no longer have access to the email address.

tt2

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Answer 4

Jan 31, 2024 9:13 AM in response to IsaYonah

Did by any chance you use to subscribe to iTunes Match and downloaded/replaced your songs with higher bitrate versions from Apple? If so, then these songs would be locked to that Apple ID. On the older computer, did you ever use iTunes Match and are you currently logged in into any Apple ID?

There are ways to remove DRM but I am not going to list them here. And if the CDs aren’t too many you could re-rip again (if you have an external CD drive). The advantage here would be to choose a newer codec (such as lossless).

As other people suggested, if you used migration assistant or Time Machine hopefully everything would work in the new computer like in the older computer.

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Answer 5

turingtest2

Level 10

279,581 points

Jan 31, 2024 9:10 AM in response to IsaYonah

Might be best to try copying a few of the affected items from the source computer to the destination by hand with an external drive, memory stick, or a shared network folder, and confirm that they will play normally if added to Music, or with QuickTime. Assuming that works as expected try the link ed posted earlier and revisit the library transfer.

tt2

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Answer 6

ed2345

Level 9

64,016 points

Jan 31, 2024 7:31 AM in response to IsaYonah

... They will play right now on my old 2014 Mac Mini that I exported them from. ...

Hello IsaYonah,

Not sure what you mean by "exported." You need to copy them from the old computer to the new one. Did you use this procedure from turingtest2: Move your iTunes library to a new computer - Apple Community

Copying them does not change the format.

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Answer 7

IsaYonah Author

Level 1

29 points

Jan 31, 2024 9:11 AM in response to ed2345

Migration assistant, from Time machine backup on the old one to the new one via external hard drive. And, no I didn't see those instructions. I assumed (very wrongly) that it was Apple and it would move flawlessly.

And what I find funny is that now that I'm going to have to re-source a lot of this music if I can't find my passwords, ALL OF IT is on Youtube and can be finagled into my own library if you know what I mean.

So it's stupid that Apple is trying to control something that is old, not theirs, and free to the world.

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Answer 8

Feb 3, 2024 9:46 AM in response to IsaYonah

That sounds great. As turingtest2 said, files you ripped from CDs have no DRM protection but those you bought did. Have you tried to redownload the ones you bought or re-authorized you computer? Specially important for the “new computer”. Instructions here. You may also check ITunes Store > Purchase history inside iTunes. You should be able to redownload those songs.

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Answer 9

IsaYonah Author

Level 1

29 points

Jan 31, 2024 9:14 AM in response to turingtest2

I would never/have never used a subscription service. When I put them on the computer originally they would have migrated over it in 2014 to the new computer so that would've been pre-Apple Music so maybe that happened when I updated 0S or something.

Thanks for the link I will check that out.

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Answer 10

IsaYonah Author

Level 1

29 points

Jan 31, 2024 9:17 AM in response to turingtest2

That is how I ended up doing it, because when I used migration assistant, it brought the library over as in the playlists, and it showed the songs, but none of the songs came with it. So I had to dump them all in via my back up external hard drive. And I am finding that some of them will play and I am almost positive. Those were from CD so I'm not sure why some do and some don't. I'm literally going to have to go through all 20,000 songs to see which ones won't play now.

Thanks for the links.

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Answer 11

IsaYonah Author

Level 1

29 points

Jan 31, 2024 9:22 AM in response to ricardo_leitao

Thanks for the suggestion but no, I didn't. Have only ever had my current Apple ID since around 2009.

I ripped the CDs to the comp comp computer so that I could get rid of the CDs. I have not kept them for 15 years. And there were hundreds.

And no, I did use Migration Assistant, but it didn't move the actual songs over so I had to move them from my external hard drive back up up. And I realized some of the ones I'm sure our CDs work and some don't. So? The funny thing is is that all of this is now available free for the finagling on YouTube.

And yeah, as for the thing, we shall not list here, I'm just not sure what sources are to be trusted.

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Answer 12

Jan 31, 2024 9:35 AM in response to IsaYonah

I don’t want to be mean but if you got rid of your CDs you technically don’t own the songs anymore. Neither a song is free to download from YouTube (even if possible with special apps). Anyway, good luck.

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Answer 13

IsaYonah Author

Level 1

29 points

Feb 1, 2024 10:21 PM in response to IsaYonah

Well I tried all of the ideas on what to do if you lose your password page.

When I gave it the email that it’s asking for (the old one, which I do not have anymore) it says “This apple ID is not valid or not supported”.

Makes no difference if I’m signed in (to my newer ID) or not.

Once it gave me the option to answer security questions, which I’m sure I could have, but then asked for a birth date. I don’t give my real one and have no idea what I used 14 years ago. I tried dates it might be but it said I must verify my identity, and then said it’s not valid or supported.

Even doing it via the iForgot page, it says not valid or not supported.

The other old address, it wanted my birthday again. I tried all I could remember but no luck.

I still have to dig around in an old external hard drive and see if by some miracle I saved passwords from 2009 or before...

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Answer 14

ed2345

Level 9

64,016 points

Feb 3, 2024 5:14 AM in response to IsaYonah

Hooray! Enjoy the music!

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What does Apple expect me to do now that hundreds of my CDs can no longer be accessed?

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