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Level 1

54 points

Can't transfer/sync digital copies of movies to iPad 2 - authorization issues

Is there a way or a need to authorize an iPad to play digital copies of movies? Over the past month, i've bought a few movies that have the downloadable digital copy option. I tried to physically transfer and also tried to sync through the iPad screen within iTunes the following movies: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Captain America, The Big Lebowski, and Transformers Dark of the Moon to transfer to my iPad, and I get a dialogue box that says: "Some of the items in the iTunes library were not copied to the iPad because you are not authorized for them on this computer." Then it lists those movies I just mentioned and refuses to put them on my iPad. I had bought the X-Men First Class and the THOR movies, and both those digital copies transferred just fine. My iMac that the iPad is hooked up to is authorized, and I didnt think that you had to or even could authorize an iPad. At least I didnt see an option for it within the settings panel.

I even bought the concert "Pearl Jam: The Kids are twenty" through iTunes ON my ipad, and when i just recently updated to the latest OS on my iPad, it took all my movies and music off, and when i went to put the Pearl Jam concert back on my iPad, it gave me that same authorization dialogue box and refused to transfer the film to my iPad. Which makes no sense because it played fine on my iPad after i downloaded it FROM my iPad.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Posted on Nov 6, 2011 2:48 PM

37 replies

Sail1973

Level 1

8 points

May 8, 2012 5:00 AM in response to iThinkDifferentToo

Thank you, you're a legend 🙂

hherf

Level 1

0 points

May 24, 2012 6:03 PM in response to redmatter

Perfect this approach worked for me

Jun 2, 2012 1:00 AM in response to hherf

I was having problems with syncing movies as well, then i tried playin them in itunes got an error about Quick Time not being installed, installed Qt and movies synced after i restarted itunes..i dont remember who asked about if movies played in itunes but thanks for the tip, never woulda thought of that.

ejust

Level 1

0 points

Jun 3, 2012 11:00 AM in response to Joel Haase

update quicktime to whatever computer you will be uploading from. make sure the computer your uploading from is authorized to play, aswell as upload the movie. i had the same prob. when you click and drag to your ipad it will ask you.

ejust

Level 1

0 points

Jun 3, 2012 11:01 AM in response to ejust

p.s. i have a p.c.

Jun 17, 2012 10:46 PM in response to redmatter

THANK YOU!!! I ran into this problem with a Disney Digital Copy. Needed to get it on the iPad for the kids and the message said it was not authorized to do so. I changed it from .m4v to .mp4 and now it plays just fine!

Jul 7, 2012 10:58 PM in response to weekendplaya

You may have resolved your issue already but if not... Did you play the movie on your computer? If not, double-click it in iTunes. You will be asked to authorize the computer to play the file. Do that, and the movie will start playing. Close the movie and then try transferring again. It worked for me. I think once you authorize the computer for the first time it is authorized for any digital copy you transfer to iTunes with that Apple ID because I was able to transfer all my other movies to the iPad after that. It would seem logical that if you authorize the computer through the iTunes menu, it would be authorized for everything automatically. Go figure.

As a side note - I had the exact problem as you, weekendplaya, movie not transferred to iPad because " you are not authorized for it on this computer". I tried changing the extension from m4v to mp4 as well, deleting the movie from the library then adding back. The movie transferred but I got the error message "cannot open". I would have tried IThinkDifferentToo's solution but I have a PC. By the way, I changed back the file extension to m4v before trying to play it. Not sure if it was necessary but that's what I did anyway.

Can't transfer/sync digital copies of movies to iPad 2 - authorization issues