iCloud session expired, verify payment info

I fix one thing with iTunes/Match/iCloud and something else breaks.

First - if you are seeing "grey" track titles in iTunes after deleting a track and attempting to re-download it (this is assuming you have successfully matched you library, which took my 5-6 days of retries), look at the Cloud icon next to "Music" on the left hand menu. If it's animated, close iTunes and re-open it... that seems to work for me.

My current problem:

Everytime I log into iTunes it asks me for my account password (iTunes) to deal with automatic downloads. I get this, and I guess I'm okay with it, even though it's an incredible pain. I figure that I can avoid this by disabling "automatically check for downloads" on my iTunes setting.

Here's what I do not understand... if i'm in the middle of using iTunes for anything, but most often downloading, it will stop all downloads and do the following:

1) "iCloud session has expired" and force a re-login

2) "You must verify your payment information" and force an acknowledgement

3) Takes me to the iTunes Store account page and forces me to enter my credit card security code

If I'm lucky enough to get through that process without getting completely booted from iCloud, I can resume my downloads. If not, iTunes gets hung on the iTunes store page and nothing happens when I click "done".

My problem is that this is happening each and every time I download. I'm re-downloading iTunes tracks 10 at a time (not a huge load, smaller than an album download) and it happens without fail.

I read somewhere that this may be a system clock issue, but my clock is sync'd with Apple servers.

I've also read that this is an iCloud server issue, in which case, I guess I'm screwed.

Can anyone just verify whether this is a iCloud issue or a local client issue and if the latter, can I do something on my end to fix.

Just a note - I love Apple and I'm a committed fan. I even purchased MobileMe for 2+ years (yes, I know, I need therapy for that one). I even use iWeb and defend it vigorously to my friends and family who thought I was throwing money away for something that could be done easier and cheaper elsewhere (and I'm still defending, even through Apple killed my MobileMe web space and gave me no documentation on how to get my site ported to another hosting service - thanks Apple). My point: I'm trying my damnedest to buy into the Apple ecosystem but it is getting harder, and harder and harder to do so. I'm spending hours maintaining all of these systems (iOS devices, AppleTV, homesharing, iCloud, Match, iTunes accounts, Photostream, blah, blah) that in no instance work reliably and consistently. And, by the time I get them working, something else breaks or a service is changed. And, to add insult to injury, Apple is NO WHERE to be found on these forums, they release NO documentation for these services, and the users are left to fend for themselves in these forums.

Apple - you need to get it together... committed users like me who have given you a huge share of our time and money have options. None are as "elegant" as the Apple ecosystem, but they are catching up. If it's near impossible to maintain my Apple ecosystem, perhaps it's worth the pain and effort to try another one, e.g. Google or Amazon. This is the last thing I want to do, but I'm tired of browsing your support discussions.

Final note - thanks to the users for posting and replying on these forums... without you, this would be impossible.