[Matt_G]

Ok, I just purchased my first album on the music store and I'm going to Sync it to my iPod shortly.
I only own one Mac, and I'm selling it to buy a new one. When I get my new Mac, does Apple have record of me buying the album, and will I be able to download it again free of charge since I already paid for it? Or do I need to figure out a way to back up my music before I sell my computer?

[lkalliance]

Apple does NOT keep a record. You'll need to put it on your iPod or back it up somewhere.
Also this tip from Apple: Deauthorize your computer before you sell it. You can share the file among three authorized computers...if you sell it without deauthorizing then you don't get to reclaim that authorization.
Wiping the hard drive does NOT deauthorize...deauthorize first, then clean out the drive.

[Matt_G]

Ok, so what you're saying is I can go into my iTunes music folder on my hard drive and copy the AAC file to a ZIP disk or something like that, and copy it onto my new computer...however, I'm only authorized to have it on three computers, so I should de-authorize the song from the old computer first. Right?

[MacCheetah3]

Hi
Yep.
About Authorization and Deauthorization
MacCheetah3
"Fireworks...The silent killers"

[Matt_G]

Cool, now I get it. Thanks!

[lkalliance]

Cheetah, I haven't bought any tracks yet, have you? Here's a question: are purchased tracks streamable via Rendezvous?

[Chris Breen]

Purchased tracks are not streamable. You must convert them to a non-protected format to stream them.
Chris

[lkalliance]

Thanks, Chris. I expected that would be the case.

[CountZero]

I thought you can stream/share the purchased tracks, but only on 3 different macs?

[lkalliance]

You can share them, but perhaps streaming is different than sharing, since way more than three people could see your shared playlist. Still, I'd love to be able to stream to the authorized comps (maybe that's it...can't authorize a stream?). It's so much more convenient.

[Chris Breen]

No, the 3-Mac limitation is that you can play purchased music on up to three Macs that are authorized with your iTunes Music Store account. It's a scheme similar to the one used by Audible.com.
When you use Rendezvous to connect to another Mac you'll have access to all the songs enabled for sharing on that Mac except for purchased tracks.
Chris

[boathouse]

So what happens if your Mac gets stolen or destroyed? You loose one authorized mac forever?? I'd like to assume that if you call up customer service and tell them what happened, they'll give you your authorization.

[Chris Breen]

My undestanding is that if your Mac is lost or stolen you are held personally responsible for that authorization and you're sent to jail for a period of no fewer than 25 years (part of the 3 Mac Strikes law so popular in California). /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
Chris

[Jon Seff]

We asked Apple that question the other day, and they basically said in that situation, call customer support and they will be able to take care of it.
Jon