Ugh! I have a computer in my study and one in the kitchen, one in my office and a laptop for travel. They all have music on them, different music often. I will be working on a project and want to buy a track to listen to, and I am on my laptop in an airport; I want to show my family something, and I purchase a different track on the kitchen computer. All of this is fine until I try to backup ALL my music onto one hard drive and I am told “This computer is not authorized to have access to this CD.” Next message: “You have already authorized 5 computers, you may not access this CD.” Next I de-authorize the old Mac that I replaced 3 years ago and forgot to de-authorize. “This mac is de-authorized.” Now, I try again and get the same sorry message, and around and around I go.
HOWEVER, every CD that I downloaded into iTunes transfers perfectly every time, while many that I purchased on iTunes do not. Reasons that most people buy CDs: -they are lucky enough to have a really good sound system and know that CDs are better quality sound than MP3s and even MP4s. -They like to have the cover art and the CD booklet that comes with most CDs. -They like to be able to find the CD and loan it to a good friend whom they are sure will return it! -But, most important, they will never have to purchase it again because they have lost the file, erased it by mistake, tried to back it up or move it to another computer. So, as I sit here and try to recover the 10% of the music on my computers that I have already purchased but no longer can access, I vow that I will not buy any more downloads and will wait for the CD to arrive in the mail. I know that I will never keep this promise, but I certainly am going to ask myself the next time I want to buy a piece of music, “Do I really need it now or could I wait 48 hours for the CD to arrive?” In this, “I want it now” world that I am part of, it can be difficult, but I am going to try.