cant play some tunes in iTunes becase of authorization

[otispunkmeyer]

itunes keeps telling me that i have already authorized my account on 5 computers, so all the music i purchased i cant actually listen to.

now it probably is true that i have authorized it on over 5 computers..... thing is its not physically 5 computers.

its 2 computers

my old pc, which saw major overhauls about 4 times and then was sold on, and now i have a MBP. this is the only computer i have.

so basically the other 4 computers dont technically exist any more so i cant do as iTunes says and go de-authorize them.

what can i do? i hate DRM its like you buy music but its not actually yours at all.

 

[TheStu]

The DRM is at fault here, but it also has to do with the fact taht OS X iTunes ties itself somehow to the machine in question. I have re-installed Tiger and Leopard (always trying new things, said new things do not always play nice) plenty of times, and I am still at 3 authorizations (OS X, Windows on laptop, windows on desktop). However, after I had to reinstall Windows on my desktop, then my laptop (upgrade? to Vista) and my friend wanted to listen to my streaming music, he couldn't... so here is what you do.

Open up iTunes. Switch to the Store. Make sure you are logged in, and then click on your account name there on the right, underneath the search bar. After entering your password, go to Account Info. Within there is the option (you can only do this once a year) to deauthorize all systems.

 

[Kaido]

For the future, get a CD-RW, burn your iTunes music files to CD, then rip in iTunes with the settings MP3/128kbps (the protected AACs are only 128 unless you buy the iTunes Plus stuff, I think). Also, I believe Amazon offers DRM-free MP3 downloads now.

I'm all for DRM because if I was an artist, I wouldn't want my stuff getting ripped off, but I think pretty much everyone's implementation of DRM is stupid. I've had this same problem before multiple times in iTunes, and in the past there wasn't a de-authorize button so you had to wait for tech support to get back to you.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: Kaido
For the future, get a CD-RW, burn your iTunes music files to CD, then rip in iTunes with the settings MP3/128kbps (the protected AACs are only 128 unless you buy the iTunes Plus stuff, I think). Also, I believe Amazon offers DRM-free MP3 downloads now.

so you're willing to sacrifice quality and recompress a compressed source to get rid of DRM?

I'd suggest if you're going to do that, just buy the cd and be done with it, as not to support the whole DRM bit. Or better yet, just buy songs that are DRM-free.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

thanks dudes, ill give TheStu's method a go first. failing that ill have to rip

cheers lads

 

[otispunkmeyer]

nice one, Thanks TheStu... it worked !

 

[TheStu]

Glad to be of service.

Burning the songs to CD to rid thyself of the DRM is a silly idea, just because of the whole compression thing. iTunes Plus music is DRM free, but is 'silk screened' with your user info (whoopedy doo) and is also 256Kb/s AAC which is, as we all know, 128 more than 128Kb/s AAC... that's right, they turned it up to 256! (I'm waiting for Amazon, Napster, or one of the others to start selling 257Kb/s songs, just so they can say that it is 1 more). I really am not that big a fan of DRM, but I am a lesser fan of buying a CD for $15+ when I only wanted 2-3 songs on it.

 

[Kadarin]

You can also find and use a program called QTFairUse to strip the DRM. This will convert the file from an m4p to an m4a, and will also allow it to play in Winamp and other players.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: Kadarin
You can also find and use a program called QTFairUse to strip the DRM. This will convert the file from an m4p to an m4a, and will also allow it to play in Winamp and other players.

unfortunately it's windows only I believe. I've also had about a 50-50 shot of it working properly. But then again I was trying in a virtualized environment.. heh

 

[mshan]

Call Apple iTunes and have them deauthorize all of your computers remotely.

I think you are allowed to do this once a year.

May also be an option to do this inside of Apple Store account preferences.

 

[ShotgunSteven]

I need to de-authorize my other computers as well. All four have ceased to exist, usually catastrophically. If I were the type of person to upgrade before my current computer was on its last legs, I wouldn't have these problems, lol.

I do recall some threads in the past about stripping the DRM out of iTunes music files, not sure if there is still a way to do that with the newer versions of iTunes.

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Originally posted by: Kadarin
You can also find and use a program called QTFairUse to strip the DRM. This will convert the file from an m4p to an m4a, and will also allow it to play in Winamp and other players.

unfortunately it's windows only I believe. I've also had about a 50-50 shot of it working properly. But then again I was trying in a virtualized environment.. heh

One thing about it: The music needs to be authorized to play on iTunes on the PC on which you are using QTFairUse. Given that, I've had a 100% success rate.

 

[imported_Shivetya]

Originally posted by: TheStu
Glad to be of service.

Burning the songs to CD to rid thyself of the DRM is a silly idea, just because of the whole compression thing. iTunes Plus music is DRM free

You have no choice if you want to create a MP3 CD for your car. You have to burn them in CD format and rip them back as iTunes will not let you burn to a MP3 CD anything with their DRM on it

 

[erikistired]

remember when you reformat a pc to deauthorize your itunes first!

 

[Kaido]

You know what stinks? I went to access my wife's library today and couldn't authorize my computer because I had de-authorized the entire account within the past year. I have to wait until August 2008 or contact tech support. Gee, fun. Thanks to this small hassle, I will be buying my music DRM-free from Amazon from now on.