Section 23. Authorize a Computer to Play Purchased Music


23. Authorize a Computer to Play Purchased Music

Before You Begin

See Also

Sign Up for the iTunes Music Store

Listen to Shared Music on the Local Network

Purchase a Song, Album, Video, or Audiobook from the iTunes Music Store

 


When you set up an iTunes Music Store account, the computer you use to set it up automatically becomes authorized to play protected AAC music files and MPEG-4 video files that you purchase from the store. You're entitled to authorize up to five computers (Macs or Windows PCs) that can play back any protected files purchased using your account. Authorizing a computer for a given account is a process that involves entering your iTunes Music Store account ID and password when prompted after you attempt to play a protected music or video file. The software that you use to play the file (iTunesor, on the Mac, QuickTime using the Finder) connects to the central iTunes authorization servers and assigns one of the five authorizations to the computer you're currently using. Subsequently, any protected files purchased with that ID can be played on that computer without further interference from the DRM.

Key Terms

Authorize To register a computer over the network so that it can play protected AAC and MPEG-4 files purchased using a particular iTunes account.

Deauthorize To revoke the ability for a computer to play protected AAC files purchased using a particular iTunes account, freeing up one of the available authorizations.


The limit of five authorizations per account is intended to reflect the basic needs of a household, analogous to the everyday usefulness of a physical CD. Imagine a customer who wants to play his purchased music on his primary computer, his laptop, and his computer at work; furthermore, he wants another computer or two in his home so that he can connect to his copy of iTunes over the network and play the music he purchased. That's five total places where one person's purchased music can be played. If the music-permission scheme allowed much more than that, one would wonder whether it's fair to the music publishers for a single purchased copy of the music to be enjoyed by that many people. That's why there's a limit of five authorizations.

You can revoke the authorization of a certain computer in a process known as deauthorization, as you will see in this task, and reassign that authorization to another computer as necessary.

To authorize a computer to use your purchased music, you must have an active Internet connection. If you're not connected to the Internet and your computer has not been authorized to open a protected AAC file, you won't be able to authorize your computer to play the file.

Authorize a Computer to Play Purchased Music


Add a Protected Media File to iTunes

On a computer other than the one where a protected AAC or MPEG-4 file was purchased and downloaded, add a copy of such a protected file to your iTunes Library as described in Add a Music or Video File to Your iTunes Library. This file might be copied to your computer over the network or sent as an email attachment, or it might be a song in a shared iTunes Library to which you connect as described in Listen to Shared Music on the Local Network. Regardless of how you got access to the file, the DRM restrictions on it prohibit you from opening the file without proper authorization.

Attempt to Play the File

Select the protected AAC song or MPEG-4 video and click the Play button. The song doesn't begin playing; instead, a dialog box similar to the Sign In window in the iTunes Music Store appears. The Apple ID for the account used to download the track is already filled in. You must enter the password for the account, proving that you're the person who purchased the music (or someone to whom the purchaser has given access privileges), to proceed.

Sign In to Your iTunes Music Store Account

When you enter your password and click Authorize, iTunes connects to the central authorization server and checks your credentials. It also makes sure that one of the five authorization slots for your account is available; if so, you get a message saying that the current computer has been successfully authorized, and the song begins to play.

From this point forward, you won't need to authorize to play any other protected AAC files on that same computer, provided that those files were all purchased with the same account. iTunes keeps track of whether it has been authorized for a certain Apple ID. If you have a catastrophic failure such that you need to reinstall your operating system or rebuild your computer from scratch, you only have to perform the steps in this task again to reestablish the authorization for your computer. (It doesn't use up another authorization slot to reauthorize a computer that the iTunes servers already know about.) However, you should deauthorize your computer before you sell it or if you need to send it in for service. Deauthorizing prevents potential situations in which a single computer might be assigned multiple, redundant authorizations.

Note

You can have more than one Apple ID authorized on a single computer, such as if two people share a computer but use separate music-buying accounts. Even having a computer mistakenly use two authorization slots is not in itself a problemit just means that one of your five authorization slots is being wasted. Deauthorizing a computer multiple times until it's no longer possible to do so is one way to clear up this problem.


Authorize to Play a Protected File in the Finder (Mac Only)

In Mac OS X, you can play protected AAC or MPEG-4 files in the Finder by previewing them in Column view or by using the Preview pane in the Info window (available by selecting the file and choosing File, Get Info). Because QuickTime, which is built into the Finder, ultimately handles the authorization process, attempting to play a protected AAC file in the Finder on a computer that isn't authorized results in the same dialog box, appearing as in Step 2. Enter your password for the Apple ID and click Authorize to play the protected file and any others purchased with the same account.

Deauthorize a Computer

If you want to revoke the authorization for a computer to play your purchased musicfor example, if you want to authorize an additional computer to play your music, and your five authorization slots are used upyou can do so. On the computer that you want to deauthorize, choose Advanced, Deauthorize Computer from the menu bar in iTunes. You are prompted to enter your account password; type it in and click Deauthorize. iTunes makes the necessary transaction with the Apple servers, and a message tells you that the computer has been successfully deauthorized.

It's a very good idea to deauthorize your computer before you sell it or send it in for service to avoid confusing the server into assigning more than one authorization to your computer. If you suspect that this has happened, view the related documents at the iTunes and Music Store Service and Support (Mac) or Music Store Customer Service (Windows) web links available under the Help menu in the iTunes menu bar.

Note

Deauthorization requires your password as a security measure. You wouldn't want just anybody to be able to come along and revoke your computer's ability to play your own files, would you?


Check Authorizations for Your Account

If you're not sure how many authorizations your account is using, you can check this information using the account information page in the iTunes Music Store. Click your Apple ID in the Account box, enter your Apple ID and password in the dialog box that appears, and click the View Account button. The screen that appears shows you how many computers are authorized to play music for your account. Compare this number to the number of computers you know to be authorized for your music. If there's a discrepancy, contact the iTunes Music Store support staffchoose iTunes Music Store Service and Support (Mac) or Music Store Customer Service (Windows) web links available under the Help menuto have the support staff revoke incorrect authorizations and free up those slots.

Tips

When you reach the limit of five authorized computers for your iTunes Music Store account, a new feature becomes available: a Deauthorize All button in the View Account section. Clicking this button clears all five authorizations for your account, and you don't have to involve the iTunes Music Store staff to do so. All it requires is that you use up all five authorization slots before the button appears.

Previously authorized copies of iTunes might still be able to play purchased music, even though the iTunes Music Store no longer authorizes them. To make sure that each copy of iTunes to which you have access is properly authorized, deauthorize it as described in this task and then reauthorize it by attempting to play a purchased song.





iPod + iTunes for Windows and Mac in a Snap
iPod + iTunes for Windows and Mac in a Snap (2nd Edition)
ISBN: 0672328992
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 150
Authors: Brian Tiemann

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