Recovering Music That Wasn t Downloaded Successfully

Recovering Music That Wasn't Downloaded Successfully

If the download process for music you purchased wasn't completed for some reason (for example, you lost your Internet connection in the middle of the process), you can restart the download process to recover music you have purchased but weren't able to download successfully.

Note

No, you can't use this technique to download music you have purchased to more than one computer. When you successfully download music, that music is marked as having been downloaded. The iTunes Music Store doesn't care to which computer you have downloaded it. When you buy music, you are entitled to download it once and only once.

To do this, choose Advanced, Check for Purchased Music (see Figure 25.1). You will be prompted to enter the user account and password for the account under which the music was purchased. Do so and then click Check.

Figure 25.1. You use the Check for Purchased Music command to recover music you have purchased but weren't able to download for some reason.

The music you have purchased will be checked against the music that has been successfully downloaded. If music is found that hasn't been downloaded successfully, you will be able to download it again. If you have successfully downloaded all the music you have purchased, you will see a message stating so (see Figure 25.2).

Figure 25.2. When you see this message, you have downloaded all the music you have purchased.

Note

If you use iTunes on only one computer, you never have to even think about authorization because it is handled for you automatically. If you use five or fewer computers, it still isn't a problem because after you sign in to your account on each machine, you don't have to bother with it again. Only when you use six or more computers to play music you have purchased from the iTunes Music Store do you need to concern yourself with this topic.