Purchasing and Playing Music

From Acorn

Purchasing Music from the iTunes Store (iTS)

Before you or I purchase music, or can authorize music to play from a computer, you need an Apple ID. Your Apple ID will be your email address, and you should have only one Apple ID.

There are many places on the Apple web site to get an Apple ID, or you can create one here:

https://myinfo.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/MyInfo.woa

After you download purchased music to a computer, you cannot play it on that computer, nor can you move it to an iPod, unless the computer is authorized. The act of purchasing the music does not authorize the computer. The following box will come up if you are not authorized to play a selection:

Purchased music is encrypted to a single Apple ID, and can only be decrypted and played by a computer authorized to the same Apple ID. You can only authorize a computer to one Apple ID at a time. For example, if Marisa purchases a song from the iTS on a computer, and Frank purchases a song from the iTS on the same computer, the computer can only play one of the songs, depending on whether Marisa or Frank has authorized it. If neither one has authorized the computer, then none of the songs will play, nor will you be able to copy them to an iPod.

(To test: Can a computer authorized by Marisa copy a song to Frank's iPod? Probably, as iPods do not have to be authorized)

One Apple ID account can only authorize up to 5 computers at one time. You can deauthorize a computer by going to iTunes, Advanced, Deauthorize Computer, and then authorize a new one.

Additional information:

1. If music is purchased under one Apple ID, but on different computers, it can be moved and will play on any computer authorized to that Apple ID.
2. Purchased music is designed to go from the computer to the iPod. While it can also be moved out of an iPod and back to a computer, specialized software is needed.
3. Purchased music that is on an iPod will play using iTunes on a computer, even if it is not in that computer's music library. However, as it is encrypted, the computer has to be authorized to play music purchased with that Apple ID.
4. If the music is not purchased through the iTS, it will not be encrypted, and can be moved and played freely between computers.
5. Burning encrypted music to a CD removes the copy-protection, then the music can be moved and played freely between computers and iPods. However, iTS music is already compressed about 10:1, moving it to a CD and then back to another computer or iPod will recompress it again. While the original compression is almost lossless in quality, the second may create a musically inferior file.

More info on Apple ID here

More information on authorizing and deauthorizing computers can be found here