iTunes 101: Deauthorize all computers at once

thank you so much! this was super helpful :)

My new lap top will not play some music that was purchased on another.
The message asks for my pass word to authorize my computer and when give it, it tells me that this computer is already authorized, but still it will not let me play the music.
I only have 2 computers authorized including this one.
Can anyone HELP??

How do you go about rediscovering which computers have been authorized for your account? I seem to have authorized one more device than I recall.

If you sell or otherwise dispose of a computer without deauthorizing it, technically you can't deauthorize it because the "deauthorize all" button is only available when all five authorizations have been used. However, when this happened to me, I wrote to Apple support and they were kind enough to take care of it for me.

Hello

Does "deauthorize all" actually remove the ability from the other computers to play iTunes purchases, or does it just allow you to authorize additional computers? If it prevents playing on originally authorized computers, how does it do that? Does iTunes.app ping the iTunes server every time the computer goes online to check for authorization status? If the computer does not go online, then the DRM'd files are safe?

Will somebody explain to me how this all actually works?
Thanks!

NOOO A TERRIBLE TIP!!!!

From the way this article is written it makes it sound like you can just auto-de-auth all your computers if you forget! But it is still very important to manually de-auth them because of this:

YOU CAN ONLY DO THIS ONCE PER YEAR!!!

Please mention this in the article! The way you wrote it, you're a lot more likely to screw a bunch of people over than to help anyone!

The authorization is bound by the serial number of the Logic board of your computer. That is why when you reinstall your OS you don't lose your authorization. That is also why Geniuses at the Apple Store always (should) ask you if you have deauthorized that computer from your iTunes account before they accept it to have its logic board replaced. If you don't deauthorize before having it replaced then you will need to re-authorize that computer with iTunes after you get it back.

How do I transfer my iPod to a new computer? I will deauthorize all of my machines, that sounds easy, but my PC crashed, and I want to transfer everything to my Powerbook (until I get an iMac to replace it, so I will need to do this process again).

I need my data backed up and resynced, but the backup does not have movies, nor my App high scores, etc.

I copied the iTunes directory, etc. from my PC to my external hard drive, but does not include the above I believe.

What is the best method in getting this done so I can use my laptop for iTMS, syncing, and storing purchased data? Last time I synced the pod on my mac, it erased everything and only backed up my purchased music (and apps). It did not transfer my own ripped music until I went back to my PC to resync the rest. But now my iPod is how I want it, my PC is dead in the water (now it's a server), I can't get my iPod to sync with my laptop without erasing everything first.

Please help!!

Thanks!

Or you could just not buy DRM'd music. I use iTunes, but I've never bought from the iTunes store. Imagine apple decides its just done with the music business or they become the victim of some bad business decisions five years hence. You'd have to burn all your tunes to disk and re-rip them. Forget that.

This is a great tip I had such a problem with reinstalling old systems and not being able to de-authorize them. Thanks so much