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Re-download of purchases

J

jasg49

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 19, 2010
84
4
I'm a bit confused. Here is my scenario:

I have two Macs - call them I and II. Each is associated with the same iTunes account. I have two iDevices - A and B - A is sync'd with Mac I and B with Mac II.

If I purchase an iBook on iDevice A, am I allowed to re-download it on iDevice B without being charged again?
 
The way I would do it is find the main iTunes folder on your Mac that the book is published on. Go into the iTunes Music folder, then go into books, choose the book and copy the file.

Take that file to your second Mac, open it with iTunes and then sync that to the device that the book isn't on?
 
jasg49 said:
I'm a bit confused. Here is my scenario:

I have two Macs - call them I and II. Each is associated with the same iTunes account. I have two iDevices - A and B - A is sync'd with Mac I and B with Mac II.

If I purchase an iBook on iDevice A, am I allowed to re-download it on iDevice B without being charged again?
Click to expand...

Your purchases are tied to your iTunes account, not your devices. You'll be OK :D
 
You know on my iPod touch when I download an app that I have bought before I receive a message stating "You have purchased this... so you wont be charged again" something like that... I have never seen that on the iPad. Any clue why?
 
jasg49 said:
I guess I had better call Apple, they charged me twice for the same book.
Click to expand...

First, make sure both devices are signed into the same iTunes account. Then go into iBooks store, and at the bottom right, there's an icon labelled "purchases." Click that, and you get a list of all books you've bought through iBooks. Redownload away without fear of being charged again.

I wish they'd do this for apps too!
 
jasg49 said:
I guess I had better call Apple, they charged me twice for the same book.
Click to expand...

That happened to me, too, the other night. The funny thing was that I had two books to re-download. The first, I got that expected "You have already purchased this item, would you like to download it again for free?" message. With the second, downloaded half a minute later, I got no message, but a charge showed up on my account. I filed a complaint through iTunes, and they refunded me, but the (form) email informing me of that also said they were making a one-time exception, that the iTunes terms and conditions state that all sales are final. Whatever. I haven't had this problem with the other places I buy ebooks, so I'll probably be more likely to buy from those other places in the future.
 
Night Spring said:
Then go into iBooks store, and at the bottom right, there's an icon labelled "purchases." Click that, and you get a list of all books you've bought through iBooks. Redownload away without fear of being charged again.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I hadn't noticed that icon before.
 
Turn on home sharing and set each computer to automatically download what you purchase on the other.
 
Night Spring said:
First, make sure both devices are signed into the same iTunes account. Then go into iBooks store, and at the bottom right, there's an icon labelled "purchases." Click that, and you get a list of all books you've bought through iBooks. Redownload away without fear of being charged again.

I wish they'd do this for apps too!
Click to expand...

Can you explain further. I have two iPads, two iPhones that share the same iTunes account but different libraries. NOT ONCE have I been charged for the same apps or books. Not once.
 
sapporobaby said:
Can you explain further. I have two iPads, two iPhones that share the same iTunes account but different libraries. NOT ONCE have I been charged for the same apps or books. Not once.
Click to expand...

Purchases from iTunes/iBooks are tied to the iTunes account, not to your iTunes library. What you've experienced is normal behavior. I'm just recommending that you redownload iBooks using the "Purchases" link in iBooks store to avoid any possibility for being charged twice for the same book. Reasons I can think of that you might be charged twice are:

1. You have inadvertently signed into a different iTunes account than the one you used to buy the book you tried to redownload.

2. Some books appear multiple times in the iBooks store for whatever reason, and might be considered separate books for accounting purposes, so if you pick the wrong one, you might be charged again.

3. Some glitch or bug in iTunes/iBooks.

So just use the "Purchases" link and you have peace of mind!
 
Night Spring said:
I wish they'd do this for apps too!
Click to expand...

You can just "rebuy" the app from the store and it will tell you that you already bought it and won't be charged. The same thing applies to in-app purchases, so if you ever reset your iDevice and lose your in-app extras, just "rebuy" them (for those apps that don't have a "check for purchased stuff" option).
 
vbtwo31984 said:
You can just "rebuy" the app from the store and it will tell you that you already bought it and won't be charged. The same thing applies to in-app purchases, so if you ever reset your iDevice and lose your in-app extras, just "rebuy" them (for those apps that don't have a "check for purchased stuff" option).
Click to expand...

Yes, but if you see an app in the app store and you can't remember if you previously bought it or not, you can't tell until you click the "buy" button. The "purchases" list in iBooks lets you see all the books you've bought before you redownload them, so no more guessing.
 
jasg49 said:
I'm a bit confused. Here is my scenario:

I have two Macs - call them I and II. Each is associated with the same iTunes account. I have two iDevices - A and B - A is sync'd with Mac I and B with Mac II.

If I purchase an iBook on iDevice A, am I allowed to re-download it on iDevice B without being charged again?
Click to expand...

Yes, you can do it in up to 5 machines + iDevices
 
sapporobaby said:
Where is this setting that you mentioned. I do not see it in iTunes and I have network sharing enabled on all of my Macs.
Click to expand...

in itunes under advanced, turn on home sharing. this is different than just sharing on the network. make sure both computers have this enabled. on the left sidebar you should the other shared computer. select this computer and on the bottom right, there should be a settings button. hit settings and select which files you want automatically transfered going forward.
 
EssentialParado said:
Are you saying the iPad can use home sharing? Or am I misunderstanding the discussion?
Click to expand...

OP said he has two computers, and wants his purchased content on both computers, so people are suggesting he use Home Sharing to do so. Ipads aren't directly related to this part of the discussion.
 
Night Spring said:
OP said he has two computers, and wants his purchased content on both computers, so people are suggesting he use Home Sharing to do so. Ipads aren't directly related to this part of the discussion.
Click to expand...

Ah, I see. I got all excited for a brief moment. Am I the only one who misses not having home sharing on the iPad?
 
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