I'm preparing to install Snow Leopard tonight and I know I can just copy my whole iTunes folder to an external hard disk and that's my backup done - but should I de-authorize my computer after copying off my iTunes folder.. Or before?! Help. 
Your MAC address hasn't changed so it won't count against you. Still it's always a good idea to deauthorize first.
The authorizations are based off of your hardware MAC address. Even if you don't deauthorize when you reauthorize on the other side it won't count against you.Ok. Thanks!
So - deauthorize before clean installing Snow Leopard but deauthorize after backup.... Yes, I'm aware I'm a bit thick at the moment. lol
Are you moving to a new computer?I'm preparing to install Snow Leopard tonight and I know I can just copy my whole iTunes folder to an external hard disk and that's my backup done - but should I de-authorize my computer after copying off my iTunes folder.. Or before?! Help.![]()
Why?Your MAC address hasn't changed so it won't count against you. Still it's always a good idea to deauthorize first.
Every computer with a network adapter of any kind has a unique hardware MAC address identifier. (Even Bluetooth and it will probably fail over to Ethernet or 802.1x if the other type of adapter isn't there.) When you authorize it must make some sort of hash using the MAC address and check them against what they have on their end. Since it hasn't changed they don't increment the number of machines you have authorized.Why?