From Windows to Mac Itunes Question

[kaneda21]

I'm currently a windows user who is highly considering switching to a mac. I currently have a question regarding itunes and music. I currently only use itunes to update my iphone os.

My question is this:
when using itunes if i was to purchase a cd album and then reformatted my mac for whatever reason, upon reinstalling or updating itunes would my music that was purchased be there ie saved in my profile or in the cloud some where or would that be lost unless previously backed up?

ie thinking in regards to virsuses or other things etc.

 

[Medium Rare]

Whenever I buy music whether it is from Itunes or store bought cd,I always back up my iTunes library about once a month onto a cd so if anything goes wrong I always have a hard copy to re-import back into iTunes.

Hope this helps.

 

[macman4789]

Either use Time Machine to regularly backup your hard drive however if you're formatting you're probably not wanting to go back to what the drive was like so just use an external drive and occasionally drag over the updated itunes folder which will have all your music in.

 

[kaneda21]

Thank you to both of you guys Macman and Medium Rare.

Yes, I say reformatting in reference to virus....but with windows computers and installing programs etc i try to reformat at least once a year. I am not sure if you should do this with a Mac or not but I was at least wondering what I should do with any files in my Itunes present or future.

Similarly... I thought with the push for cloud computing that Itunes/Apple would be "automatically" backing up your "legal" purchases to encourage sales and that business model/medium.

I currently do both of the suggestions you guys gave on my windows base...burning any latest updated programs on disc for easy installation and all my personal files on external hard drives.

 

[GGJstudios]

Yes, I say reformatting in reference to virus....

I'm not sure what you mean by this. There has never been a virus in the wild that affects Mac OS X since it was released 10 years ago. The handful of trojans that exist can be easily avoided with some education and common sense and care in what software you install:

Mac Virus/Malware Info​