iTunes collection moving computers

[iceblade]

Hey guys, just had a real quick question. I'm on Windows right now as my main computer (it has the speed and RAM that my iBook really can't provide as a main computer) but plan to move to probably a macbook next fall. Thing is, I've recently gotten into the itunes store, and have bought, well, not a lot, but more then would be comfortable to just say 'good bye' to. Can I 'authorize' my new computer, and it will then download all my paid for songs for free, or will I have to pay to redownload them?

iTunes has invited me to backup my iTunes library. This seems like a good idea (especially if the above doesn't work), because I have a lot of songs ripped from CDs that would be a pain to rerip onto my new computer. Question here is more of if the above wouldn't work, but since I'm asking it, how difficult is it to get iTunes to reimport all these from CD onto a new computer, with all the data that iTunes has for the songs intact? How difficult is it to burn the CDs?

Thanks, this has been something that I've been wondering for a few weeks.

 

[plinden]

You don't need to download or re-rip anything. You can move your iTunes library from a PC to a Mac.

You should be backing up anyway. Hard drive will fail eventually. Get an external drive and copy your library over to it. Keep it sync'ed and it'll actually make it easier to move the library onto a new computer when you get it.