Mac App store: does software work on multiple macs?

[mattwolfmatt]

I'm sure this has been asked but I've looked through many of the pages on the news stories, and I've also looked on the OSX forums from today and didn't find anything, so . . .

I have three macs. An iMac for home, a personal MBP I use at work, and a mac mini connected to the TV. If I download an app from the Mac App store, will that work on all three of my computers? It appears to be setup similarly to the iTunes store, that each purchase is connected to your itunes account. If this is that case, then wouldn't one purchase work on all machines?

When I buy a movie from itunes I can play it on any computer (up to 5), along with any ipod, iphone, ipad.

Thank you!

Never mind, I found my answer on Macworld.

http://www.macworld.com/article/156962/2011/01/mac_app_store_faq.html?lsrc=top_1

The answer is yes, multiple computers are fine, as long as they all are signed in with the same itunes password.

Hmm, Aperture is looking awfully tempting . . .

 

[ESUNintel]

Thanks for posting this. I did a Google search to find the answer, and your post was amongst the top three.

I agree, Aperture 3 seems really tempting, and if I could have it on the iMac and Air it be amazing. I had to look twice, when I first saw it, I'm like "$179.99 ...not really saving anything", but took a second look and realized it's only $79.99!!.

I'm also tempted to wait for Ebay prices to drop so I can have an actual disc, I have feeling sellers won't have a choice but drop the price once people find out about Apertures new price on the App Store.

 

[Ifti]

In theory yes. You can simply log into the app store on another system using the same account and redownload the app.
Its the same with the iPhone/iPad etc, although thats limited to 5 different mac though I think.....

 

[zzmook]

Go to the Purchases tab

I just got the $80 Aperture special for my 2 macs - have to go to the Purchases screen, the install button is there. It made me confirm some credit card info - since this is not the Mac I sync my iTunes to, I think it saw it as a new machine for me. Worked, started downloading after that. I was a little leery of the credit card check, but I guess it's really the only way they have to make sure it's really me. Will scan the credit card statements and email confirmations to make sure I'm not double billed, but I'm pretty sure that this is not going to happen.

 

[Kenndac]

Will scan the credit card statements and email confirmations to make sure I'm not double billed, but I'm pretty sure that this is not going to happen.

I got that credit card check when downloading a free application on a new machine, so don't be too worried!

 

[mattwolfmatt]

Thanks for posting this. I did a Google search to find the answer, and your post was amongst the top three.

I agree, Aperture 3 seems really tempting, and if I could have it on the iMac and Air it be amazing. I had to look twice, when I first saw it, I'm like "$179.99 ...not really saving anything", but took a second look and realized it's only $79.99!!.

I'm also tempted to wait for Ebay prices to drop so I can have an actual disc, I have feeling sellers won't have a choice but drop the price once people find out about Apertures new price on the App Store.

What good is it to have the disc? I have a closet full of 5 year old CDs and DVDs that have never been used. If you download it from the mac store, you can always re-download it if something happens to your mac or if you get a new one.

 

[jace88]

What good is it to have the disc? I have a closet full of 5 year old CDs and DVDs that have never been used. If you download it from the mac store, you can always re-download it if something happens to your mac or if you get a new one.

Some people like me are old school- if we're going to spend big bucks on something, we don't like being dependent on an online website to host the software in case it goes down/etc.

That being said you could easily overcome this by just burning it to a backup DVD or something.

 

[patsfan83]

Some people like me are old school- if we're going to spend big bucks on something, we don't like being dependent on an online website to host the software in case it goes down/etc.

I would love to know the odds of having to reinstall software and the host website not being available. I'm going to go on a limb and say it is quite low.