iPod Protected tracks & Authorizing

[thomasp]

Both I and my dad have downloaded music from the iTunes Music Store (UK) and sometimes "share" the tracks we've bought by ripping them to CD and importing them on the other's computer. The CDs also have the added advantage of being car and home stereo compatible. I realise that this may not be totally "legal"

Anyway, my dad had sent me two tracks that he'd downloaded from iTMS and then burnt to CD, but they're in M4P format on the CD - the protected version. And when I import them into iTunes they ask me for his username & password - which I don't know!


Is there any way I can play these on my Mac without having to re-burn them to CD from his machine (which is about 120 miles away from me...)?


If this thread breaks MR rules, then please wasteland/delete it

 

[Gymnut]

Couldn't you ask him, him being family and one who was an integral part of giving you life, for his username and password? I guess you could authorize those songs on your computer since he has up to 5 computers I believe. Then burn them in whatever format and deauthorize.

 

[thomasp]

Couldn't you ask him, him being family and one who was an integral part of giving you life, for his username and password? I guess you could authorize those songs on your computer since he has up to 5 computers I believe. Then burn them in whatever format and deauthorize.

How much would that screw up our respective computers for future iTunes purchases?

Also, re-burning about 10Mb does seem a bit of a waste of 30p's worth of CD-R

 

[Gymnut]

Well I believe you have up to five computers to authorize your purchases on and it should just be a matter of de-authorizing it after you've re-burned the CD.

 

[thomasp]

What happens if two different computers authorized to the same account are online (or just using iTunes but connected to the internet) at the same time?

Is there only a problem if they both use iTMS at the same time?


Note: the two computers are not on the same network. I'm at uni, my dad's at home!

 

[Gymnut]

From the iTunes Help Section:

To play purchases from the iTunes Store, you must authorize your computer using your iTunes Store account and password.

You can authorize up to five computers (Macintosh, Windows, or both) at a time. To play a purchased item on a sixth computer, you need to deauthorize another one. (Authorization helps protect the copyrights of the purchased items.) An iPod doesn't count as a computer.

You can authorize or deauthorize a computer at any time. Be sure to deauthorize a computer before you sell it or give it away.

Here are ways to authorize or deauthorize a computer:
To authorize a computer to play iTunes Store purchases, choose Store > Authorize Computer.
To deauthorize a computer, choose Store > Deauthorize Computer.
To deauthorize a computer to play spoken programs purchased from the Audible website, choose Advanced > Deauthorize Audible Account.
Tip: If you forgot to deauthorize a computer you no longer own, you can deauthorize all of your authorized computers at once. Choose Store > View My Account. You can use this method once a year.

http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/store/authorization/

If they're on at the same time the NYSE crashes.

 

[thomasp]

That post does not answer my question - please re-read my original post and reply, but without the stupid comments.


Thanks

 

[Gymnut]

My, how touchy. Re-read MY original reply in "asking" for your dad's username and password which would allow your computer to be "authorized" to play the songs that were burned in the protected format. There's a reason why it's called Digital Rights Management and if you're all bent out of shape of wasting 30 cents or so on a CD-R well... What do you not understand about " authorize up to five computers"? You are not logging in per se as your dad onto the iTunes store but rather authorizing your computer to play those particular songs. I'm sure there are those out there that have managed to crack Apple's DRM but to release it here on this forum would not be in good faith.

 

[thomasp]

My, how touchy. Re-read MY original reply in "asking" for your dad's username and password which would allow your computer to be "authorized" to play the songs that were burned in the protected format. There's a reason why it's called Digital Rights Management and if you're all bent out of shape of wasting 30 cents or so on a CD-R well...

Sorry if I came across as touchy - been a tiring, stressful day...

The reason for my post asking about two computers authorised to the same account and being "online" at the same time was following on from your earlier post about getting my dad's username and PW - if we're both logged into iTunes (not purchasing or anything like that) at the same time, will it screw anything up.

 

[DeaconGraves]

I believe you're not "online" when you have iTunes open.

If that was the case, you wouldn't be able to play any songs when not connected to the internet. You are only online when you are using the music store or for the few moments it takes to authorize your computer for the first time. And even when you are on the music store you're never really logged in (as it's essentially a web browser until you click to buy anything).

So (I am assuming) when you use your dad's password to unlock the songs he sent you, your computer just becomes one of the autorized computers. You don't have to be worried about being logged in at the same time. It's not AIM.

And nothing you've done is illegal, you can burn purchased songs to a CD a finite number of times until it stops you.

 

[thomasp]

Thanks for the reply, DeaconGraves.

Just out of interest - how did I end up with a CD with protected tracks on it? Would the CD have been burnt through the Finder instead of iTunes? Will iTunes always unprotect the files before burning them to CD?

 

[SilentPanda]

You need your dad's login and password. There is no other legal way around it. Your dad can have up to 5 people on his account. You basically authorize your computer to play his songs. You don't need to be on the internet ever again after that. It won't affect his playing of his own songs either.

Most likely your dad made a data CD instead of an audio CD.

Just get your dad's login and pass and the songs will play fine on both your computers (and 3 more for that matter if you wish!).