Retrieving previous purchases in iTunes.

[Handle]

My aunt told me that she had an older Windows laptop that she purchased many songs on in iTunes. That laptop got destroyed and she purchased a new Windows laptop and put her Apple account into iTunes on the new laptop but none of her songs are there.

What can I tell her to do in order to download the songs that she bought on the other laptop?

Thanks.

 

[Apple_Robert]

If her account wasn't based on an old AOL account, iTunes support should be able to assist her in retrieving her music. She needs to call them.

Edited to add: Logging into the old iTunes account is not going to make the song automatically show. She will need to log into her account and manually download them again. Make sure she knows that.

 

[Handle]

How does she go about doing that? Is there an option to download previously purchased songs? She has about 150 of them that she purchased on the old computer. She uses the same Apple ID on the new computer.

 

[Agent-J]

I've noticed that lately, only "recently purchased" albums not yet downloaded show up on my Macs, though if you click the artist name, you can find all the stuff by them you've purchased.

 

[rigormortis]

anything you purchased is in itunes or the iPhone and can be retrieved. even if it was something removed from the store. this happens a lot. i don't understand what the guy says about AOL. i guess i do not go back that far. my earliest purchase was in 2007

on itunes, you need to go to the itunes store home screen. it might ask you for your username and password. as long as you know your username and password you can get your stuff back

you go to the store home screen and to the right you see purchases. when you click on that you can click on "not in my library" and under that, you can see tv shows, movies, music and apps, etc

anything there, even deleted stuff from the store, like Ultimate Warrior's soundboard or "Dr Danger" starring Bob Arnot can be downloaded again

i got a list of stuff that i was able to retrieve on my iPhone when other people said it was impossible


a lot of people say that can't get anything back that apple deletes from its itunes and app stores, unless you retrieve it from iTunes, and that is just 100 % myth. that is no longer true as far as i can tell

please don't misunderstand what i am saying. please don't take it the wrong way and think i am saying we no longer have to back up our stuff to itunes or iCloud

however i have heard that books are one thing that apple may not allow you to download again. so always back up books

here is a cool screen capture of my iPhone 6+ running apple's "iPhone 4 Case program". i was able to retrieve this without itunes. just like everything else that has ever been removed from the store. as long as an item is purchased it is yours forever. apple can get all bent out of shape over Videolan player , or a tethering feature in a flash light app, but if you bought it, it is yours and apple doesn't take it away


i guess they took their server down so i can't get a bumper case for my iPhone 6 plus

 

[rigormortis]

maybe if you have more then 5 computers and 10 iOS devices is a good reason why you can't download lost apps and lost video and lost music

if an app does not show up in that purchase screen, it is most likely no longer compatible for your iOS device. like using an iPad to download a flashlight program.

it is pretty easy and straight forward.
click on store on the top of your screen
click on "authorize this computer"
click on "store home" or shift command H
you will see in the center of the screen
my apps, my iPhone apps, my iPad apps updates and app store

to the right of the screen is a pull down menu where you can select apps, music, movies, tv shows etc.

i selected "music"
and i clicked on "purchases"

i click on not in my library

i can click on whatever ones i want or click on download all

same for apps and other content you want back