iTunes question
 

Hey gang

I can't seem to figure out what happened to the Computer Help Thread, so you moddish types can delete this if it still exists.

So I've got a question for you more computer-savvy, iTunes-using folks. Please forgive me for being an idiot when it comes to computers: I've had bad luck with 'em and have decided the best way to handle computer problems is to let it become somebody else's problem.

My iPod is set to update and charge itself on a computer that doesn't have internet. We've never had an internet connection that could support music downloads until now, so I've never had a reason to have it online. I've just been transferring my CD collection onto it. My sister, however, has a computer with internet that's also connected to iTunes. So I get a gift card for Chrismas for iTunes, and now that we've got DSL instead of Dial Up of the Damned, I can actually use it, right?

HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA!!!! No. I want one of these songs from iTunes on MY iPod. So my sister downloads the song onto her computer. But lo and behold, the song has some sort of super special protection thingie on it so it'll only play on her computer. I transferred it to a flash drive and put it on my computer, but I can only play it if I verify its purchase online. No internet, no songs. Teh suk!!!

So is there any way (Read: LEGAL way) I can get this song I bought on her computer to play on mine? Or will my only option for listening to this song be to create a cd to play in a cd player? Like some kind of uncool person.

Haahahahahahahahaa!! *wheeze*

Sorry about that.

On a more serious note, itunes just screwed you! If you weren't logged in as you on your itunes account you're pretty much screwed (legalwise). If you just want to play the song on your computer, not on your ipod you can transfer it via your flash drive and play it with just about any older player that supports MP4's.

You could burn your songs on your sister's computer to a CD and import them to your computer; it's an easy (though costly) way of stripping iTunes' DRM/copyright protection.

Yeah, that's what I ended up doing. Ah, the lengths I go to get legal music.

Meh, I have fifty bucks in iTunes gift cards that I haven't been able to use for these past two years. (They accumulate rather quickly.) I think I can afford a rewriteable CD or two.

CHT was closed/locked on the grounds people seemed to ignore it / questions didn't get answered so yeah, go ahead and thread it up for your computer-inquiry needs. Or at least those questions not along the lines of "So you know that Photoshop CS3 they got there, it sure would be neat to have a fully functional copy of that without having to pay any money for it, you know if anyone knows a guy."

...But seriously fuckin' PM me over here if you know a guy HA HA NO SOLICITING PIRATED SOFTWARE IS WRONG, KIDS seriously fuckin' help a brother out

You're not helping.

On the other hand, I think I have your fix. You'll need to have your computer authorized to your sister's account. It's quick and easy, I think, and at the very least Apple themselves will tell you how to do it!

This, at the very least, will allow you to play songs she has purchased on your computer. If there's yet another layer of copy protection authorization for your iPod, however, then the buck stops there. I don't own one of those myself, so I can't test it.

If all else fails, then yeah, burning to a CD and ripping it back off in mp3 form is your best option.

Incidentally it's supposed to have been just recently that they started releasing some unprotected music over the iTunes so if you feel like restricting your selections to EMI artists / are willing to pay $1.29 a song instead of 99 cents you could probably make your life a little easier.

Bah. "Making life easier" is for the weak.

I kid, I kid. Thanks for your help, everybody. Every day I become slightly less computer illiterate thanks to you.

Computer literacy is all about trial and error, and lots and lots of time.

Shit, I'm still trying to figure out how to porn login spoof. There's treasure everywhere!

No kidding, the first part wasn't. Keep on misconstruing what I say, please, I enjoy it.

The problem with getting her computer registered is that she downloaded it before doing so. At that point the only thing to do is what she did, which isn't "legal", itunes music can only be played on the specific device it is registered on, the burn and turn method violates that part of the user agreement, but not actual federal laws... Its all pretty silly either way. You can skip the whole cd bit if you just convert the file a couple times, or just don't use any Mac oriented players and you can listen to them wherever you want. This of course excludes ipods.

Oh shit, we are?

The only thing more terrifying than Mauve Mage is the prospect of a Mauve Mage capable of performing the rudimentary functions of modern society!

Why don't you just plug your ipod into your sister's computer?