Lost iTunes

[Buttons76]

My PC died last week RIP

No drama i thought, i'll just load iTunes on to my laptop and use that instead.
Now i do have a problem.

I have lost all of my music (and my apps for phone that were i thought were held on my iTunes account and not on PC)

The music i had transfered from CD isn't the biggest issue (although friggin annoying!) but what about the music i had purchased?!
At first i thought that when i logged in to my iTunes account, there would be some sort of copy of my purchases.... wrong.
Then i though, "it's ok, the music is on my iPod and iPhone so i'll just reverse the transfer".... wrong again (although i can kind of understand this).

Surely there must be something i can do? this must be quite a common problem?

[ObeyOne]

Hi.. any apps you downloaded and paid for you can download again for free in the app store.. not sure about the music - maybe the same??

Regards

Karl

[PoochJD]

HI,

Unfortunately, any music you have paid for already, has now gone forevermore! You will have to re-buy all of it, I'm afraid as otherwise anyone could pay for one track/album, claim they've lost it, and then re-download it for free for someone else illegally.

Any Apps you have, free or paid-for, however, should be able to be downloaded again.

Ultimately, there's little else you can do, except - remember to BACKUP everything, to somewhere safe, like an External Hard Drive, DVD's/CD's and/or a Memory Stick in the future! I know that doesn't help you now, but you've now learnt an expensive and timely lesson, the hard way, just as I did a couple of years ago.

I find it best to keep all my Apps and Music Downloads only on a backup hard drive, and not my usual laptop PC. That way, if the laptop goes tits-up, I don't lose all of my iPhone files.


Pooch

[ROBIN50N]

Originally Posted by PoochJD

HI,

Unfortunately, any music you have paid for already, has now gone forevermore! You will have to re-buy all of it, I'm afraid as otherwise anyone could pay for one track/album, claim they've lost it, and then re-download it for free for someone else illegally.

Any Apps you have, free or paid-for, however, should be able to be downloaded again.

Ultimately, there's little else you can do, except - remember to BACKUP everything, to somewhere safe, like an External Hard Drive, DVD's/CD's and/or a Memory Stick in the future! I know that doesn't help you now, but you've now learnt an expensive and timely lesson, the hard way, just as I did a couple of years ago.

I find it best to keep all my Apps and Music Downloads only on a backup hard drive, and not my usual laptop PC. That way, if the laptop goes tits-up, I don't lose all of my iPhone files.


Pooch

that cant be right. if it was the same could be said about apps.


try going to your purchase history.

[dishdoc]

Unfortunatley it is true, thats why itunes prompts you to back up your purchases every now & then ( mine does anyhoo!)

[RobM83]

Originally Posted by ROBIN50N

that cant be right. if it was the same could be said about apps.


try going to your purchase history.

It is right. For numerous reasons, such as chart placings as well as copyright protection (not an issue for DRM'd music). But lost music does have to be paid for again. Apps don't as they wont run unless signed into your iTunes account, which isn't always the case for music (non-DRM).

Now when you say your PC died, what exactly happened? As if the HDD is still working you can pop it into a external HDD caddy, connect it to your PC via USB and copy the music and any other content onto your laptop. Caddys cost very little these days too and are easily available to buy.

To be honest, it's even worth trying if you think the HDD is at fault as sometimes you can still get lucky.

[ViolentReaction]

I had the same problem, but I contacted Apple and they let me re-download everything without being charged again.

Give that a go and see how you get on

[ROBIN50N]

Originally Posted by RobM83

It is right. For numerous reasons, such as chart placings as well as copyright protection (not an issue for DRM'd music). But lost music does have to be paid for again. Apps don't as they wont run unless signed into your iTunes account, which isn't always the case for music (non-DRM).

Now when you say your PC died, what exactly happened? As if the HDD is still working you can pop it into a external HDD caddy, connect it to your PC via USB and copy the music and any other content onto your laptop. Caddys cost very little these days too and are easily available to buy.

To be honest, it's even worth trying if you think the HDD is at fault as sometimes you can still get lucky.

glad i went back to android now.

[Buttons76]

Ultimately, there's little else you can do, except - remember to BACKUP everything, to somewhere safe, like an External Hard Drive, DVD's/CD's and/or a Memory Stick in the future! I know that doesn't help you now, but you've now learnt an expensive and timely lesson, the hard way, just as I did a couple of years ago.

i'll definately be doing this once its sorted!

thx for replies people

[RobM83]

Originally Posted by ROBIN50N

glad i went back to android now.

What does that have to do with the discussion here? If you buy DRM protected music it's DRM protected, and therefore chargeable if you want to download it again, regardless of what mobile phone you own.

Please consider the relevancy of your posts before replying in future.

[ROBIN50N]

Originally Posted by RobM83

What does that have to do with the discussion here? If you buy DRM protected music it's DRM protected, and therefore chargeable if you want to download it again, regardless of what mobile phone you own.

Please consider the relevancy of your posts before replying in future.

well what i should of said is am glad i dont use itunes to get songs on my phone anymore. songs i buy from play.com can be re downloaded to other pcs. ive even downloaed them to pc and then to my phone via the phones browser.

[RobM83]

That's more relevant... and nice choice of edit too, your first version wouldn't have been clever.

I think regardless of where you get your music from, backups are vital. Even if there is no cost involved, it's easier to restore from backup than it is to re-download your music if your PC dies. But as always, backups only seem important when you've lost everything for the first time.

[Paul.B2]

Its possible to transfer all your purchases from your iPhone. go to 'File' and then 'Transfer Purchases From ******* iPhone'
It does Apps & video, and i'm just waiting to see if it does music too so will update when its finished.

[Gary D]

Originally Posted by Buttons76

My PC died last week RIP

No drama i thought, i'll just load iTunes on to my laptop and use that instead.
Now i do have a problem.

I have lost all of my music (and my apps for phone that were i thought were held on my iTunes account and not on PC)

The music i had transfered from CD isn't the biggest issue (although friggin annoying!) but what about the music i had purchased?!
At first i thought that when i logged in to my iTunes account, there would be some sort of copy of my purchases.... wrong.
Then i though, "it's ok, the music is on my iPod and iPhone so i'll just reverse the transfer".... wrong again (although i can kind of understand this).

Surely there must be something i can do? this must be quite a common problem?

Buying MUSIC from ITunes is...... (i wont say what i think of it)

If its DRM'ed then you can only put it on 5 machines - your PC and iPhone are 2 so 3 left FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. I've still got CD's i bought in 1984 - god knows how many machines they have been played in - and know one pops up and tells me what i can and cant do with it.

If you buy music online get the CD and RIP it - you'll have the CD forever and no one can tell you you cant rip it again (and you cant lose it)

iTunes is one of the greatest cons of the 21st Century.in time people will realise that, i've only bought music from iTunes that i cant get anywhere else.

I have 3 versions of my Music Library - I have 2 external hard drives that are mirror copies of each other and i have another drive at my mum's in a fire proof safe that i update once a month. Its taken me a life time to assemble my collection - i wont give it up easily.

G

[RobM83]

Originally Posted by Gary D

If its DRM'ed then you can only put it on 5 machines - your PC and iPhone are 2 so 3 left FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. I've still got CD's i bought in 1984 - god knows how many machines they have been played in - and know one pops up and tells me what i can and cant do with it.

Small point, but that bold bit is a little misleading as you can de-authorise PC's if you need. I know exactly where you're coming from and know your hatred of iTunes, but that comment makes it out to be more restrictive than it is in reality.

Plus Apple are moving away from DRM and have converted most of their library to iTunes+ which is DRM free, so no such worries.

Horses for courses though... there are loads of online sources of legal music. I use iTunes for the convenience, but don't buy DRM music from it if I can help it.