Authorizing and Deauthorizing Your Computers

Authorization protects the artists that create the music, videos, and audiobooks you love. Music purchased from the iTunes Store can be transferred to up to five computers, burned to CD on a single playlist seven times, and synced with an unlimited number of iPods. When you play a song on your computer and enter your user name and password, you are authorizing that computer to play your purchased music.

Tips

Deauthorizing all computers

If you’ve reached your limit of five authorized computers and you no longer have access to a computer, you can deauthorize all computers, and then reauthorize the ones you still have access to. To deauthorize all computers, sign in to the iTunes Store using your account. Click View Account, and then click Deauthorize All. You can only deauthorize all your computers this way once per year, so use this feature with care.

"I only have two computers, but it shows that I have three computers authorized"

If you lose access to a computer before you’re able to deauthorize it, you might end up with three authorized computers, for example, even though you only own two computers. You don’t need to be concerned, since you’re still under your limit of five. Until you have five authorized computers and need to authorize additional ones, you don’t need to worry about deauthorizing lost computers.

Steps

Authorize a computer to play purchased music

When you purchase a song using your computer, that computer is automatically authorized to play that song.
If you transfer that song to another computer, you will need to authorize the computer to play it.
To play the song on the new computer, enter your Apple ID and password.
If you already have five computers authorized, You will need to deauthorize one. On the computer you want to deauthorize, open iTunes, and choose Deathorized computer from the Advanced menu.