Yellow,

are you saying that your AAC files are modified whenever you authorize/deauthorize?

if so, you are very far from the truth.

Ethernet based
 

My reinstall of OS X to the old Mac and HD has been going very badly, and I've given up. However, I found this on the Apple Discussion forum:

http://discussions.info.apple.com/We...10@.3bc23546/0

Basically, Apple told this guy that only the MAC address is required-- so if I can get iTunes, any iTunes back on my old Mac, I should be able to get the authorization back. So I'm throwing an old HD in the old mac and erasing it and starting over.

Also, in the statement that Apple made to brian, it appears that they can manually override this-- so all is not lost even if your Mac gets stolen.

wsdr,

if you have a FW drive with an X install, perhaps that would work...

So I was right, it is tied to the EHA.

That was pure speculation on my part.. however, how come I can only copy an AAC file to 3 machines? I'm not copying anything except the file. I'm not connected to any networking. How does it know? So you're saying for it to know I have to be connected to a network? Does that mean if someone inside a proxied network could copy the file an unlimited amount of times? Couldn't people then sniff packets and then block whatever the connection to Apple for key verification? What is the "truth"? Please enlighten me!

yellow,

- you can copy a protected AAC file to a zillion different computers, not 3. that's not where the restriction exists.

- a reasonably casual think-through would produce a couple of reasons why there can't be a 'counter in the AAC file'.

- i've offered my theory on how the DRM mechanism works previously in this thread. it may turn out not to be correct, but it at least has the virtue of being plausible.

My fault for not being clear. You are correct that you can copy it an unlimited number of times, but you can only play it on 3 machines. Again, I noted that a 'counter' was purely speculation on my part. But don't just say 'no, you're wrong' and not enlighten as to why. Why couldn't there be something in the file? Pretend some of us have no idea why the file couldn't be changed and that no amount of casual think-thru will help fill in the blanks. No need to be snide.

yellow,

no, you are wrong.

---

i'm tempted to leave it there, as it seems clear that you aren't bothering trying to follow the previous posts in this thread.

wsdr has already offered one objection to your 'counter in the AAC file'. if you can explain why that isn't valid, i'd be happy to walk you through the even more obvious objections.

while i am unclear on the details, the basic architecture i've offered earlier in this thread is correct.

My appologies to wsdr, I had read the post previously and only skimmed it later. So wsdr had already noted that it worked without a net-connection. And I missed it. It IS entiredly possible to read posts and not actually read posts..

Perhaps I do too.. still, no need to be so snide about it. I surely hope you don't do end-user support. ;)

Well, anyway, wsdr, glad that you've got a solution (no thanks to me), and that you'll get your songs back!

petey likes being snide sometimes. especially when he has his facts in order. it permits him to suffer certain things gladly that he wouldn't otherwise be able to suffer.

LOL! I'd hate to see petey in a long line at his local Radio Shack. Oh, the things he must have to suffer at the hands of the little people.

Not to Worry
 

The authorizations are stored at Apple. Yes, you need to reauthorize, but you haven't "blown" one of your three. AFAIK, the most recent three requests for authorization are honored, and older ones are dropped.

(Which is probably a gaping security hole, since you could just keep entering the same password at an infinite number of machines, as long as no more than three are connected simultaneously. Tell you what... let's not mention this to Apple, so it isn't "fixed" in iTunes 4.0.2! :-)

petey has a much different attitude when he's trying to help people for free on these forums, as opposed to when sad minimum wage people are trying to sullenly help him.

PS. even the peons at radio shack can figure out a few obvious reasons why 'counter in the AAC file' doesn't make sense. the guy working the fry-o-lator at mcdonalds had no trouble with that. (hint: what happens when you start duplicating an AAC file that has a 'counter' inside it?)

petey has fallen in love with the concept of referring to petey in the 3rd person.

petey thinks petey wants another cup of coffee.

petey wonders just how far off topic petey can get before the macosxhintsforum server explodes.

if (petey == discoStu) go boom;

Well, If the counter is coded to only increment when a certain requirement is met, nothing would happen to the counter if it was copied multiple times. But since such a counter would require the file to be changed, and apparently it's totally impossible to change an encoded file, that couldn't happen now could it?

Anyway, thanks for the dead on character portrayal petey! Always nice to work with a professional.

sfleming,

you're more than a bit off the mark, here:

- wsdr actually HAS blown one of his authorizations. he may be able to get it back, however.

- the 'security hole' you describe does not exist. you really are limited to 3 machines simulataneously authorized.

I disagree. When iTunes Music Store came out, I did basically what he did... after installing iTunes 4 on one of my machines, I reformatted the HD and reinstalled Mac OS X 10.2.6 from scratch. I was able to reestablish its authorization (in addition to my other desktop and my laptop; total three) just by re-entering my Apple ID and password. I did not have to talk to anyone at Apple.

If that qualifies as "blowing an authorization", I can live with it. It's painless for the user.

Then we agree on that one.

sfleming,

nope. you missed the same point i missed at first:

the original poster did something quite different from you: he moved machines, not just X installations. new machine = new authorization required.

also, when you re-entered your ID & password after reformatting, you may not have had to talk to Apple, but your machine had to talk to Apple. if you had not been connected to the internet, reestablishing your authorization wouldn't have worked.

Re: Not to Worry
 

also, the above ain't correct.

if you have 3 authorized machines and try to authorize a 4th, it will be denied. this is why your 'security hole' doesn't exist.

Success
 

I managed to get my son's download up and running. Ran the Disk Utility to repair permissions which didn't work.It seems that when he opened his account the machine's authorization was changed back to unauthorized in my account (admin). When I tried to play one of my downloaded songs I got the need to authorize message. Did so and logged out of my account and logged into his, clicked on a song and authorized it and it began to play. Everything seems to be working fine in all the family accounts.