iTunes suxors.

[Ill Communication]

Yeah, so Matt had to reinstall his OS yesterday, for who knows what reason (I'm leaning towards the fact that Gateway just sucks now, and the Geek Squad at Best Buy don't know their heads from their asses). Anywho, I had to re-dl iTunes, and none of my purchases music is there anymore! I logged into my account, and unless I did it wrong ... none of the albums I bought showed up.

I guess it's a good thing I burned them ... but that kinda stinks. I mean I probably bought at least 10 albums from iTunes, and I think I should have access to them at any given time.

:(

[Jake V]

As far as I know (on macs) if you need to reinstall iTunes, theres a menu option under "advanced" called "check for purchased music" that should restore what you've bought. I mean, it works for me, but I'm on a mac and I really don't know how it works for windows.

[Brandon Hanvey]

The purchased music option only checks to make sure you've purchased the music in your "shopping cart." Techinically it is up to the user to backup their purchased music. From the Apple iTunes site:

Be sure to make regular backups of your music files (in your iTunes Music folder) by copying them to an external hard disk or other media. If your hard disk becomes damaged or you lose any of the music you've purchased, you'll have to buy any purchased music again to rebuild your library. You can also make an audio CD of the songs you purchase so you can listen to them in a consumer CD player.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93033

Though there have been instances when tech support at Apple has allowed users to re-download their purchased music, but this is only once in a while for "special cases."

I back-up my purchased music every month or so to an external drive.

[Ill Communication]

It's always small print, I guess. We were having this discussion at the shop, the other week when I was picking up my stash, and I was extolling the virtues of using iTunes. This whole experience has given me second thoughts.

[Brandon Hanvey]

I have not bought a physical cd since late 2003 which was The Dandy Warhols "Welcome to the Monkey House."

I find digital music makes more sense. I search for what I want, buy only the tracks I want, and can do it all from my home.

Yes, there are draw backs such as technical problems and losing your music. But look at it this way. Say there was a fire in your house, and your cds were damaged in the process. Could you go back the the music store and ask for new copies? At least you can back-up your music you purchased in case something happens to your files on your computer.

[Leslie Lee III]

Yeah, so Matt had to reinstall his OS yesterday, for who knows what reason (I'm leaning towards the fact that Gateway just sucks now, and the Geek Squad at Best Buy don't know their heads from their asses). Anywho, I had to re-dl iTunes, and none of my purchases music is there anymore! I logged into my account, and unless I did it wrong ... none of the albums I bought showed up.

I guess it's a good thing I burned them ... but that kinda stinks. I mean I probably bought at least 10 albums from iTunes, and I think I should have access to them at any given time.

Did he partition hsi HD this time? Keep your OS on one drive, and the rest of your stuff on another and you'll avoid these problems.

[Ronald Bryan]

I have not bought a physical cd since late 2003 which was The Dandy Warhols "Welcome to the Monkey House."

I find digital music makes more sense. I search for what I want, buy only the tracks I want, and can do it all from my home.

Yes, there are draw backs such as technical problems and losing your music. But look at it this way. Say there was a fire in your house, and your cds were damaged in the process. Could you go back the the music store and ask for new copies? At least you can back-up your music you purchased in case something happens to your files on your computer.
But wouldn't your computer and hard drive burn down as well Brandon?

[Brandon Hanvey]

But wouldn't your computer and hard drive burn down as well Brandon?

Heh.
My back-up drive is fire rated. It can survive most fires.

[Spike-X]

Yes, there are draw backs such as technical problems and losing your music. But look at it this way. Say there was a fire in your house, and your cds were damaged in the process. Could you go back the the music store and ask for new copies? At least you can back-up your music you purchased in case something happens to your files on your computer.

On the other hand, you wouldn't be expected to re-purchase your entire CD library if something went wrong with your CD player.

[Brandon Hanvey]

On the other hand, you wouldn't be expected to re-purchase your entire CD library if something went wrong with your CD player.

True. I'm not saying digital music is perfect. That is why I backup.

[Sanagi]

On the other hand, you wouldn't be expected to re-purchase your entire CD library if something went wrong with your CD player.But if your CDs were destroyed or stolen, you would have to buy them again. Unless you backed them up, which brings us back to the moral of the story.

[Jaye]

What if your back ups are stolen!
Huh?
Yeah.

Anyway, I recently crashed my mac, in a very big way. I lost a lot of purchased music. Not all of it, but probably a couple hundred dollars worth. The good thing is I backed up what I liked and listened to the most. Plus, my iPod still has the old songs on it, so until I connect it to the mac, I still have a list of what I lost and can be choosey.

But yes, it suxxor hard.

-13th

[Leslie Lee III]

But if your CDs were destroyed or stolen, you would have to buy them again. Unless you backed them up, which brings us back to the moral of the story.

Or you could just download them for free from those illegal places I hear those kids talk about but that I would never ever use. That might be an even better moral.

[howyadoin]

Anyway, I recently crashed my mac, in a very big way. I lost a lot of purchased music. Not all of it, but probably a couple hundred dollars worth. The good thing is I backed up what I liked and listened to the most. Plus, my iPod still has the old songs on it, so until I connect it to the mac, I still have a list of what I lost and can be choosey.Jaye, there are 3rd-party apps that can download all the songs from your iPod back to the computer. I used one last summer when OSX corrupted my FireWire drive. Can't remember the name of it, but if you look around any of the big iPod sites (like the iPod Lounge (http://ipodlounge.com)), you should be able to find something.

[SuperGodGinrai]

Jaye, there are 3rd-party apps that can download all the songs from your iPod back to the computer. I used one last summer when OSX corrupted my FireWire drive. Can't remember the name of it, but if you look around any of the big iPod sites (like the iPod Lounge (http://ipodlounge.com)), you should be able to find something.

Hahahah! OSX and MACS ARENT INVINCIBLE! :)

sorry Howyadoin, i'm suffering from a case of Mac-Annoying-me-titis...
Too many MAC IS GOD jerks around me recently :)

[Jaye]

Jaye, there are 3rd-party apps that can download all the songs from your iPod back to the computer. I used one last summer when OSX corrupted my FireWire drive. Can't remember the name of it, but if you look around any of the big iPod sites (like the iPod Lounge (http://ipodlounge.com)), you should be able to find something.

Aw wow, thank you for that . I didn't even think that would be an option.
Will do some searching!

[Jaye]

Woo found one, and 'tis wonderful.

Thanks again!

[howyadoin]

Woo found one, and 'tis wonderful.

Thanks again!Just trying to pass on the good karma. I think it was Trix or Morts who told me about it, thereby saving about 700 songs.

[elheffe]

iPod rip is my favorite.

[Jaye]

Oh god this is not okay.
Its 2:30 and I stayed up putting my iPod songs onto iTunes.
I quit, restarted and went to synch them.
It worked, but it only put the songs on my iPod which were previously in iTunes. Which is less than a quarter of them. So sure, all my music is back on my comp, but not on the iPod.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

Do I maybe have to reset to factory settings on the iPod then synch?

I'll try that.

I'm going to frikken lose my mind.

I was so happy.
Now I am crushed.

[howyadoin]

Oh god this is not okay.
Its 2:30 and I stayed up putting my iPod songs onto iTunes.
I quit, restarted and went to synch them.
It worked, but it only put the songs on my iPod which were previously in iTunes. Which is less than a quarter of them. So sure, all my music is back on my comp, but not on the iPod.I'm not sure what you're sayin' here. If the songs are on your computer and in iTunes, they should automatically update on the Pod, unless you have it set not to update.

[Jaye]

Happy again.
Restore worked, now its loading all songs and playlists.

I have got to sleep now.

Thanks again, that saved me money too!