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I suddenly find that I no longer have access to most of my music without buying downloads again.

Most of my music purchased over the years has disappeared and only made available if I purchase it all again!

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Jul 30, 2022 5:10 AM

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Posted on Jul 31, 2022 5:38 AM

When I look at my purchase history what I'm seeing is the price I paid at the time, not a price to download them. Your unhidden purchases should show up with cloud links in your library that allow them to be streamed or downloaded. You need to be signed into your Apple ID and have your computer authorized for this to work. Also make sure that View > All Music is ticked. When you first try to play or download a past purchase you may get a prompt to associate your computer which locks it to that ID for 90 days. Regional iTunes stores operate independently. To retrieve purchases made in the french store would require another association, so you'd have to wait for an opportunity to download those items, or use another computer.


tt2

7 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 31, 2022 5:38 AM in response to genoray

When I look at my purchase history what I'm seeing is the price I paid at the time, not a price to download them. Your unhidden purchases should show up with cloud links in your library that allow them to be streamed or downloaded. You need to be signed into your Apple ID and have your computer authorized for this to work. Also make sure that View > All Music is ticked. When you first try to play or download a past purchase you may get a prompt to associate your computer which locks it to that ID for 90 days. Regional iTunes stores operate independently. To retrieve purchases made in the french store would require another association, so you'd have to wait for an opportunity to download those items, or use another computer.


tt2

Jul 31, 2022 3:08 AM in response to genoray

I can see my purchase history back to 2007. Are you sure you've only ever used one Apple ID?


Initially iTunes songs were sold on a one download basis with DRM and the onus was on the user to maintain a backup of their purchases. At some point DRM was dropped, and repeat downloads were enabled, however with past purchases there was always the risk that the ability to redownload might be lost if the rights holders removed the content from the store.


I'm not familiar with any view of the library that would show your purchase history but then demand payment if you tried to play or download items. Where exactly are you seeing this?


tt2

Jul 31, 2022 5:25 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks, tt2 for your helpful replies. When I said that they produced histories of my 'lost' music I am talking about just a complete list of all my old lost music for me to download at around £0.99 per song. So if they have that list, then they will also have the old purchase details. Some may have been purchased when we spent 15 years in France. You will probably tell me to look at what was purchased from 'iTunes France'. Maybe it's all part of the Brexit punishment on the French side of things.

Luckily I installed 'Sonus' and most of my lost songs have been copied over into this system, so all is not lost. But I won't be playing it through iTunes anymore.

Kind regards,

Georges

I suddenly find that I no longer have access to most of my music without buying downloads again.

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