Hi, I'm Molly Wood, and here's a Quick Tip on how to deauthorize ALL your old
computers in iTunes.
You might not even realize that when you buy music or shows from the iTunes Store,
you have to "authorize" your computer to play the files. And you can only authorize five
computers. If you're like me, computers come and go, and it's easy to forget to
deauthorize each one before you sell or recycle it.
So, next thing you know, you buy a song or a show or a movie on a new computer, and
iTunes says you've hit your limit of five computers. But what if you don't HAVE any of
those five computers anymore?
Well, after years of dealing with this common customer support issue, Apple finally put a
fix in iTunes itself. First, go to the iTunes store, and sign in, if you haven't already.
Now, click your account name in the upper right corner. You'll be prompted for your
password, and then click View Account. Now you can see and change all your account
details, and right here under Computer Authorization, you'll see how many computers
you've already authorized, and, if you're up to five, you'll see this button, Deauthorize
All. Click it, and you're back to square one.
In the future, if you know you're getting rid of an authorized computer, just click Store
and then choose Deauthorize Computer. And then this problem won't ever happen again.
I'm Molly Wood from CNET.com. You're welcome.
