5th Gen iPod Unable To Play Purchased Videos & Music

Question

Hi!
Sometimes it's a mistake to update the iPod just before a trip! So I found out as my 5th Gen iPod would not play any of the purchased videos or music I had on it. All of the other music on the iPod played fine and so, too, did my own iMovie videos, so I knew that nothing was really that wrong with the iPod. It just wouldn't play the purchased stuff. Yeah... that's right, the music and videos that came with DRM protection wouldn't play! If it's on my iPod, wouldn't it have been legally downloaded in the first place? Here is the set up: I changed the setting on my computer to allow it to sleep. I then had some problems so I changed it back to never sleeping. One problem was with iTunes. My iTunes would not play my purchased stuff because somehow, my computer "forgot" that it was "authorized" and gave me a message stating that I had to re-authorize the computer. I did so even though I knew that it was already authorized. But.. according to the message I got after that, I now had 1 computer authorized of my allowed five. Weird... but "okay"... I thought... "everything is working, again." But around then, I had updated my iPod and then went out of town for six days, only to find that the purchased videos and music would not play. Oh... like my iPod was not "authorized!" Okay.. This is infuriating as really this DRM restriction software ends up impacting negatively the honest people far more than any fans of the old Napster. This is a fact Apple well understands and the music industry seems oblivious of. So... despite the fact that I have legally downloaded and paid for every piece of music and video I have on the computer and iPod, I am treated like the scum of the earth by having my purchases not work on my iPod because my computer forgets it is authorized! But you know, I am a bright thing and solved my own problem. I thought resetting the iPod would solve the problem but it did not. I re-synced the iPod when I got home, after making sure the computer was still authorized, but this too failed to solve the problem. What did solve the problem was deleteing one of the TV shows and then re-dragging it on to the iPod (I have it manually managed) and syncing the iPod, again. Suddenly all of the purchased videos and music work again. We are back to happy times with the iPod again. But I must ask, who are you really hurting with this silly DRM thing, anyway?

Answer 1

There has got to be a better solution to this problem, which I have as well, than the ones suggested above (no offense). So I'm bumping the post and praying someone can help me out. I'm using iMovie 4.0.1 and iTunes 6.0.1.
Unforunately for all of us, there is not.
Sue
BTW-no offense taken.