Downloading Past Purchases

Question

Can someone please explain what this means? I can't download my past purchases whenever I feel like it?
This computer is already associated with an Apple ID.
You can download past purchases on this computer with just one Apple ID every 90 days. This computer can be used with a different Apple ID in 88 days.

Answer 1

Add me to the list of surprised customers.  I just upgraded to the new iBooks and tried to download a book I had purchased and sure enough I got the above message.  I did not sign out of my device, and originally purchased the book with this Apple Id so there was no reason for the message.  It's just disappointing because it is one more thing that has come to my attention that is leaving a bitter taste in my mouth when it comes to the current direction of the company in the post Steve Jobs era.  I recall a number of times visiting the Apple store and asking them how to deal with a family of Apple consumers/fanatics.  Everything Apple created we have purchased but the problem was how do we manage the software and media we purchase for all family members to enjoy.  The recommendation was to create one central apple ID for all members and individual ones for specific use for each member.  Which fell in line with the message from the company.  This new function has just made it a bit more inconvenient for my family to function freely with the products we purchased.  It is just a question of how long will we be able to handle this little annoyance until we buy the same app for each individual device in our home.  So now instead of one downloaded purchase we now purchase five downloads.  That is the situation my sister faced.  She lived in Germany and spent a substantial amount on app purchases only to find that those purchases were not available to her when she moved to the US even though those products are available in the US and Germany.  As she was told by customer support you are not able to combine your purchases even though they are offered in both countries.  Double billing for the same product...starting to understand the statistics coming from the product release events.
As if that was not enough now it is becoming a bit problematic within the US and multiple IDs within families.  I  think I may have to revert to the old system of buying physical books, I can read the book then my sister can read it, her children can etc etc.  I am hopeful that Apple will introduce some kind of solution for families so this will not become a problem.