Purchased Content and Data Transfers

Question

I had a few questions regarding purchased content (i.e. apps, music, movies) and data transfers:
1. Can you re-download purchased apps for free or do you have to purchase them again?
2. Can you re-download purchased movies and music if the data is lost or do you have to purchase them again?
3. I noticed every time you download a movie it prompts you to backup the data with discs. I practically never use discs and most of the time, I have a large amount of purchased data that simply will not fit on DVD-Rs. Is it possible to backup data via external hard-drives? Is there an export option in iTunes to do this or do you have to go into the physical path which it's located?
4. Can you sync purchased content with multiple devices? For instance, I have a 32GB iTouch and an iPhone, would I be able to sync the same data for both of these devices or am I restricted to one?
5. How many computers can you have data synced with? For instance, I have five computers and a soon-to-be MacBook. How many computers can I have the same data synced up to?
I tried looking around for this information, but didn't have much luck finding it. Apple doesn't seem to clearly define these parameters unless there is a link one of you might have that discusses these issues. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Message was edited by: chris.chin

Answer 1

Hi, welcome to Apple Discussions.
chris.chin wrote:
I had a few questions regarding purchased content (i.e. apps, music, movies) and data transfers:
1. Can you re-download purchased apps for free or do you have to purchase them again?
Redownload for free, assuming still available in the store.
2. Can you re-download purchased movies and music if the data is lost or do you have to purchase them again?
You are not entitled to a repeat download of any media item. Sometimes unfortunate users are granted a one-time only repeat download if they ask nicely but don't count on it.
3. I noticed every time you download a movie it prompts you to backup the data with discs. I practically never use discs and most of the time, I have a large amount of purchased data that simply will not fit on DVD-Rs. Is it possible to backup data via external hard-drives? Is there an export option in iTunes to do this or do you have to go into the physical path which it's located?
Yes, you can backup to external drives or network shares however iTunes has no system for managing this. You just need to copy the files from their source folders, either manually or....
*Fast backup for iTunes library (Windows Only)*
Grab SyncToy 2.1, a free tool from MS. This can be used to copy your entire iTunes library (& other important data folders) onto another hard drive or network share. You can then use SyncToy periodically to synchronise or echo your library to the backup. A preview will show which files need to be updated giving you a chance to spot unexpected changes and during the run only the new or updated files will be copied saving lots of time. And if your media is all organised below the main iTunes folder then you should also be able to open the backup library on any system running the same version of iTunes.
4. Can you sync purchased content with multiple devices? For instance, I have a 32GB iTouch and an iPhone, would I be able to sync the same data for both of these devices or am I restricted to one?
You can sync the content to as many iPods/iPhones/iPads as you like. Each device can hold protected content from up to five different accounts at any one time.
5. How many computers can you have data synced with? For instance, I have five computers and a soon-to-be MacBook. How many computers can I have the same data synced up to?
You can authorise protected content on up to five different computer systems at any one time. Virtual machines count as separate systems as do computers with reformatted drives or, perhaps, certain hardware changes. Ideally you should deauthorise a computer before any major upgrade. If you are no longer able to access one of your systems but need to release the authorisation then, if you have five active authorisations you can deauthorise all of them together, however you may not then repeat this preocess for 12 months.
Protected content can only be transfered to a device when the computer is authorised. Devices may be manually managed from a number of computers but may only be automatically synced with one. Syncing is a one way process as far as media is concerned, library to device, but certain metadata such as play count and rating flows in both direction. With manual managment such metadata is not copied.
I tried looking around for this information, but didn't have much luck finding it. Apple doesn't seem to clearly define these parameters unless there is a link one of you might have that discusses these issues. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
No problem, that's what these forums are for... The information is probably spread around a number of support articles but I don't have the individual links to hand. Feel free to ask if you want more details though.
tt2