Re-downloaded iTunes I now get mssgs on MANY songs"this comp not authorised to play song name ......etc."

Question

During pc upgrades Vista to W7 iTunes disappeared.  Re-downloaded iTunes I now get mssgs on MANY songs "this comp not authorised to play <song name>......etc."  I don't know password & the email address (apple id) I no longer have.  So how do I remedy this please?

Answer 1

As I understand it all iTunes purchases are permanently tied to the AppleID that purchased them. The email address & password combination should remain valid even if you no longer have access to the email address used to set up the account. I had hoped that if you provided both your current and former email addresses using that form, the support team would have been able to confirm your right to the older account and guide you on how to reset the password for it.
If I understand you correctly all of the songs you have in the library now were downloaded with your current Apple ID, but that download has included the older purchases. Odd that they would download, but then not play. In some cases downloads can be corrupted and this can show as an authorisation problem, so it might be worth deleting a sample track, not hiding from iTunes in the cloud, closing iTunes, reopening, then redownloading. Assuming that doesn't help contact iTunes Store support and explain your issue in detail. https://www.apple.com/support/itunes/contact/
For the future see Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy and make sure your iTunes library and other important data is backed up routinely. That way a drive failure or Windows upgrade won't wipe out your data.
tt2