# Can I re-download the songs I purchased on iTunes on my new computer, or must I pay?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-re-download-the-songs-i-purchased-on-itunes-on-my-new-computer-or-must-i-pay/422558
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 13, 2007, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-re-download-the-songs-i-purchased-on-itunes-on-my-new-computer-or-must-i-pay/422558 "2007-10-13T05:18:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2007, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-re-download-the-songs-i-purchased-on-itunes-on-my-new-computer-or-must-i-pay/422558/1 "2007-10-13T05:18:04Z")
When my C drive crashed, most of my music was saved on my other hard drive, but all the purchased music from iTunes (like 50 songs or more) was lost. I re-installed iTunes on my new ginormous hard drive, but I want those purchased songs back? How can I get them back? I clicked “check for purchases” in the menu - it didn’t restore any of the songs. Do I really have to pay for them all over again? That’s like 50 bucks. I’ll be really pissed if I do. Please tell me there’s a way to get those songs back that won’t cost me a lot of money.
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### Author:  [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2007, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-re-download-the-songs-i-purchased-on-itunes-on-my-new-computer-or-must-i-pay/422558/2 "2007-10-13T05:26:31Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers]
When my C drive crashed, most of my music was saved on my other hard drive, but all the purchased music from iTunes (like 50 songs or more) was lost. I re-installed iTunes on my new ginormous hard drive, but I want those purchased songs back? How can I get them back? I clicked “check for purchases” in the menu - it didn’t restore any of the songs. Do I really have to pay for them all over again? That’s like 50 bucks. I’ll be really pissed if I do. Please tell me there’s a way to get those songs back that won’t cost me a lot of money.
[/QUOTE]
They can be imported back in from the other drive.
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### Author:  [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2007, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-re-download-the-songs-i-purchased-on-itunes-on-my-new-computer-or-must-i-pay/422558/3 "2007-10-13T05:35:16Z")
If you’re saying that you don’t have a copy of those songs anywhere, then you’ve lost them. Just like if your CD got lost or busted.
If you have them and they won’t play on the new computer, then that’s easy to fix. Just connect the new computer to your iTunes account and authorize it. You can strip the DRM from the songs entirely by writing them out to an MP3 CD and then ripping it back in.
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### Author:  [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2007, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-re-download-the-songs-i-purchased-on-itunes-on-my-new-computer-or-must-i-pay/422558/4 "2007-10-13T05:36:22Z")
The other drive is as dead as JFK. Unless I fork over money for an attempt at file-recovery, which might not even work, I don’t think that’s going to work.
I had all those songs downloaded on my iTunes account, my specific account that I log in with. I could even look at my purchase history a few minutes ago and see every song that I paid for in the last months. But how do I get them back?
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### Author:  [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2007, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-re-download-the-songs-i-purchased-on-itunes-on-my-new-computer-or-must-i-pay/422558/5 "2007-10-13T05:38:29Z")
**Wombat,** I think iTunes ought to give those songs back for free to people whose computers have crashed. It’s not like they don’t have a way of verifying whether or not they were actually bought and paid for - it’s all recorded in the user’s account. Damn it.
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### Author:  [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2007, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-re-download-the-songs-i-purchased-on-itunes-on-my-new-computer-or-must-i-pay/422558/6 "2007-10-13T05:46:00Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers]
**Wombat,** I think iTunes ought to give those songs back for free to people whose computers have crashed. It’s not like they don’t have a way of verifying whether or not they were actually bought and paid for - it’s all recorded in the user’s account. Damn it.
[/QUOTE]
In the future consider a mozy unlimited backup account 😃
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### Author:  [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2007, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-re-download-the-songs-i-purchased-on-itunes-on-my-new-computer-or-must-i-pay/422558/7 "2007-10-13T05:46:25Z")
I’ve found several people posting online that they contacted iTunes support with this problem, and were finally allowed to recover (re-download) their lost music. Most of the claims are from 2006, so I don’t know if this has changed or anything.
[Here’s one source.](http://thecontent.wordpress.com/2006/05/24/itunes-lets-people-re-download-all-your-music-once/) It says to contact Apple using the following URL: [iTunes - Official Apple Support](http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/store/lostmusic/)
Of course, I can’t guarantee anything will come of it, but it’s certainly worth a try.
LilShieste
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### Author:  [@nowayatall222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nowayatall222)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2007, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-re-download-the-songs-i-purchased-on-itunes-on-my-new-computer-or-must-i-pay/422558/8 "2007-10-13T11:19:21Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers]
The other drive is as dead as JFK. Unless I fork over money for an attempt at file-recovery, which might not even work, I don’t think that’s going to work.
I had all those songs downloaded on my iTunes account, my specific account that I log in with. I could even look at my purchase history a few minutes ago and see every song that I paid for in the last months. But how do I get them back?
[/QUOTE]
Perhaps next time you purchase them, you will burn them to a CD-R rather than a HDD…
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### Author:  [@Confused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Confused)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2007, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-re-download-the-songs-i-purchased-on-itunes-on-my-new-computer-or-must-i-pay/422558/9 "2007-10-13T11:22:26Z")
Wow that sucks they should have some sort of account profile.
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### Author:  [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2007, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-re-download-the-songs-i-purchased-on-itunes-on-my-new-computer-or-must-i-pay/422558/10 "2007-10-13T13:00:21Z")
[QUOTE=LilShieste]
I’ve found several people posting online that they contacted iTunes support with this problem, and were finally allowed to recover (re-download) their lost music. Most of the claims are from 2006, so I don’t know if this has changed or anything.
[Here’s one source.](http://thecontent.wordpress.com/2006/05/24/itunes-lets-people-re-download-all-your-music-once/) It says to contact Apple using the following URL: [iTunes - Official Apple Support](http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/store/lostmusic/)
Of course, I can’t guarantee anything will come of it, but it’s certainly worth a try.
LilShieste
[/QUOTE]
Worked for my sister-in-law. Give’em a call.
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### Author:  [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-re-download-the-songs-i-purchased-on-itunes-on-my-new-computer-or-must-i-pay/422558/11 "2007-10-13T15:12:58Z")
[QUOTE=Confused]
Wow that sucks they should have some sort of account profile.
[/QUOTE]
Most software vendors I am aware of do not allow “redownloads” beyond a certain point (10-30days) unless you pay extra for it.