I wish I’d bought that album on CD instead of on iTunes

by Mr. Sheehy

I think my fascination with owning digital music has just about exhausted itself.

It happened officially when we got a new computer. The old one was eleven years old and I had long ago disconnected it from the Internet, using it mostly to organize some files and type Word documents. I packed it up and put it in the garage, thinking its life was through.

Then I activated iTunes on our new machine and attempted to download the songs I had purchased years ago, but it wouldn’t let me. I had reached the number of devices I was allowed to put my music on and would have to de-authorize a device in order to activate a new one. The devices I could de-authorize include the eleven year old almost non-functional computer I’d put in the garage, a laptop I once used at work but that has been removed from inventory, and my current work-issued laptop that gets wiped clean every summer (requiring me to re-authorize iTunes each time).

Surely my situation results from my own negligence and not considering Apple’s policies. Possibly if I spend an hour working on it I can clear it up. I don’t care. To my mind the only important thing is to realize if I had bought the CD of Yo-Yo Ma and Chris Thile playing the Goat Rodeo Sessions, I would be able to listen to it on my new computer.