Some of the items in the iTunes library…not copied… not authorized…???? Ever since the iTMS sells DRM free music I buy a lot of DRM free music (EMI) and I always made it a rule to never buy DRM’ed music….Almost. I made some exceptions: “Getting Things Done” and some children’s music. Thus this was a good reminder why DRM sucks so much. They (briefly) locked me out of music I legitimately bought and owned(?)

So I needed to Authorize Computer.. from iTunes. Hmm I don’t know, sounds a bit techie.

Apple Speaks

It just works.
How much time have you spent troubleshooting your PC? Imagine a computer designed by people who hate to waste time as much as you do. Where all the hardware and software just works, and works well together. Get a Mac and get your life back.

I think this is a different experience.

After I selected authorize, the following dialog popped up:

Ok, but what is this 3 machines thing?
Twice Apple replaced the logic board in my MacBook, so I think there are 2 broken logic boards which are authorized…

Well I read somewhere that when I get to 5, a button appears in iTunes with which I can deauthorize all computers. But that button only appears then. How’s that for context-sensitive menu items?

If this happened to a certain family member, I’m not sure if she knew what to do.

So this just hurts the experience, but more important it just feels not right that they just locked my(!) music from my computer unless I showed them that I am authorized. Compare that with the CD’s in your cabinet which you are not allowed to play, because you moved..and you need to show the receipt again.

When it was two months old the hard disk died. Fortunately I’m real anal about backing up and I had a day old image on my Maxtor One Touch. My local reseller Mac House replaced the hard disk under warranty.

Four months later my firewire ports were not working. Again I had a recent image, which was fortunate since I need my FW800 to back up. My local reseller Mac House replaced the motherboard under warranty.

And now after 13 months (and no Apple Care of course) I cannot start my MacBook unless the power adapter is attached. The battery is no longer recognised. Again I went to my local reseller. Replacing the battery did not do the trick. So they need to investigate.

It seems like I need a new motherboard. Mac House advised me to phone Apple to discuss this with them.
Apple listened to my story and extended the warranty.

Perhaps there is some truth in this year old article Quality control problems or growing pains at Apple?. I for one am not to convinced about the quality of their hardware.

Customer care however is excellent.

Oh and always backup. I use SuperDuper.