Help Needed Please: Apple i-tunes.

[Suzy]

Please, can someone help me?

My cousin hadn't realised Desperate Housewives had started back up on television so I purchased & downloaded the first nine episodes of the show from i-tunes.

I then burnt them to a disc.

I gave her the disc, but they wouldn't play on Windows Media Player. So then I suggested she download Quicktime Player- that didn't work.

Then I suggested downloading i-tunes and using their player.
That didn't work.
But furthermore, I got an email from Apple saying someone else was trying to use my account with incorrect password, so they locked it for 3 hours.
My mind boggles at how they've connected the dvd disc I gave her to me, but that's another story.

Is there a way she can play this disc?

And do I take it that everything I purchase off Apple and burn to disc, ONLY I can watch them?

If so, that sounds so unfair as I've paid for them.

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Hi Suzy

Unfair? No, no at all.... that's what you promised to do when you signed up. You're only allowed to play these titles on machines with iTunes loaded that you've authorised on your own home network - the computer you're on, an AppleTV in the lounge room, another laptop. Apple uses iTunes to accomplish this, others, such as QuickFlix, NetFlix and others might use your browser and something like Microsoft Silverlight to achieve the same thing. All deliver protected content - the reason that we have access to downloadable media in the first place. Even DVDs aren't "owned" by you - you don't have the right, in law, to do with it what you want - you are merely "allowed" to play it. You don't own the copyright so you aren't allowed to re-distribute it unless the license you're accepting when you sign states so.

By trying to copy them to disk and giving them to someone else you're technically stealing. This isn't allowed, and so it shouldn't be. You haven't "bought" the movie as such, you've only purchased the right to watch it on your own network of authorised machines. It isn't the same type of license as that you get when you purchase a DVD. Your friend would have seen a dialogue box come up stating that the content had to be "authorised" to play on that computer by the original lessee - you. It would have presented her with a link to follow and she would have done that - and tried to log in to your AppleID not knowing your password.

If you want to give a TV series or movie to someone, all they need is iTunes on their own machine at home. You purchase the TV series or movie as as a "gift" and they then receive an email stating that they have a gift to download. See the image and you can see that feature.

It all works well, you just have to understand the premise I guess!

[Steffen]

If you enable Home Sharing for your iTunes account and set up Home Sharing with your account details on your cousin's PC's iTunes then she'll be able to watch the shows. She will need iTunes on her PC, unless she wants to watch the shows on iPhone, iPad, iPod or Apple TV (all of which support Home Sharing as well).

Unfortunately nobody (not even Apple) have convinced the studios yet to distribute DRM free video, but Home Sharing goes a long way towards what you want.

Cheers
Steffen.

[Suzy]

I see.
Thanks Chris for taking the trouble to explain all that.

I had no idea, I thought once I bought them, they were mine.
I did realise though that I could only use a certain amount of "authorised computers" but I thought that was just to see my i-pod.
I'm not computer savvy, and today I've learned something new.

[Suzy]

Originally Posted by Steffen

If you enable Home Sharing for your iTunes account and set up Home Sharing with your account details on your cousin's PC's iTunes then she'll be able to watch the shows. She will need iTunes on her PC, unless she wants to watch the shows on iPhone, iPad, iPod or Apple TV (all of which support Home Sharing as well).

Unfortunately nobody (not even Apple) have convinced the studios yet to distribute DRM free video, but Home Sharing goes a long way towards what you want.

Cheers
Steffen.

Aaaaah there's a thought...
I've seen the home sharing feature but I've never used it so I'll go and familiarise myself with it.
Thanks Steffen!

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Steffen, two remote systems home sharing - is the remote computer then tied to the primary's AppleID, which effectively means that they wouldn't be able to buy their own stuff independently? Not really researched it...

[Suzy]

I rang Apple support in the hope they'd be able to change my purchase to a "gift" instead. Long shot I thought but I had nothing to lose.
I got told they would normally charge to help as my i-pod is out of warranty, but the kind man waived it and helped me.

Once a transaction is made, he said that I couldn't change it to a "gift", but he did solve the problem for me. He said all I had to do was to get my cousin's computer authorised which she could do herself once she typed in my password and ID. So I rang her and stepped her through it this afternoon and now all those 9 episodes I bought and put on a disc are now working!

I've only ever "authorised" once (on my laptop) and that was a long time ago, so I would have taken me ages to find where to look for it or how to do it, but it turned out to be very easy as the Apple Man stepped me through the procedure. I've written it down now so I'll never forget again and now I know that "authorise" isn't just to see my i-pod, that's its about sharing as well.

Regarding Home Sharing: I wasn't able to get far with home sharing.
It will only work on computers within your house.

So all is now sorted and good!

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Good news Suzy. Apple receive their fair share of sometimes unwarranted flak, but they are very reasonable to get on with and actually do provide very good service if you bother to go through the right channels. Obviously you found these without issue.

Great to see that they even bent their own rules a little for you.

[Steffen]

Originally Posted by Omaroo

Steffen, two remote systems home sharing - is the remote computer then tied to the primary's AppleID, which effectively means that they wouldn't be able to buy their own stuff independently? Not really researched it...

Hi Chris,
you use your own Apple ID for purchases as usual. The Home Sharing Apple ID is one all family members agree on. Once set up it lets them use each other's content. It will typically be one family member's personal ID, but that doesn't matter.

No connectivity between computers is required for playing home shared content. I'm not sure whether sharing stuff requires that it was bought before enabling Home Sharing or not, and at what point the DRM authorisation for the Home Sharing account occurs. Some more testing required…

Cheers
Steffen.