'What a stupid I am'

[Pencil Dick]

Cliff's Notes version of this tale of woe: Work laptop gets hit with really bad Malware last week. Pop-ups for cartoons, breast cancer awareness, alcoholism, travel, all kinds of crazy stuff.

Take it to IT guy. Determines it's about the worst kind. Decides the only thing to do is reinstall the operating system. I nod my head and say "OK."

"Any personal data you want backed up?" he says. Being full of fail I reply, "No. I keep all personal data on PC at home" where Mrs. PD is the computer expert.

Oops. Get the computer (a crappy 6-year-old Dell) back yesterday. Running 100 times faster. Life's good.

Except ... I had all my iTunes downloads for my shuffle on the laptop and totally forgot to tell him. IT guy never paid attention to the icon on the desktop, I guess. And now they're seemingly gone.

Is there a way to retrieve those from Apple? A tech savvy co-worker says he read they'll give 'em to you free once if you e-mail and explain what happened. Anyone heard of such?

I assume I'll need to go back to square one to reconnect the shuffle to iTunes. Any suggestions on how to retrieve stuff I've already downloaded? It was only about 150 tunes, most I bought with gift cards that someone else paid for. But I'd like to get 'em back.

This is what happens when a mid-40ish man tinkers with technology. Complete and utter failure.

 

[Angola!]

I lost a bunch of my iTunes songs and when I downloaded them under the same account on a different computer, it still charged me - even though it told me that I had already downloaded this CD.

I figure you are screwed, though I am no computer expert.

 

[whatwoulddamondo?]

if it's purchased stuff from apple, you can manage it on up to five computers.

when you plug in your ipod to your computer with freshly installed itunes, it should ask you if you want to transfer your purchases to this computer. say yes.

and next time, keep your music on a portable hard drive.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

If you downloaded them on the same iTunes account you use at home, you should be golden.

 

[Angola!]

if it's purchased stuff from apple, you can manage it on up to five computers.

when you plug in your ipod to your computer with freshly installed itunes, it should ask you if you want to transfer your purchases to this computer. say yes.

and next time, keep your music on a portable hard drive.

What if you don't have an ipod? What if you just switched computers?

 

[whatwoulddamondo?]

as 2mcm says, you should be ok, still.

 

[Angola!]

as 2mcm says, you should be ok, still.

Damn, like I said, I tried to download the same songs I had on my account and it still charged me.

Hmm, maybe I'll try again.

Thanks for the help.

 

[whatwoulddamondo?]

did you e-mail the itunes folk?

former co-worker lost everything in a fire a couple years ago...e-mailed apple, and they sent him the cds with those songs on it.

 

[Angola!]

Hmm, I should pretend I had a fire. Not to joke or anything.

Anyway, I just logged in and didn't see anything about bringing my old library to here, even though I have this computer authorized.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

You might be able to get that Roberto DeVicenzo quote from somewhere.

If all else doesn't work, use this thread for recommendations. There's rarely a shortage of decent advice here from people with a wide variety of tastes.

Sorry about this, PD.

 

[SixToe]

You kids and your newfangled electronic toys.

 

[I Digress]

The iTunes folks are usually helpful. I had a bunch of Scooby Doos that would no longer sync to the iPod. They let me download them again for free.