# What is iTumes default file extension?



## Alex Ethridge

I'm searching the hard disk for iTumes' music files. What is the default extension for iTunes' music files.

Usually, when I am called, the system is crashed and the OS is lost; but, the files are usually accessible after reinstallation of the OS or by connecting the hard disk to another computer so I will also need information of which files besides the music, itself, that I may need to copy to make the music accessible later on a new system.


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## Moby

Are you talking about iTunes the media player or iTunes the store?
There isn't a default file type for the iTunes player, it's the other way round - you can set iTunes to be the default player for your music files but it can play many different types of music files just like any other media player. 
Songs downloaded from the iTunes store are AAC files with a .mp4 file extension. But there could be many more music files on the computer with different file extensions that iTunes plays.
Apple allow their own downloaded iTunes store music to be played on up to 5 computers. To add a computer to the list it has to be 'authorised'
All the info you need is on their site.

http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/musicstore/songs/


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## Alex Ethridge

This question has nothing to do with any media player. 

Here's the scenario:
I get a service call and on arrival, I diagnose a totally crashed and unrecoverable OS. I remove the hard disk and connect it to another computer as a secondary drive and copy all the user data to another disk.

I reconnect the crashed hard disk to the original computer, format the drive and restore the OS from the manufacturer's System Recovery. Now the computer is configured the same as it was the day it came from the factory--no iTunes, no music, nothing.

Now I must restore the user's music to his system so he can once again enjoy it; but, I don't presently know how to do that.


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## Moby

> This question has nothing to do with any media player.


It does now.
Re-install iTunes The Media Player on the users computer.
Copy the music files back to the users computer from the drive you backed them up to.
It may help later to keep the original folder paths on the newly restored drive. (folder names,drive letters etc)
Recreate the iTunes library http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93313
You know that the purchased iTunes music will be amongst the .mp4 files, if not all of them. Purchased Music originally would have been added to a purchased music playlist in iTunes The Media Player. You could back that up along with the music files in the first place. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93763 and restore it later to help find them. The restored music's folder path would have to be exactly the same as before for that playlist to work. 
Other ways to find purchased music http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93041
It's not important though as you only have to find one purchased song after restoration to find out if the computer is still authorised to play them.
Then for making sure that computer is still authorised to play purchased music, or to reset.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93014


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## Couriant

Alex Ethridge said:


> This question has nothing to do with any media player.
> 
> Here's the scenario:
> I get a service call and on arrival, I diagnose a totally crashed and unrecoverable OS. I remove the hard disk and connect it to another computer as a secondary drive and copy all the user data to another disk.
> 
> I reconnect the crashed hard disk to the original computer, format the drive and restore the OS from the manufacturer's System Recovery. Now the computer is configured the same as it was the day it came from the factory--no iTunes, no music, nothing.
> 
> Now I must restore the user's music to his system so he can once again enjoy it; but, I don't presently know how to do that.


Any music ripped by iTunes will be in ACC format (.MP4 extension) as well as the files from the iTunes store. Did you copy the music when you did the user data? (MP3 / MP4 etc) If not then you are SOL. If you did, just simply reimport them.


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## Alex Ethridge

Thanks, guys. This'll probably get it done.

I couldn't find anything on the iTunes site about transferring from one hard disk to another without an iPod.


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## Couriant

they are normal files. You copy them as you would with mp3s, though I'm not sure if the licensed stuff (the ones from the iTunes store) will work once they are moved. Perhaps they go by the iTunes store account.


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## Alex Ethridge

Just got a reply back from iTunes on this same question. I can shorten their thirteen-sentence answer down to one: "We can't help you by e-mail so get out your credit card and call us."


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## Alex Ethridge

Couriant ,

I figured copying the tunes, themselves, would be easy; it is the reregistering or reauthorizing (whatever they call it) that I knew would be more involved.

I'm old-fashioned, I guess; but, I wouldn't give even one wooden nickel for a hundred so songs if I had to get "daddy's" permission to play them when and where I wanted. I don't know how many people I've heard say they had lost ALL that music they paid hundreds of dollars for in a computer or iPod crash and many of them had lost part or all permanently.

It just seems silly to me to pay good money for something that should be permanent and then risk that it could evaporate into thin air in the split second it takes a disk to go bad.

Thanks for all the help. I'm good now.


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## Couriant

:up:


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