You said — Both my wife and daughter have iPods, so we have iTunes on several of our computers. I still haven’t figured out what happened on my daughter’s computer, but iTunes lost it’s own license information and it wouldn’t let us update, or uninstall. We couldn’t delete the because we’d lose the licenses to all the iTunes music my daughter had purchased. Apple could fix it either. We left it alone without security updates until we bought a new computer and transferred the music to a fresh install of iTunes.
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Well, there’s only one thing that I can think of related to what you just said about “license information”.
BUT, I want to first tell you about how Apple has finally convinced the Music companies to *not require* Apple to have license requirements on your computer, or else you can’t play your music. That’s what the music companies demanded of Apple, in order for Apple to be able to sell their music. They demanded that Apple put those license parameters in place on your computer, or they would not let Apple give you any music from their music catalogs.
However, now Apple finally convinced those music companies to dispense with that mechanism and you don’t have to have it on your computer any more, for the music you play. You can convert your music over to the non-DRM music (DRM - Digital Rights Management). I would do that as soon as you can. You can go to iTunes and get them all converted over for the music you bought. That’s something for you to do as soon as you can. Nothing happens that is necessarily bad if you don’t, but you simply dispense with the need for handling your music through what the music companies demanded that Apple do (or you couldn’t get the music from them).
Okay, back to the “license information”. The only thing I can think of, that is related to what you just said is the process in which you “authorize” your computer (and/or device) to play DRM-music for a particular user. You can authorize a certain number of computers/devices and not any more. That was the requirements that Apple was saddled with from the music companies. (with the movie companies, however, it’s another story; they’re not budging... :-) ....).
Now, if something happened to “unauthorize” a computer and/or device, your original catalog of music you have and bought does not disappear. The files remain and are intact in that original catalog you have. And here I’m talking about the software operation not something catastrophic that happens to the computer itself and/or the hard drive itself. For problems related to the computer and/or the hard drive, you’re supposed to keep backups of all your personal files (and that would include your music files, and movie files and/or picture files and so on). You have to always have backups that you have set aside in case of catastrophic failure, and that has nothing to do with iTunes or Apple or how you use your music. That’s just what computer users *must do* with all their personal files (of which “music” is one...).
So, anyway..., those music files are still there and they are intact (in terms of what the software does), even if the computer/device is not “authorized” (i.e., does not have the “license information” in order to play them). The music files don’t disappear (unless it’s a problem with your computer itself and/or the hard drive, but we covered that, in terms of “backups” which have nothing to do with Apple and/or iTunes). When you don’t have license information, you simply can’t play the DRM-ed music. If you attempt to play them, nothing happens to the files; they don’t disappear, they don’t get deleted; they don’t get corrupted. They simply don’t play — that’s all. Basically the software has nothing to do with them, but they are still there and they are not deleted in your original catalog.
You can even send the DRM-ed files to other people who are not authorized. All that will happen is that those files that you send to other people simply won’t play. If you were to go over to their computer and “authorize it” — they would start playing just fine. Nothing happened even when they get DRM-ed files that are not theirs. The file is still intact and it’s still *fully capable* of playing for the original buyer.
So, basically, there’s nothing that prevents you from doing whatever updates or upgrades to a computer, because updates and upgrades don’t delete and trash files — and that’s all that you music is — a file and nothing more. Now, if something you do to the computer *trashes your files* — I would say that you’ve got a problem with your computer and not with Apple. I wouldn’t ever have a computer that trashes my files by doing a system update or whatever... LOL... But, the bottom line here in regards to do updates and upgrades is to always backup, backup and backup (yes..., three times... :-) ...).
You could have continued to do your security updates without affecting any of your user files (or I should say that no security update should ever affect a user’s personal files, but I can’t say how well “Windows” does that... LOL...). I will say that doing a security update on Macintosh won’t affect any user’s files (and again, unless you have a catastrophic failure like a hard drive going down).
In terms of anything that goes wrong with the “authorization” process (i.e., the “license information”). At the most extreme, all you would have to do is de-authorize *everything* and re-authorize it again. That clears the slate. If the original software was corrupted for some reason, then a re-install of the software after getting rid of it first, would be in order and then de-authorize all computers/devices and re-authorize them again, to clear the slate.
And any time that a user is worried about the “status” of their original and personal files, that’s a *clue* that a “backup” is due... LOL...
Basically, your music file are simply files. You can authorize and de-authorize a device and it won’t affect your files. You should always have backups (multiple, at least three) for all your personal files (music, pictures, movies, documents, scans, software you’ve purchased, and “you-name-it” that is yours).
At the most extreme, all you would have to do is simply de-authorize your device (and you can do that from another computer), delete the software, and the re-install the software and then re-load the music files (if necessary, but most of the time that wouldn’t even be necessary) and then re-authorize the device.
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I should also say, that if a Macintosh user has a problem like that, with their “Macintosh computer”, all they have to do is carry their computer right on down to the Apple Store and talk to one of those Apple people at the “Genius Bar” and they will help you fix it. That’s why Macintosh users like Apple, their Apple Stores and the Genius Bar... :-)
Sorry to spoil your very excellent soliloquy, but the problem wasn't the digital rights license to the music, it was the software license for iTunes. We kept getting an "iTunes license cannot be located" error when the software attempted to update or if we tried to uninstall/reinstall. And tech help from Apple couldn't fix it.
It is very possible that my experience with iTunes would be very different with a Mac. And that might well be intentional. I'm sure Apple would like to leverage their command of the digital music player market into the computer market. If one has an iPod which one loves, and it's software doesn't work well on a PC, but works beautifully on a Mac, one might well buy a Mac next time one is in the market. That's just smart marketing (unless you're Micro$oft, in which case it's illegal).
I should also say, that if a Macintosh user has a problem like that, with their “Macintosh computer”, all they have to do is carry their computer right on down to the Apple Store and talk to one of those Apple people at the “Genius Bar” and they will help you fix it. That’s why Macintosh users like Apple, their Apple Stores and the Genius Bar... :-)
And except for iTunes, I've never had a problem like that. I prefer a computer that I can fix myself for free rather than paying an certified "Apple expert." In 25 years of computer ownership, I've never had another computer problem that I couldn't take care of myself.