I’m posting this just in case anyone out there has purchased a "downloadable" Apple product.
A long time ago I purchased QuickTime Pro because it handles the Apple MOV format best since it’s an Apple product. It also exports FLV files quite nicely (and notably faster than doing it the Macromedia way).
But let’s say for the moment you’re going to "rebuild" your computer and reinstall everything over again. How do you retrieve your already-purchased product key since it was never a "boxed" app? It’s mentioned nowhere in the QuickTime app after you place it in there. How do you get it?
The answer is to retrieve your purchased key from the store.apple.com web site where you bought it from.
Mac users are already well familiar with this because many of their purchases are stored within the online version of the Apple Store. However, Windows users don’t necessarily go there too often (I certainly don’t), so here’s a quick primer:
1. Go to http://store.apple.com, you’ll see this:
2. Click Account at the top right next to Cart.
It looks like this:
Note the top of the image where it says Account. That’s what you click on.
3. Click Downloadable software purchases.
QuickTime is a downloadable product, so that’s where your product key information would be located.
This is what it looks like:
4. Login with your Apple ID.
Your Apple ID is your e-mail address.
If you forgot what your password is, the password retrieval system (as I can tell you from personal experience) works very nicely and will get you back on track fast.
5. Once logged in, copy your registered product key information into your QuickTime app like you did originally when you bought it.
You’ll see this:
(The key is pixelated on purpose for obvious reasons)
Your QuickTime product key(s) will be shown which you can then insert into your QuickTime app to upgrade to the Pro version.
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I love you… I have been trying to obtain my product key for months. The stupid store erased everything on my computer and couldnt put my applications back on. thanks so much.
Thank you very much! I was tearing my hair out, thinking I needed to re-purchase the quicktime pro software to get it all back on my new PC (Apple don’t volunteer the information you gave for some reason or if they do, they make it very hard to find!).
You just saved me £30 and lots of very unladylike language! Haha.
One thing I found out today: if you’re a long-time Windows user and ordered Quicktime Pro before 2001 (basically when Windows XP shipped), Apple may have purged the purchase data from their website. From the QuickTime Pro Key FAQ:
If you purchased a QuickTime Pro key from the QuickTime Web site before 13 April 2001, please consult your email or other records from that period for your key.
I also purchased QT pro. Now I am using QT X (playe only). Is it smart to delete that one and use the 7.66 version instead? With the X version I can’t convert files…