Google Music Only Allows You to Deauthorize Four Devices Per Year (Updated)

It’s tough to tell exactly when this change happened, but Google is now only allowing you to “Deauthorize” 4 devices per year in Google Music. What does it mean to “Deauthorize,” you ask? Since Google Music gives you the opportunity to attach up to 10 devices to your account, there may be a time when you reach that limit and need to remove one so that you can attach another. In order to add new devices once you have reached that limit, Google asks that you “Deauthorize” one.

For most users, this limit of 4 deauthorizations may never be an issue. However, for those that handle dozens of new devices throughout a year (like silly writers) or who flash ROM after ROM, this limit could be bothersome down the road. For ROM addicts, Google Music handles each ROM differently. At times, it will simply re-register your device as the same device, but in some cases, it thinks your new ROM is a new device, thus adding another to your list of the 10 available. Starting to see the problem?

Throughout the rest of 2012, you are going to have to be careful each time you flash a new ROM, to make sure it isn’t taking up another spot on your list. If it does, those 4 that you can “Deauthorize” may be gone before you know it.

To be fair to Google and the music industry, this move probably makes sense. If they allow you to “Deauthorize” at will, you and your friends could essentially share the same music collection forever. Headed to a party, but don’t have Billy Joe’s hot 100 collection? All you have to do is add his Google account to your phone, and authorize his Music account onto your device for the night. You could then download his entire collection if you’d like, making this an even stickier situation.

Not sure how Google can remedy this, but for now, we just recommend that you keep an eye on that list.

Update:  Google has apparently opened this back up for the time being. If you head into your Google Music accounts again, you should be able to deauthorize as many devices as you’d like.

Via:  Google Music

Cheers Shawn and everyone else!