Apple not recognizing my id and password Just purchased a software update (OSX Snow Leopard) but cannot download it because my apple ID and password will not be recognized. 
I reset them yesterday, still not recognized.
I checked to make sure I am not logged in to any other apps.
I have received a confirmation on my id. I have written down the password Apple still won't recognize it.
I don't think I am eligible for apple care as my Mac Book Pro (purchased in 2008) is so old.
If you go to a web browser and try logging in to the Apple ID website, can you go in and make a change to a phone number or address and have it be effective?

That will test that Apple's servers are operational much better than trusting the status page at http://www.apple.com/support/systemstatus/

Next, you'll need to verify that the date and time are set properly on the computer/device. You might enable automatic time setting and power down, restart that device to ensure it starts cleanly and connects to the network and gets the correct time.

The steps above cover all the major items that cause software update errors - the Apple side being down and the device being out of time and not having a clean start and some pending requests stuck in the queue (or other temporary resource constraint issues that a restart will clear up).