Protected Aac Audio File Unprotect

[Giovanni Sealy]

Theexact same song is available now on iTunes. I delete it as described in the original post, and when I retrieve its replacement from iTunes, a 128kb Protected version is still being downloaded, even though I have an iTunes Match subscription.

I bit the bullet and paid $25 for the iTunes Match subscription in order to follow this procedure, and it mostly worked. I can confirm that the "match" service offered by the free trial of Apple Music didn't allow non-DRM copies to be downloaded; I needed the "classic" paid version ?

It seemed to be important to wait for my library to be uploaded and sync'd with the iCloud Music Library before getting reliable operation - you can't really control in what order your tracks are being scanned and uploaded. After that, deleting the "download" of a "Protected AAC Audio File" and re-downloading it I received the unprotected "Purchased AAC Audio File" version. From there, I converted to "Apple Lossless" file and then fully deleted the "Purchased" version. I also made sure all the newly created lossless tracks were added back to the iCloud Music Library, though I don't know if this is strictly necessary.

After going through this procedure with the 400 or so Protected tracks there were still a dozen or so that were problematic, refusing to re-download in anything but their original "Protected AAC" versions. These were mostly obscure older songs, so I suspect Apple hasn't bothered to convert their complete library down to every last track.

I've got a bunch of purchased AAC music files in iTunes and I've been trying different method to convert the AAC files to MP3. But I found out I cannot make the conversion unless I remove the DRM protection first. Then I used Apple Music Converter to remove the DRM and convert the AAC to MP3 smoothly.

With iTunes match you can upgrade previously purchased Protected tacos from 128 Kbps to 256 Kbps BUT not all tracks are upgradable, usually because that version is no longer available. I had a set of Beethoven Symphonies which was no longer available, so I was not able to convert them. I had a small number of such tracks - some actually matched with different sets of the same music - was able to upgrade as matched rather than previous purchases.

Not exactly. New song purchases from iTunes Store do not use DRM. This has been true since Apple was allowed to offer songs using the 256 kbps "iTunes Plus" AAC format, quite a few years ago. However, during the early years of iTunes Store, songs were sold with DRM in 128 kbps AAC format. When you download the song again from the Purchased screen, you get back the same song file, because that's what you purchased.

If you subscribe to iTunes Match, when you delete the original song file from your iTunes library for any song that matches, you DO get back a 256 kbps AAC song file with no DRM when you download it from your iCloud music library. I had many older 128 kbps songs with DRM, and they have mostly been replaced by the currently sold 256 kbps AAC file with no DRM, thanks to iTunes Match. I say "mostly" because there are a few songs are no longer sold in iTunes Store. Those songs still come back as 128 kbps "protected" for format when I re-download it. Also, I replaced my other matched songs (that did not come from iTunes Store) with 256 kbps AAC (no DRM) using iTunes Match. Stopping iTunes Match subscription ($25 per year) does not change status of downloaded songs.

If you are using the Purchased screen to download the song again (which is how you described it), try doing the download from your iCloud music library. If you have iTunes Match, your iTunes music library is showing you your iCloud music library. Show your music library using the Songs view (to show a plain list of songs with columns). If you don't see the iCloud Download column, make it visible (it has a "cloud" symbol in its heading). I like to put it next to the song name column. On your library song list, right-click on a song (that has this problem) and select Remove Download (not Delete). Select option to send song's file to the Trash. The song remains on the song list, but it now has a download button (cloud symbol with down-arrow) in the iCloud Download column. Click it to download the song from your iCloud music library (which is different from downloading from Purchased screen). It should be 256 kbps AAC no DRM, for any matched song (including 128 kbps protected).

If it works for one of the songs, sort your song list by the Kind column, so that all of the Protected AAC audio file songs appear together on the list. Select them all at once on the song list, right-click on selection, and Remove Download. Then, right click on selection, and Download.

1) Some of the tracks listed in "kind" as simply "AAC Audio File" (not "Protected AAC Audio File") prove to be DRM-infected (or at least, that's what Google Music gives as the reason for not allowing me to upload them). So searching by "Protected AAC Audio File" might not find all your DRM-tainted tracks. The tricky thing is that the tracks simply listed as "AAC Audio File" are not all necessarily DRM-tainted. Something like Google Music upload can be used to identify which files are (according to Google) DRM-tainted.

2) Downloading the songs again, they switch to "Purchased AAC Audio File". It's curious that this sometimes occurs with, say, only a single file out of a recently (Feb 2016) purchased album of music from the iTunes store. This suggests there is something flaky about how iTunes delivers purchased files. Why else would a freshly purchased album require delete-and-re-download of only one of its 22 tracks? The album in question, "Marc Ribot:Soundtracks II", was released in 2003, prior to the 2009 end-of-DRM, so yes it could have been lumped into the DRM-using category for that reason. But in that case, why is only one track DRM-tainted? And why is it only tainted on the initial download, not when I re-download it?

3) The re-download technique works for me even though I do not use iTunes match nor Apple music. You don't need either of those in order to re-download tracks you've purchased from iTunes store. I just delete the track via iTunes and then click the cloud icon next to it to re-download.

Songs you purchased from iTunes Store were protected by Apple's FairPlay Digital Rights Management before 2009.Those restrictive MPEG-4 audio files can't be played on an unauthorized computer. At the Macworld Expo of 2009,Apple finally decided to drop DRM from the iTunes music library. But songs purchased before this decision arestill wrapped in DRM.

If you want to liberate the purchased music from DRM restriction, you've come to the right place. This guidewill show you how to unprotect iTunes songs easily. After that, you can transfer or put iTunes songs to whateverdevice you like.

Basically, all purchased media files including music, videos, audiobooks are usually encrypted with DRM (DigitalRights Management) for legally and efficiently protecting digital contents. If you use iTunes Store to get anyof these media resources, the purchased items from iTunes Store are encrypted with DRM before 2009. As a result,you can only enjoy the playback of these DRM-protected files within iTunes Player only. Even if you desire toimport them to iMovie for direct editing, it is impossible.

Because only for purchases iTunes songs before 2009 are encrypted with DRM, you may feel confused about whetherthe songs you are owning now is DRM protected or not. To identiy the encrypted ones, simple navigate to yourlibrary, use the "Songs" view, and look at the "Kind" column. If you do not see Kind, enable it by going to"View > View Options". If you find the file status is marked as "Protected AAC Audio File", then this is aprotected iTunes song.

Absolutely. Although you get some DRM-protected iTunes songs, there are still ways to help you unprotect by removing DRM from iTunesMusic. After you get DRM-free iTunes songs, you are able to transfer them to any device or use them forediting in any software without limitations.

As mentioned, to unprotect iTunes songs, actually, you need to first remove DRM from them. This is not adifficult task and there are 3 workable methods to help you do it. Now, let's grasp more details one by one.

Converting protected iTunes music to DRM-free MP3 files is the most popular method many users would consider tounprotect iTunes songs. This method enables you to play or edit iTunes songs on all devices as well as softwarewithout limitations. However, you need powerful software to finish the conversion.

Among many options providing similar function, TuneFab Apple MusicConverter is definitely the best one on the market. This software can unprotect a wholeiTunes music playlist and even all songs contained in your music library at once without any quality loss. TheDRM-free iTunes music will be downloaded in MP3 and other mainstream formats at up to 320kbps quality, ensuringyou to have the best streaming experience on all devices.

Click "Output Format" and from the drop-down list, you can find that it supports MP3, M4A, AAC, FLAC, AC3, AU,and AIFF formats. Then select MP3. From the right side, you can adjust codec, bitrate, sample rate, channels.

Apart from using a converter to unprotect iTunes music, you can also turn to Apple's official method to unlockprotected iTunes songs released before 2009. However, it requires paid subscription to iTunes Match. After yousubscribe to iTunes Match, you can remove the DRM protection from purchased music files and make them playableon any other devices.

There is also a free method available to help you unprotect iTunes music without paying penny. However, it wouldbe a bit complicated to process. In this case, you will need a blank CD and a CD drive (if necessary) to burnall DRM-protected iTunes music into it.

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