iTunes Plus - Why are the files still M4P?

M4P means "protected", which those files are according to you.

Are you 100% sure the file extension isn't .m4a (purchased AAC)?

Purchased AAC is not a protected AAC file, 2 different formats. Purchased=.m4a, Protected=.m4p.

Where are you seeing the .m4p file extension? I have looked at several of my iT Plus files under "get info", & they are all listed as purchased not protected. Is the ps3 indicating that the format is .mp4?

Dude, this has happened to me & many of my friends’ as well.

I have already summited these files to iTunes support.

I think they forgot to format it in the correct iTunes PLUS format, even though it shows Un-drm purchased AAC file, but in reality it’s still in the m4p (DRM protected format), i didn’t really notice it cause, when i wanted to convert the coldplay songs into mp3, it worked just fine, but when i was just browsing my iTunes library folder, i found out it’s in the protected format.

luv_apple wrote:
i didn’t really notice it cause, when i wanted to convert the coldplay songs into mp3, it worked just fine

If you can convert it, then it's not protected. If you try to convert a protected file, you'll get an error that says protected files cannot be converted to other formats.

What happens if you make a copy of one of the files that should be "m4a" and change the "m4p" to "m4a"? You'll have to re-import the files, but iTunes might then show them as just purchased and not protected.

charlie

I think there must be some malfunction in iTunes's system that’s why this all is happening, well it’s sad to know u re-downloaded de album but still the **** DRM protected in it.

& i still haven’t received any info from the apple support; if anything comes up i will keep u updated.

We should have just brought de freakin CD, going totally digital sometimes comes with errors... :) … if it wasn’t for those bonus tracks,,, this would had never happened to us.

I have the exact same problem. The information in iTunes says Purchased AAC Audio file, but the get info tab in the finder says MPEG-4 Audio (Protected). I have attached the screen shots below. iTunes store support basically did nothing for me. I tried explaining the question to them twice and all they did was send me the marketing message of iTunes Plus and how it is DRM free etc. Another strange part is in my iTunes Store complete my album link for this Album it shows that I have purchased only one song i.e. Viva la vida, but the iTunes Plus link says that my library is up to date. Also, if I select a song, I am able to convert it to mp3 or regular AAC, which means its definitely not protected. Any information received would be helpful.

Viva la Vida (Finder)
http://picasaweb.google.com/sidharth.shekhar/Screenshots/photo#52143321069353805 46

Viva la Vida (iTunes)
http://picasaweb.google.com/sidharth.shekhar/Screenshots/photo#52143345570001552 18

Sidharth Shekhar wrote:
Any information received would be helpful.

Just change the file extension to "m4a" from "m4p" in the Finder. You don't need to convert them to MP3 or AAC. The fact that you're able to select and convert them proves that they're not really protected.

Your Finder screen shot shows that even the Finder kind of knows it's not protected. In the "General" section, it says "Protected", but I think that information must come from the file name. So it looks like the Finder decides it's protected based on the file extension in that place.

Then look in the "More Info" section where it lists the codecs. If the file is actually a protected AAC file, it'll say "AAC (protected)" in there. But yours just says it's AAC. So it must get that information from reading the file's contents.

My guess is that there's a bug in the software Apple's using to make the files for the store, and it's giving the wrong extension to the files. It's purely cosmetic and doesn't affect the actual content of the files. It's annoying, yes, to have to rename the files so the Finder and iTunes all agree they're iTunes Plus files. But so far, everything points to them being exactly what you thought you were getting: iTunes Plus files without DRM.

charlie