I can't convert "protected AAC" or many of my "purchased AAC" songs to any other format.

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Level 1

4 points

I can't convert "protected AAC" or many of my "purchased AAC" songs to any other format.

I do not 'lease from Apple music;' I have no interest in streaming on my phone. These are all songs I bought from the iTunes store.

I'd like to listen to the songs on a third party music player, which obviously won't play those files (if Apple had kept making iPod classics this would not be an issue. Loved having a basic click wheel and lots of memory).

I have tried a third party converter, but can't get it to work at all. Also can not use any iTunes platform on current MacOS. Getting really frustrated.

Please help!

iMac 21.5″, macOS 12.2

Posted on May 4, 2022 5:27 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

fosser Author

Level 1

4 points

May 18, 2022 1:38 PM in response to picas

They sure are, and I'd like to keep listening to them. Guess it's time to buy some CDs again? What an ASTOUNDING waste of time and effort and money! Thanks Apple!

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Answer 2

picas

Level 7

20,859 points

May 4, 2022 5:47 PM in response to fosser

Purchased AAC songs (that aren't protected) should be convertible.

On your Mac

Open the Apple Music app.
In the menu bar, choose Music > Preferences.
Click the Files tab, then click Import Settings.
Click the menu next to Import Using, then choose the encoding format that you want to convert the song to.
Click OK.
Select the songs in your library that you want to convert.
Choose File > Convert, then Create [format] Version.

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Answer 3

picas

Level 7

20,859 points

May 5, 2022 3:24 AM in response to fosser

They must be very old purchases, because purchases changed to unprotected years ago. You can't convert protected files unfortunately.

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Answer 4

fosser Author

Level 1

4 points

May 5, 2022 3:18 AM in response to picas

I did read the directions and so that's what I tried. It has not worked for all of them. In this example, a "purchased" file is actually a "protected" file. How can those be converted?

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