Why my purchased music still have DRM protection?

As you may or may not know, music originating from Apple Music cannot be added to an iPod Classic. (It can be added to an iPod Touch, but not the Classic.)

So if you have an Apple Music subscription, perhaps what has happened is that you have bought the song but either:

• • it has not been downloaded to your iTunes Library, so the copy that you are trying to add to the Classic is in fact from Apple Music or
  • you have downloaded the purchased copy of the song, but you have selected the Apple Music version to copy to your iPod rather than your purchased copy

There may be another scenario, but I haven't thought of it yet.

One thing to do is make sure you can find the purchased copy in your iTunes Library and that it can be played in the library. If you select a song (in the library) and tap the Edit/Song Info/File, you will see whether the copy you're looking at is a purchased copy or an Apple Music one. Notice that for the song I'm looking at, the kind is a Protected AAC audio file, but also notice that the purchase date was on 10th March 2009 (UK date format). The relevance of this is that Apple no longer sell music in protected format. I just didn't make any effort to replace this song with an unprotected one*:

In the second screenshot, notice that the purchase date was 7th July 2009, but that it is not protected. The kind states Purchased AAC audio file:

I'm not sure exactly what information you will be able to find for an Apple Music song since it's not a service I use.

It is possible that the Karima Francis song can be added to an iPod Classic, even though it's protected, but I don't recall whether it was ever on my now non-working Classic. The song was actually an Apple giveaway, which may be why it is protected.*

* Post updated by author after intial posting.

khakimov85 wrote:

you just need to buy full album to release protection from all album tracks.

I'm not sure that that is correct.

DRM refers to the individual track, regardless of whether you bought the complete album. However, Apple has not sold songs with DRM protection for a long time now. Perhaps the issue is something else, such as authorisation.

What is the precise wording of any messages that you see?

Hi!

If your purchased music still has DRM protection, it's likely that the files were purchased from the iTunes Store prior to the store removing DRM from its music in 2009. Unfortunately, once DRM has been applied to a file, it cannot be removed. However, there are some workarounds that may allow you to use your purchased music on your iPod Classic.

One option is to burn the DRM-protected music to a CD using iTunes, and then rip the CD back to your computer as MP3 files. This process will remove the DRM from the files in the process of burning to a CD. You can then add the MP3 files to your iPod Classic.

Another option is to use a third-party software that can convert the DRM-protected files to MP3 or other unprotected audio formats. However, please note that this method may violate the terms of use of the iTunes Store and may not be legal in your country.

It's important to note that while it may be possible to remove DRM from your purchased music, doing so may result in a loss of audio quality or other issues. Additionally, it's always a good idea to make a backup of your music library before attempting any modifications to the files.