can't burn m4p songs to audio cd

Christopher_N,

I understand the frustration, but I am hoping we can prove or disprove that the not burning of .m4p files to CD issue is related to a missing Purchase Date. I did open a ticket with Apple, but no response yet. In every case so far in my experimentation, only .m4p songs without a Purchase Date will no longer burn. I do not use iTunes Match, but it is not needed to re-download your purchases. In the iTunes store (assuming one is using the same Apple ID that was used in the original purchase), click on Purchases. Then, click on either “All” or “Not on this computer.” Now, not all songs that were purchased are still available in the iTunes Store, but most are. I found and re-downloaded purchases made between 2003 - 2008 that I can now burn to CD. I had to delete the ones without a Purchase Date first (but obviously did not empty the Trash until I knew this worked). I also then had to re-populate them into any Playlists I had them in, which in some cases was a pain.

I would like to know if this workaround is working for anyone else. I still think it’s a bug, not an intentional thing. Over the last 11 years using iTunes, I’ve had computer and application crashes that corrupted the database files and have had to recover from those, often having to re-do a lot of work, but I keep Playlists of my Protected AAC files that have the Purchase Date in the column view and have saved the printouts to PDF for my records. I know for a fact that in some cases, the Purchase Date has disappeared and at one time, the lack of a Purchase Date did not prevent burning to CD. My biggest frustration right now is burning songs to a CD without a Purchase Date that are no longer available in the iTunes Store. Yes, there are other workarounds, but it’s annoying and time consuming. Hope this is fixed soon. In the meantime, would anyone else with this issue be willing to try this experiment to see if the lack of Purchase Date is the issue? We might get a fix sooner if we can prove this.

RareWaves,

The common factor with all of the songs I cannot convert to another format or burn to CD is that they are all "Protected AAC audio file"s. Some do have have purchase date, some do not, none can be converted or burned.

I deleted one such song and tried to download again as an experiment. iTunes wanted me to purchase the song again. The song is still available in the iTunes store, but I declined to purchase.

I suppose I should open a ticket and complain if I get time to hassle with it. Maybe I'm wrong, but think they will probably just tell me to purchase iTunes Match.

Christopher_N,

It looks like we each may be having different issues. I was hoping to find a common thread, but the issue may be wider spread than that. I do know that if one purchased a song on the iTunes Store, it’s supposed to be burnable to CD. I would suggest opening a ticket. Maybe make a Playlist of all the songs that won’t burn. I really don’t think iTunes Match has anything to do with it, but I could be wrong.

I’m going to try another experiment and copy some “unburnable” files to an old “authorized” computer of mine running 10.6.8 and see if they’ll burn under an older version of iTunes. I’ll report back. Shouldn’t have to be this much work.

RareWaves,

I think you may be correct that iTunes Match may not make a difference with these issues. At least not without a lot of time and effort plus $25 whether it offers a solution or not.

I too have an older Mac running Snow Leopard with some of these same songs already on it. It is at a different location and I won't be able to test it out for a week or two. Obviously that Mac is running an older version of iTunes and I suspect the newer version of iTunes is the likely culprit for some of these issues. When I get a chance I'll check the protected songs already on that Mac and add some of the others that may not already be on there to see what happens. I'll report back as well. Thanks for your efforts.

I'm having the exact same problem as everyone else here. Tried to burn a playlist of Protected AAC files I bought in 2005 using iTunes 11 on a MacBook Pro and nothing happened. Fortunately, I still have my Quicksilver G4 easily accessible. It's burning the playlist as I type this, just like it's supposed to. I know this isn't a solution to those of you who don't keep their old computers around, but it's the only solution I've figured out.

Thanks for that update, MK_StL. Just curious… What OS is your G4 running and what version of iTunes? Also, can you confirm if the lack of Purchase Date has anything to do with not being able to burn Protected AAC files? It might be helpful to help get this resolved with Apple.

I did move some sample Protected AAC files (some with Purchase Dates, some without) to an older iMac (2008) running 10.6.8 and iTunes 11.?. Unfortunately, only the tracks with a Purchase Date burned. The others without a Purchase Date were skipped. My next step is to try these files on my old 2003 “dome-shaped” iMac running Tiger and iTunes 9. We’ll see.

Update: I just copied some sample Protected AAC files (some with Purchase Date, some without) to my old iMac running 10.4.11 and imported them into iTunes 9.1.1. Here’s the interesting thing. This computer was de-authorized years ago. It is not connected to the internet. It had no problem burning the songs in a mixed playlist that did NOT have a Purchase Date (that was good news), but… the songs WITH a Purchase Date, it wanted me to authorize that computer. When I said no, it went ahead and burned the playlist but skipped the “not authorized” ones. So I just ended up burning all my m4p files without a Purchase Date on that old Mac. All I wanted was an archive of these songs so I could play them anytime, anywhere.

My research indicated that somewhere in 10.2 or 10.3, iTunes added Purchase Date and used that as some kind of indicator. All my iTunes songs are legit and have the correct “Purchased By” and Apple ID, so I should be able to still burn them no matter what. Until that’s fixed, my conclusion is that burning CDs of Protected files on an authorized computer will work on iTunes 9 regardless of Purchase Date.

I know I’m dreaming when I say this, but I just wish Apple would give up on the old DRM files and declare amnesty on them and make them as accessible as their regular “Purchased AAC” files. I really don’t see what they’re gaining from it anymore. It’s been 6 years since the last Protected songs were sold. With a little work, we can all get those protected files turned into an AIFF or MP3. Can’t they just save us jumping through all the hoops to do so? OK, I’m back from my dream.

Thank you RareWaves for the constructive input (unlike the useless responses that came from that level 9). i followed your advice and the problem got resolved for me. i too had tons of songs that were mysteriously missing a purchase date. i ended up deleting them from my library and re-downloading everything from my account. the new songs got a new purchase time-stamp. now just the issue of re-organizing everything :/

Shmooker wrote:

Thank you for the constructive input like the useless responses that came from that level 9

You're welcome.

Glad I could help...

Someone who knows more about Apple nonsense than me please help. Songs and albums I bought over a ten year span from iTunes won't play on anything but iTunes. It won't burn them because it says they are "protected." The iTunes store has a record of NONE of my purchases, only of one album I never purchased. I have changed computers after a few crashes over the years, but I could always burn cds with my purchased music until I switched to my latest computer. I can't get ANY help from Apple on this issue. It makes me mad as ****. I will NEVER buy anything from Apple again. Meanwhile, I just want my kidnapped music back. Does anyone please have any suggestions?