DRM and m4p on my iTunes purchases

Question

DRM and m4p on my iTunes purchases

I'm sure this question has been asked before, but every time I did a search on m4p or drm, nothing would show up, so I'm posting because I need help and can't find it. I have $$ of iTunes songs that I purchased with the DRM on them. I cannot convert them to mp3 because of the DRM. Therefore, I can't play them on my android phone. Before you answer, here are some common replies I get, and I thought I'd just give a pre-emptive answer to them:

No, I do not want to purchase an iPhone. Apple gets enough of my money as it is.

No, I cannot burn cds because the cd burner on my iMac is malfunctioning.

No, the third-party "TuneClone" software doesn't work either.... it only worked for about 20 of my 150 songs.

No, re-downloading old purchases doesn't work either.

Any other suggestions?

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Oct 6, 2015 8:06 PM

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Answer 1

Limnos

Level 10

411,163 points

Oct 6, 2015 8:30 PM in response to carinefromcardiff by the sea

If you have enough songs to merit it, subscribe to iTunes Match for a year and re-download. They will then be upgraded to 256k AAC DRM-free.

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Answer 2

yodahome

Level 1

0 points

Oct 7, 2015 4:57 AM in response to carinefromcardiff by the sea

I'm kind of irritated because I don't have any 'old' m4p files (except for some very old backups) of anything I bought in the iTunes Store and I believe you shouldn't either. There was a period of time in the past (2007 I think) where you could upgrade all of the songs you owned on iTunes to the iTunes Plus format (for extra cash in an early phase) which comes in non-DRM m4a files and is playable almost everywhere. After two years or so it became the quasi standard and all my re-downloads now happen in m4a (unless uploaded by myself). I thought this was the 'new normal'. Are your songs from before this time? Or did iTunes Plus never happen for you? Or is it actually music from the new Apple Music service?

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