Removing DRM protection from purchased AAC music files

Removing DRM protection from purchased AAC music files is necessary in order to make the files available to play with Sonos.

In iTunes, select My Music
List songs showing “kind”
Select a song with “kind” “Protected AAC audio file”
Click the “…” and select “Delete”
The song is deleted from My Music and appears in the trash
Empty the trash
In iTunes, select iTunes Store
Under music, select Purchased
The song deleted at step (4) above appears
Click the cloud/download icon
In iTunes, select My Music
The song downloaded at step (10) above appears
The song has AGAIN been downloaded as “Protected AAC audio file”. This is a problem, since it is my understanding that AAC Protection is no longer supposed to be used by iTunes.

How do I get an unprotected version of a song I have previously purchased? I have literally hundreds of protected songs that I want to use with Sonos, and I am NOT going to pay for them again.

Thanks,

Chris

iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.2), Also: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch

Posted on Dec 21, 2015 5:08 AM

Top-ranking reply

Kenichi Watanabe

Level 8

41,984 points

Posted on Dec 21, 2015 6:56 AM

This is a problem, since it is my understanding that AAC Protection is no longer supposed to be used by iTunes.

Not exactly. New song purchases from iTunes Store do not use DRM. This has been true since Apple was allowed to offer songs using the 256 kbps "iTunes Plus" AAC format, quite a few years ago. However, during the early years of iTunes Store, songs were sold with DRM in 128 kbps AAC format. When you download the song again from the Purchased screen, you get back the same song file, because that's what you purchased.

If you subscribe to iTunes Match, when you delete the original song file from your iTunes library for any song that matches, you DO get back a 256 kbps AAC song file with no DRM when you download it from your iCloud music library. I had many older 128 kbps songs with DRM, and they have mostly been replaced by the currently sold 256 kbps AAC file with no DRM, thanks to iTunes Match. I say "mostly" because there are a few songs are no longer sold in iTunes Store. Those songs still come back as 128 kbps "protected" for format when I re-download it. Also, I replaced my other matched songs (that did not come from iTunes Store) with 256 kbps AAC (no DRM) using iTunes Match. Stopping iTunes Match subscription ($25 per year) does not change status of downloaded songs.

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19 replies

ChrisOregon Author

Level 1

27 points

Dec 21, 2015 10:07 AM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

It WORKS! You are hereby declared a genius.

Thank you so much!

Chris

Mar 16, 2016 1:19 AM in response to ben_ellis

While you can re-download tracks even without iTunes Match or Apple Music, if you don't subscribe, the re-downloaded track will still be in its original, 128K/protected format.

Visorboy

Level 1

4 points

Jul 6, 2016 10:51 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

It worked for the first song I tried it on too! I will try it on further ones, but I believe you have solved the bane of my musical existence! Thank you!

Jun 26, 2017 7:46 PM in response to Kenichi Watanabe

"Remove Download: is the key! I was following the Apple instructions and it tells you to Delete - which doesn't work. Conversions have now begun! Thank you

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Removing DRM protection from purchased AAC music files