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.

1. In iTunes, select My Music
2. List songs showing “kind”
3. Select a song with “kind” “Protected AAC audio file”
4. Click the “…” and select “Delete”
5. The song is deleted from My Music and appears in the trash
6. Empty the trash
7. In iTunes, select iTunes Store
8. Under music, select Purchased
9. The song deleted at step (4) above appears
10. Click the cloud/download icon
11. In iTunes, select My Music
12. The song downloaded at step (10) above appears
13. 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