Get DRM free Versions of Purchased Music from iClud Music Library

I got Apple Music a month ago and then activated iCloud Music Library. Because I have purchased music on iTunes for several years I had a nujmber of songs that were DRM Protected. Now, when I open iTunes for Windows (latest version 12.7.3.46), and add Kind to the Music headers, it still shows about half of my 169 songs are Protected. I thought once on Apple Music my iCloud Music Library would load the unprotected versions of my songs, then just upload the Protected ones from iTunes, if an unprotected version was unavailable in Apple Music.


The Apple support page on iCloud Music Library at Turn on iCloud Music Library - Apple Support is just not clear on the issue. Neither is the page on Subscribing to Apple Music at Access your music collection on all of your devices with Apple Music - Apple Support


1. When you join Apple Music and later activate iCloud Music Library, is the DRM free version on your previously purchased DRM protected songs automatically added to the iCloud Music Library?


2. If so, why would I have so many protected song when I delete them from iTunes on my laptop, then redownload them?


This picture shows the large number of protected songs in the right-most column.


User uploaded file

iPhone 7, Windows 10, iOS 11.3, AppleTV 4Gen, QT 7.7.8

Posted on Mar 29, 2018 10:23 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 29, 2018 11:10 PM

I found out from a 2013 message from Michael Allritton and Jimzgoldfinch that I need to activate the iCloud Status column header in addition to the Kind header. The iCloud Status column will say "Purchased", "Matched" or "Uploaded" next to each song. The Kind column will say "Protected" or "Purchased."


For those songs that have Protected in the Kind column and Matched in the iCloud Status column, I simply need to delete the song, close iTunes, reopen iTunes and download it to get the DRM free version.


For those songs that have Protected in the Kind column, but Purchased in the iCloud Status column, I am stuck with the DRM protected version.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 29, 2018 11:10 PM in response to cyberbiker

I found out from a 2013 message from Michael Allritton and Jimzgoldfinch that I need to activate the iCloud Status column header in addition to the Kind header. The iCloud Status column will say "Purchased", "Matched" or "Uploaded" next to each song. The Kind column will say "Protected" or "Purchased."


For those songs that have Protected in the Kind column and Matched in the iCloud Status column, I simply need to delete the song, close iTunes, reopen iTunes and download it to get the DRM free version.


For those songs that have Protected in the Kind column, but Purchased in the iCloud Status column, I am stuck with the DRM protected version.

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Get DRM free Versions of Purchased Music from iClud Music Library

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