TuneClone today announced that TuneClone Audio Converter ( http://www.tuneclone.com ) is now available for both Windows and Mac users who need to remove DRM copy protection from purchased music files in iTunes store in a legal way. The basic principle of this piece of music DRM removal software is that it simulates the process of burning an "Audio CD" and ripping it back. TuneClone Audio Converter makes a virtual CD-ROM drive, tricking your PC into believing that you are burning a CD. Therefore, the DRM is removed without wasting a CD.

Basically, when you purchase music from iTunes store, they are actually DRM protected content (in protected .aac or .m4p format) and you will not be able to play the .m4p files on MP3 players which do not support their formats. In other words, you are not allowed to play them beyond Apple environment, such as iTunes library, iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc. In such case, the option is to burn those tracks to a CD and then rip them once again to the computer HD wherein the DRM will be removed and you will get the tracks in (DRM free) .mp3 format. After this you will be able to transfer them to a memory card or to most MP3 players or mobile phones.

In case you have purchased a great amount of music from iTunes store, you can go ahead and use TuneClone which acts as a Virtual CD-ROM drive on your PC, and lets you remove the DRM element without having to waste actual CD's.

TuneClone is basically a program that acts as a virtual CD drive that allows you "burn" MP3 from iTunes and "rip" it. TuneClone "lies" to your computer saying that you have a CD-RW drive that it will burn to (like Alchohol 120%). You can use this to move your library of DRM protected music to the MP3 format that you can use on any player out there worth its salt. This is a useful tool for anyone looking to break their relationship with the iPod. The best part is that it maintains all of the music file's metadata.

The music downloaded from iTunes is DRM protected as M4P, or "protected AAC". If you want to play this kind of music beyond Apple environment (iTunes, iPad, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV), you need to remove the DRM and convert it to (DRM free) MP3, WMA, WAV format or else.

The following guide is going to share with you how to remove DRM from iTunes M4P music and convert iTunes M4P to MP3. It introduces two different ways:

Part 1. Convert iTunes M4P to MP3 by burning an audio CD and ripping it back

1. Insert a CD-R or CD-RW disc into your CD-ROM drive.

2. Burn the iTunes M4P playlist to make an Audio CD. You cannot select the "MP3 CD" option since it requires the DRM protected iTunes M4P files be converted to MP3.

3. After the Audio CD is successfully burned, insert the disc into your CD-ROM drive again. Then you can use iTunes or Windows Media Player to import the music tracks on the burned disc as MP3 files.

Part 2. Convert iTunes M4P to MP3 using Digital Music Converter

Step 1. Download Digital Music Converter http://www.softdiggs.com/digital-music-converter.php , install and launch it. ( Free Download http://www.softdiggs.com/download/digital-music-converter.exe )

Step 2. Add iTunes M4P files

You can import the iTunes M4P files in three ways:

a. Load files by clicking the "Add..." button.
b. Directly drag and drop files to the left main window.
c. Right click on the left main window, click "Add files".

Step 3. Select the output format

TuneClone M4A to MP3 Converter is a DRM remover for converting M4A to MP3 for playback on non-Apple MP3/MP4 players and mobile phone players including Zune, PSP, PS3, BlackBerry, Creative Zen, iriver, Walkman, Pocket PC, Xbox, Nokia, LG, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Google Phone, etc.

Q: Why Use M4A to MP3 converter?

A: When you purchase music from iTunes Store, they are actually DRM protected content (protected AAC or say M4P) and you will not be able to play the protected AAC (M4P) files on MP3 players which do not support their formats. In such case, the option is to Burn those tracks to a CD and then Rip them once again to the computer hard drive wherein the DRM will be removed and you will get the tracks in (DRM free) MP3 format. After this you will be able to transfer them to a memory card or to most MP3 players.

In case you have purchased a great amount of music from iTunes Store, you can go ahead and use M4A to MP3 Converter which acts as a Virtual CD-ROM drive on your PC, and lets you remove the DRM element without having to waste actual CD's.

Step by Step: Convert M4A to MP3, AAC to MP3, M4B to MP3, M4P to MP3, iTunes to MP3, AA to MP3

Step 1. Download and install M4A to MP3 Converter. Run it. In the main interface, click the "Settings" button. In the pop up window, you can choose the output folder, output file name format, output format (actually you can choose MP3, WMA or WAV), etc for the output files.

Step 2. Create a new playlist in iTunes and add the M4A/AAC/M4B/M4P/iTunes/AA files to the playlist.

When you purchase music from iTunes Store, you actually get DRM protected content (in protected AAC or M4P format), which you will not be able to play on MP3/MP4 players and other non-Apple mobile players. You cannot directly transfer the M4P files to Zune, PSP, BlackBerry, either. In such case, the option is to burn those tracks to an audio CD and then rip them once again to your computer hard drive wherein the DRM will be removed and you will get the tracks in (DRM free) MP3 format. After this you will be able to transfer them to Zune, PSP, BlackBerry.

In case you have purchased a great amount of music from iTunes Store, you can go ahead and use TuneClone M4P to MP3 Converter which acts as a Virtual CD-ROM drive on your PC and lets you remove the DRM element without having to waste actual CD's, with the music ID3 tags info well preserved. Below is the detailed steps:

Step 1. Create a new playlist in iTunes and add the M4P songs to the playlist.

Step 2. Download and install TuneClone M4P to MP3 Converter. Run it. In the main interface, click the "Settings" button. In the pop up window, you can choose the output folder, output file name format, output format (choose MP3 here), etc for the output files.

Step 3. Back to iTunes. Click the "Burn Disc" button. In the pop-up window of "Burn Settings", select "TuneClon Virtual_CD-RW" from the "CD Burner" drop-down list, click the radio button next to "Audio CD" and tick "Include CD Text" option. Click "Burn" to start burning. Note: You can check whether TuneClone virtual CD drive is successfully installed and where it is installed in the bottom left corner of the TuneClone interface.

The following tutorial will show you how to remove DRM from iTunes protected AAC (M4P) music and convert M4P to (DRM free) WMA/MP3 so as to put iTunes M4P music onto Windows Media Player for syncing to a lot more mobile players.

Why Put iTunes M4P music onto Windows Media Player?

When you purchase music from iTunes Store, you actually get DRM protected content (in protected AAC or M4P format), which you will not be able to play on MP3/MP4 players and other non-Apple mobile players. You cannot directly transfer the M4P files to Windows Media Player, either. In such case, the option is to burn those tracks to an audio CD and then rip them (with iTunes or Windows Media Player) once again to your computer hard drive wherein the DRM will be removed and you will get the tracks in (DRM free) MP3 or WMA format. After this you will be able to transfer them to Windows Media Player.

In case you have purchased a great amount of music from iTunes Store, you can go ahead and use TuneClone M4P to MP3 Converter which acts as a Virtual CD-ROM drive on your PC and lets you remove the DRM element without having to waste actual CD's, with the music ID3 tags info well preserved.

Step by Step: Burn and Rip iTunes M4P Music for Windows Media Player?

1. Insert a CD-R or CD-RW disc into your CD-ROM drive.
2. Burn the iTunes M4P playlist to make an audio CD. You cannot select the "MP3 CD" option since it requires the DRM protected iTunes M4P files be converted to MP3 or WMA files for Windows Media Player.
3. After the audio CD is successfully burned, insert the disc into your CD-ROM drive again. Then you can use iTunes or Windows Media Player to import the music tracks on the burned disc as MP3 or WMA files.

The other day Apple announced that it was making about 80% of the iTunes store DRM free, with the remaining 20% to follow shortly. DRM-free iTunes means that in theory you should be able move your music to other computers and devices easily...

But... iTunes Plus DRM-free music comes in .m4a format which is based on the MPEG-4 part 14 standard. Problem is, far more devices don't recognize what to do with .m4a than do (and its video sibling, .m4v). MP3 is a far more popular format.

So, can you convert .m4a files into.mp3 files? Yes you can, and you can do it all from within iTunes (iTunes 8)! Here's how:

1. Click on Edit -> Preferences.... From the General tab click on Import Settings... button.

2. Change the Import Using drop down box to MP3 Encoder.

3. From the Settings drop down box select Custom... and choose a Stereo Bit Rate of 256Kbps.

4. Click OK, OK and OK.

5. Now find a file that you want to convert, right-click on it and select Create MP3 Version and an MP3 copy will be created.

Note that you'll have now both versions of the song in your library, so you’ll have to do a little housekeeping.

Note that if you want to upgrade your previously purchased iTunes tracks to DRM free, you need to pay 30 cents per song. You can't pick and choose which tracks to upgrade. Start by going to the iTunes Store home page, and clicking on "Upgrade My Library" under the "Quick Links" heading. Once there, you'll see a list of all the songs and albums that are available for upgrading, with a price next to each. But the important number to look at is the price next to the buy button, since that's how much it'll cost to upgrade your library.

So if have an extensive music collection with many songs (i.e. 500 songs) purchased from iTunes and wanted to get them freed from DRM protection, you will have to pay USD150 for the upgrade. And in order to listen to them with your MP3 player or mobile phone music player, you still need a further step - convert the AAC music to MP3 one by one (as the steps show above). It not only messes your iTunes library up but also costs you a great deal of time and money. Therefore, if you really want to play the previously purchased music tracks from iTunes Store with MP3 players or mobile phone music players, you just need to get TuneClone Audio Converter to help to remove the iTunes DRM protection and convert the iTunes music to the popular MP3 format. Also, if you get iTunes Plus DRM-free music files and want to play them with the MP3 players or mobile phone music players incompatible with Apple AAC format, you can still use TuneClone to turn them into MP3 format, saving the time to create MP3 version for the songs one by one.

"With a unique touch screen and cutting-edge multimedia capabilities, the BlackBerry Storm smartphone makes a great impression as you travel across town or to almost any corner of the world."

One of the great new features I am starting to enjoy on my BlackBerry Storm is the ability for it to play multimedia files and specifically audio (music).

First let's take a look at the video and audio formats supported by BlackBerry Storm:

Video format support: MPEG4 H.263, MPEG4 Part 2 Simple Profile, H.264, WMV
Audio format support: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, WMA ProPlus

Basically, when you buy music from iTunes, it comes with a copyright protection called DRM. These DRM-protected songs are locked so that they only work with Apple MP3 players. That means that if you have a BlackBerry Storm, you cannot use iTunes music.

So, what is the solution? You have to burn a CD. When you do this, the DRM is removed (because the music is converted to a non-DRM-compatible media). After you burn the CD, you can rip it to your PC as an MP3 file which no longer has DRM.

Alternatively, you can use TuneClone. TuneClone makes a virtual CD-ROM drive, tricking your PC into believing that you are burning a CD. Therefore, the DRM is removed without wasting a CD.

Here is a link to a tutorial using TuneClone and iTunes 8:
http://www.tuneclone.com/itunes8-m4p-to-mp3.php

After you get the output MP3 files, you can now begin to transfer them to your BlackBerry Storm:

1. Connect your BlackBerry to you computer via the USB cable.
2. If you have properly enabled your Blackberry as a Mass Storage Device, your Blackberry's microSD card will show as a removable drive on your computer.
3. Double click on the Blackberry folder.
4. Double click on the music folder.
5. Copy your music files to your BlackBerry.
6. Disconnect your Blackberry from the USB cable and go to the "Multimedia" icon on you Blackberry. You need to disconnect when you use the Mass Storage device method as it disables direct access from the BlackBerry when connected to the PC via the USB cable.
7. Click on the Music icon.
8. Click on the Media Card folder.
9. Select your Music folder.
10. Select your Song.
11. Play and enjoy.

Done.

"With a unique touch screen and cutting-edge multimedia capabilities, the BlackBerry Storm smartphone makes a great impression as you travel across town or to almost any corner of the world."

One of the great new features I am starting to enjoy on my BlackBerry Storm is the ability for it to play multimedia files and specifically audio (music).

First let's take a look at the video and audio formats supported by BlackBerry Storm:

Video format support: MPEG4 H.263, MPEG4 Part 2 Simple Profile, H.264, WMV

Audio format support: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, WMA ProPlus

Basically, when you buy music from iTunes, it comes with a copyright protection called DRM. These DRM-protected songs are locked so that they only work with Apple MP3 players. That means that if you have a BlackBerry Storm, you cannot use iTunes music.

So, what is the solution? You have to burn a CD. When you do this, the DRM is removed (because the music is converted to a non-DRM-compatible media). After you burn the CD, you can rip it to your PC as an MP3 file which no longer has DRM.

Alternatively, you can use TuneClone. TuneClone makes a virtual CD-ROM drive, tricking your PC into believing that you are burning a CD. Therefore, the DRM is removed without wasting a CD.

Here is a link to a tutorial using TuneClone and iTunes 8:

http://www.tuneclone.com/itunes8-m4p-to-mp3.php

After you get the output MP3 files, you can now begin to transfer them to your BlackBerry Storm:

1. Connect your BlackBerry to you computer via the USB cable.

2. If you have properly enabled your Blackberry as a Mass Storage Device, your Blackberry's microSD card will show as a removable drive on your computer.

3. Double click on the Blackberry folder.

4. Double click on the music folder.

5. Copy your music files to your BlackBerry.

6. Disconnect your Blackberry from the USB cable and go to the "Multimedia" icon on you Blackberry. You need to disconnect when you use the Mass Storage device method as it disables direct access from the BlackBerry when connected to the PC via the USB cable.

7. Click on the Music icon.

8. Click on the Media Card folder.

9. Select your Music folder.

10. Select your Song.

11. Play and enjoy.

Done.

So what do you think of this review? Is it fair and honest? Now let's take a look at the highlights of this review:

Are you annoyed by iTunes DRM? Do you want to strip it off because you want to play the iTunes music on other mobile devices other than iPod and iPhone, use it as background music in a home video, or anything else that DRM limits it to do? Many people know you can strip off the DRM off iTunes music by simply burning the song to a CD, and ripping it back over, losing very little quality(if settings are correct):

1. Insert a CD-R or CD-RW disc into your CD-ROM drive. You'd better use CD-RW disc as it can be used for more than once.
2. Burn your playlist to make an audio CD. You cannot select the MP3 CD option since it requires the encrypted iTunes music files be converted to unprotected MP3 files.
3. After the audio CD is successfully burned, insert the disc into your CD-ROM drive again. Then you can use iTunes to import the music tracks on the burned disc to MP3 files.