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

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, 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 show you how to convert iTunes M4P to MP3 for non-Apple mobile players like Zune, PSP, BlackBerry, mobile phone, Creative Zen, Sansa Fuze, G1/Gphone, xbox 360, PS3. It introduces three methods for converting M4P to MP3:

1. Burning and ripping CD in iTunes
2. Convert M4P to MP3 using Digital Music Converter http://www.softdiggs.com/digital-music-converter.php
3. Convert M4P to MP3 using M4P to MP3 Converter

1. Burning and ripping CD in iTunes

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

2. Convert M4P to MP3 using Digital Music Converter

It is very easy and fast to convert M4P to MP3 using Digital Music Converter (free download):

a. Add iTunes M4P files.
b. Choose "MP3" as the output format
c. Press the "Start" button.

Are you annoyed by iTunes DRM? Do you want to remove it because you want to play the iTunes music on non-Apple MP3 players like PSP, Zune, Creative Zen, BlackBerry, PS3, iriver, Walkman, mobile phone MP3 player, etc, use it as background music in a home video, or anything else that DRM limits it to do? Many people know you can remove the DRM from 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.

2. Burn your playlist to make an audio CD. You cannot select the "MP3 CD" option since it requires the DRM protected iTunes music files be converted to unprotected MP3, WMA or WAV 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 as MP3, WMA or WAV files.

You want to migrate from the iPod to the Zune but the main reason you haven't made that jump is because you have your iTunes library. I'm sure that's a very common reason for not coming over to the Zune world. (Ok, maybe not, but I'll maintain my delusion.) This is a serious issue though and if you do want to change platforms, then your only options are mostly time consuming and wasteful.

For instance, you can burn the protected M4P music files to CD-R or CD-RW disc to make an audio CD and then use some CD ripper software to convert the audio CD track back to Zune accepted MP3 or WMA. iTunes allows you to burn the protected music files to CD-R or CD-RW disc to make a standard audio CD:

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

2. Burn your playlist to make an audio CD. You cannot select the "MP3 CD" option since it requires the DRM protected iTunes music files be converted to unprotected MP3 or WMA 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 as MP3 or WMA files.

However, it would be a time consuming process if you have a big library of iTunes M4P music files ready to be converted to Zune MP3 or WMA. Moreover, the information about the M4P music files like title, artist and album will be lost after the burning and ripping process. So this method is not recommended if you have a big collection of iTunes M4P music files ready to be transferred to your Zune.

I've made a Google search for programs that can convert iTunes M4P music to Zune WMA or MP3, and TuneClone M4P Converter attracted my attention. The edge of TuneClone over other similar programs is that it applys the virtual CD burning technology to simulates the burning and ripping process.

You can use TuneClone M4P Converter to convert your library of M4P 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. This software does cost $34.95 to register but that price does give you what appears to be a full feature application. The best part is that it maintains all of the music file's metadata. Wordpress has a tutorial showing how to use TuneClone M4P Converter to get iTunes 8 music converted to MP3 format.

You want to migrate from the iPod to the Zune but the main reason you haven't made that jump is because you have your iTunes library. I'm sure that's a very common reason for not coming over to the Zune world. (Ok, maybe not, but I'll maintain my delusion.) This is a serious issue though and if you do want to change platforms, then your only options are mostly time consuming and wasteful.

For instance, you can burn the protected M4P music files to CD-R or CD-RW disc to make an audio CD and then use some CD ripper software to convert the audio CD track back to Zune accepted MP3 or WMA. iTunes allows you to burn the protected music files to CD-R or CD-RW disc to make a standard audio CD:

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

2. Burn your playlist to make an audio CD. You cannot select the "MP3 CD" option since it requires the DRM protected iTunes music files be converted to unprotected MP3 or WMA 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 as MP3 or WMA files.

However, it would be a time consuming process if you have a big library of iTunes M4P music files ready to be converted to Zune MP3 or WMA. Moreover, the information about the M4P music files like title, artist and album will be lost after the burning and ripping process. So this method is not recommended if you have a big collection of iTunes M4P music files ready to be transferred to your Zune.

I've made a Google search for programs that can convert iTunes M4P music to Zune WMA or MP3, and TuneClone M4P Converter attracted my attention. The edge of TuneClone over other similar programs is that it applys the virtual CD burning technology to simulates the burning and ripping process.

You can use TuneClone M4P Converter to convert your library of M4P 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. This software does cost $34.95 to register but that price does give you what appears to be a full feature application. The best part is that it maintains all of the music file's metadata. Wordpress has a tutorial showing how to use TuneClone M4P Converter to get iTunes 8 music converted to MP3 format.

In previous posts, I talked about how to convert iTunes DRM protected AAC (M4P) to MP3, convert DRM protected WMA to MP3 and convert Rhapsody/Napster music to iTunes with TuneClone. In this post, I will show you how to convert iTunes M4P to WAV with TuneClone M4P Converter.

It is very easy to complete the burning (in iTunes 8 ) and encoding (in TuneClone) process. You only need to choose TuneClone virtual CD drive as the CD burner in iTunes. The best three parts are:

1. well preserves the ID3 tags information;

2. works great for batch converting iTunes playlist;

3. no need for real discs.

The only difference from converting iTunes M4P to MP3 lies in that, when you make settings in TuneClone, you need to choose "WAV" from the "Output Format" options.

There are many ways to remove DRM protection from iTunes music. On Windows OS, you can remove the DRM from iTunes music using the burn-and-rip method or you can turn to programs like TuneClone and DoubleTwist. On Mac OS X, iMovie is the perfect solution to removing DRM from iTunes music. Besides, freewares like FairGame is also a pretty good choice. So this article is dedicated to introducing several methods of removing the nasty DRM from iTunes music on Windows and Mac OS X. It is divided into the following four parts:

Part 1. Remove DRM from iTunes music on Windows with burn-and-rip method

A. 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.

TuneClone V1.20 was released on September 3, 2008!

TuneClone V1.20 is a powerful DRM cracker and music converter for unlocking iTunes DRMed M4P music and protected WMA music and converting M4P, M4A, M4B, WMA to MP3, WAV and unprotected WMA.