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chimpboy74

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 12, 2007
554
2
Scotland
I have found a guide online about how to remove drm. However.

I was using googles music manager and it said I had 455 songs out of 9500 that are drm protected.

What's the easiest way to determine which songs in iTunes are drm? Obviously music manager lists them but I think I would need to sit and write down every one and then go back to iTunes, find them and delete. I have iTunes Match so once I know what the files are I can sort them out. It's just figuring out a quick way to remove the 455 songs.

Anyone help?
 

phairphan

macrumors 6502a
Sep 21, 2005
603
221
Reject Beach
In iTunes go to song view. Turn on the "kind" column if it isn't on already. You can now sort your songs by kind. Your protected songs will have a kind of "Protected AAC audio file."
 

weez999

macrumors member
Jan 4, 2009
82
65
GA
just burn the songs to an audio dvd then re-import them and the drm is removed.
 

chimpboy74

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 12, 2007
554
2
Scotland
Thanks both. Big help!!!

Not sure i will get 455 songs onto cd. How does it work with iTunes Match. Do I just delete the song from the library (including file I guess) then how do I redownload?
 

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,574
3,873
New Zealand
CD Audio and DVD Audio are completely different formats, and iTunes can only create CD Audio discs.

The easiest solution is indeed to use Match, but I don't know the specific steps for this.

Both methods will only work with songs; removing the protection from videos is more convoluted, totally unsupported, and doesn't work with iTunes 11.
 

chimpboy74

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 12, 2007
554
2
Scotland
I found the step for using iTunes Match but had some other questions you guys might be able to help with!

1. When I delete the song with drm I presume I must delete the file at the same time (not just delete the song in iTunes?) I know iTunes gives you the option of this when deleting.

2. The step to re download from iTunes Match consist of going to "purchased" in the store and redownloading. Will all my drm protected files only have come from iTunes Store? I ask because I get music from multiple sources. Have any other formats been supplied with drm that I might not have purchased from iTunes? I don't want to delete the file to find it isn't in my "purchased" list!!

Sorry if these seem daft questions but I'm finding the guides on the apple support pages not very clear!!
 

chimpboy74

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 12, 2007
554
2
Scotland
I think I have Managed it (still in process of downloading back from iTunes at the moment)


The way I did it was to show the kind of file in column and sort by kind. I scrolled to protected and (this is the bit I'm sure could have been easier but I guessed it was a one time only thing) wrote down the list of artists that had protected files. Before deleting I went into itunes store>purchased and checked to see if all those artists appeared there (98% did) i then went back to my library. Highlighted all the protected tracks from the artists listed in my purchased list and deleted those.

I then went back to store>purchased and referred to my written list of artists to select them and re download.

It was a bit time consuming but, as I said, I should only need to do it once.

This appears to have worked for music videos too but I left iTunes downloading last night so will check later today if it worked and if I can get them all on google music.

Thanks all for the help!!
 

chimpboy74

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 12, 2007
554
2
Scotland
Just noticed there is a tab in iTunes Store>purchases to show items not on my computer. D'oh. That would have been easier to select that and download those that I had deleted!!!!
 

Rantipole

macrumors 6502
May 24, 2004
307
24
Boston
The way I did it was to show the kind of file in column and sort by kind. I scrolled to protected and (this is the bit I'm sure could have been easier but I guessed it was a one time only thing) wrote down the list of artists that had protected files. Before deleting I went into itunes store>purchased and checked to see if all those artists appeared there (98% did) i then went back to my library. Highlighted all the protected tracks from the artists listed in my purchased list and deleted those.

I then went back to store>purchased and referred to my written list of artists to select them and re download.

I've got a few of the older DRM iTunes tracks, too. Not nearly as many as you. I'd be surprised if I have 100.

This method you summarized is really surprising to me. Are you saying, since our purchases are now on iCloud, I can simply delete my old 128 bit rate iTunes songs, then find them on iCloud, and download them again at the 256 bit rate unprotected?? If so, WOW! That is great.

Heck maybe I'll just try that. I'll back up the DRM tracks to a CD (should be able to fit them all on one CD in their current format), just in case this doesn't work.
 

TelegraphRoad

macrumors newbie
Jul 9, 2010
16
10
I've got a few of the older DRM iTunes tracks, too. Not nearly as many as you. I'd be surprised if I have 100.

This method you summarized is really surprising to me. Are you saying, since our purchases are now on iCloud, I can simply delete my old 128 bit rate iTunes songs, then find them on iCloud, and download them again at the 256 bit rate unprotected?? If so, WOW! That is great.

Heck maybe I'll just try that. I'll back up the DRM tracks to a CD (should be able to fit them all on one CD in their current format), just in case this doesn't work.

Yes, that it has iTunes Match works. It essentially makes all your music iCloud music so downloading those files converts your old 128K DRM files to 256K without DRM. Also works for old MP3 files you may have ripped from CD's in 2001, like I did, provided those songs live in the iTunes store already. Saved me from re-ripping.

By the way, before iTunes Match, Apple charged about $.30 to upgrade a song from 128K DRM to 256K non DRM.
 

chimpboy74

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 12, 2007
554
2
Scotland
Small problem. All the files I re downloaded are still protected format!!!

Now I have no idea what to do. It did seen tooooo easy.
 

chimpboy74

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 12, 2007
554
2
Scotland
It gets odder (is that a word ? Anyway) I just checked out google music and the protected files seem to be on there (even though it said it couldn't upload drm files. So iTunes is wrong then saying they are protected?
 

chadua

macrumors member
Jul 9, 2008
76
0
I'd have suggested backing up the DRM protected files to a DVD or external hard drive before you deleted them in case something didn't go right.
 

xnatex

macrumors member
Nov 19, 2012
96
87
Creating mp3 versions of the songs in iTunes should do it.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1550

--EDIT--
And if it wasn't clear, this won't change the original files, it will just create a copy of the song(s) encoded in whatever format you specify. You will still have to delete the original DRM copies manually, if you truly don't want them anymore.
 

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,574
3,873
New Zealand
That'll result in quality loss though, as opposed to the quality gain that you'd get it it worked properly.

It's been some time since I did it, but I think I deleted the songs then redownloaded them using the iCloud icon *in the library* rather than going into the store. I'm not certain though.
 

chimpboy74

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 12, 2007
554
2
Scotland
Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'm going to have to take my time to figure this out.

I noticed that although some of the protected files are now drm free others from the same album aren't!!

I have no idea what I have don't but I think I will start from scratch tonight!
 

chimpboy74

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 12, 2007
554
2
Scotland
That'll result in quality loss though, as opposed to the quality gain that you'd get it it worked properly.

It's been some time since I did it, but I think I deleted the songs then redownloaded them using the iCloud icon *in the library* rather than going into the store. I'm not certain though.

If you could post the steps you followed I'd appreciate it. I wondered if downloading them to my iPhone. Then delete them from iTunes and then connect phone to iTunes would that work?

The only problem is I'd need to have a list if all the songs and ibe discovered trying to bulk download in my phone doesn't always work well.
 

Nermal

Moderator
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
20,574
3,873
New Zealand
If you could post the steps you followed I'd appreciate it. I wondered if downloading them to my iPhone. Then delete them from iTunes and then connect phone to iTunes would that work?

I can't say; it's been a year or more since I did it so I don't really remember, and it would've been in iTunes 10. If you're running 11 then it's bound to be different.

You shouldn't need to use a phone though!
 

chimpboy74

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 12, 2007
554
2
Scotland
Found this guide for the iTunes Match route.

Will post back on its success (although there is a caveat that some files still download drm)

http://m.cultofmac.com/cultofmac/#!/entry/itunes-match-can-replace-drm-protected-audio-files-with-unprotected,50eca6c4d7fc7b5670e04236/2
 
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