MacNoobie said:
I assume everyones forgotten about JHymn for ripping iTunes encoded AAC songs to regular old MP3 files (without DRM of course).
A protected AAC file from iTMS is stored in a file with the extension .m4p. An .m4p file stores the audio using the same compression scheme as audio stored in an .m4a file. The only difference is that the .m4p file is protected by Apple's DRM, and the .m4a file is not protected. If you rip your own CDs using iTunes on the default settings you will produce .m4a files.
JHymn mostly removed the DRM from the .m4p files to produce .m4a files. I say mostly because the owner information such as the name of the purchasing account remained in the file. If I recall correctly, Apples DRM encrypts the initial symbol table that decompression of the audio relies upon. JHymn unencrypted this table to remove the DRM.
The compression scheme used in both .m4p and .m4a files is defined by the MPEG-4 standard. MP3 files use the MPEG-3 standard for compression and there is no way to directly convert from MPEG-4 to MPEG-3 without loosing quality as an earlier poster pointed out. (There is also no way to directly convert from MPEG-3 to MPEG-4 without loosing quality.)
Also, since the OP asked questions about videos from iTMS I assume that they have upgraded to iTunes 6. As with other updates to iTunes, Apple has changed the DRM system slightly. As a result JHymn does not currently work with iTunes 6 purchased music. There will be a delay before JHymn is updated to work around the iTunes 6 DRM.