Converting Protected AAC files to Unprotected MP3 on a Mac

[Haydn]

I have around 30 tracks on my Mac which I purchased on the iTunes Store which are in 'Protected AAC' format. Unfortunately, this limits my flexibility when playing them with different software and on other computers.

I would like to convert these tracks to unprotected MP3 format quickly and simply, with minimum loss of sound quality. Any recommendations please?

[zzzzoom]

In iTunes, click on "Advanced"

click on "Convert to MP3"

[Haydn]

In iTunes, click on "Advanced"

click on "Convert to MP3"

Thanks, but that doesn't work for protected files

[trev]

Burn an Audio CD with all the protected tracks on it, and then re-import the audio CD as MP3 files. Technically you will lose a bit of sound quality, but it shouldn't be noticable.

[straycat]

I've been trying to find a good answer for this for a while - and the only real answer I've come up with to date involves (unfortunately) a PC - so if you have an Intel Mac, you could do this via Bootcamp or Parallels or VMWare. (They claim to be working on a Mac version, but I'm not holding my breath)

So... download DoubleTwist, run it.

First thing it does is goes through your iTunes library, and 'liberates' (its term for converting to mp3) every iTunes DRM track it finds. It doesn't then add 'em back to the library - so you have to then find the mp3 versions, which will be in the same folders as the originals - but they'll be there for you.

[lipi]

... or VMWare. (They claim to be working on a Mac version, but I'm not holding my breath)

i think they've released one. and by "think" i mean "i know for sure, since i got cake when we shipped it".

http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/

anyway, though virtual machines are neat and all, you can just use this on os x directly:
http://hymn-project.org/jhymndoc/

[straycat]

i think they've released one. and by "think" i mean "i know for sure, since i got cake when we shipped it".

What I meant was that they claim to be working on a Mac version of Doubletwist.

I've tried jhymn, but have never managed to make it work.

[lipi]

i think they've released one. and by "think" i mean "i know for sure, since i got cake when we shipped it".

What I meant was that they claim to be working on a Mac version of Doubletwist.

ah...sorry. misunderstood, obviously. :o)

for the record, the two times i wanted to convert a protected aac file, i did indeed just burn it to an audio cd and then re-rip it. for 30 tracks, in my lazy don't-want-to-deal-with-likely-buggy-shareware mode, i would do the same thing, just like trev suggested.

[Haydn]

for the record, the two times i wanted to convert a protected aac file, i did indeed just burn it to an audio cd and then re-rip it. for 30 tracks, in my lazy don't-want-to-deal-with-likely-buggy-shareware mode, i would do the same thing, just like trev suggested.

When using the burn to CD and re-rip method, do you have to manually re-enter the track information?

[lipi]

for the record, the two times i wanted to convert a protected aac file, i did indeed just burn it to an audio cd and then re-rip it. for 30 tracks, in my lazy don't-want-to-deal-with-likely-buggy-shareware mode, i would do the same thing, just like trev suggested.

When using the burn to CD and re-rip method, do you have to manually re-enter the track information?

not if you re-rip on the same computer you burnt on, i believe. i didn't verify this just now, but i am fairly certain that itunes will recognise its own burnt cd, even if you take it out of the drive and put it back in later. (well...don't do that, though. just let it sit in there and re-rip!)

[straycat]

i didn't verify this just now, but i am fairly certain that itunes will recognise its own burnt cd, even if you take it out of the drive and put it back in later. (well...don't do that, though. just let it sit in there and re-rip!)

You're absolutely right. I had reason to try this out last night, and it does.

Another quick option, btw, if you don't feel like using up more blank CDs, is to use something like Wiretap Studio, which can 'record' the output from software like iTunes & reencode it as mp3.

I can't help feeling it's a tad expensive though.

[Haydn]

for the record, the two times i wanted to convert a protected aac file, i did indeed just burn it to an audio cd and then re-rip it. for 30 tracks, in my lazy don't-want-to-deal-with-likely-buggy-shareware mode, i would do the same thing, just like trev suggested.

When using the burn to CD and re-rip method, do you have to manually re-enter the track information?

not if you re-rip on the same computer you burnt on, i believe. i didn't verify this just now, but i am fairly certain that itunes will recognise its own burnt cd, even if you take it out of the drive and put it back in later. (well...don't do that, though. just let it sit in there and re-rip!)

Just to let you know, I burned two CDs, and re-ripped on the same computer, and everything's fine. All track information is still there, and the quality sounds fine too.

Thanks for your help everyone

[sonofvu]

I got a question. My drm protected files have the album artwork embedded in them. I'm assuming I'm going to lose that when I burn the cd right?

[Nate Dogg]

I got a question. My drm protected files have the album artwork embedded in them. I'm assuming I'm going to lose that when I burn the cd right?

A tangent to George's question. A significant portion of my MP3 collection does not have the album art included. Is there a web site where you can bump your collection of mp3s against a database to collect the artwork (i.e. , have the artwork added en masse). Conceptually, I have always thought it might exist, but never researched it.

Currently, when DJing while connected to the internet, the artwork does download to my music player software via FreeDB, GraceNote, whatever..., usually it will match the right album if the MP3 tags are correct.

Nathan

[Mr Awesomer]

I like to add mine manually cause automatic solutions aren't 100% perfect.

I just use google images and type in the artist and album name and up pops the art... and you can choose exactly which one you want to use.