To trade in an iTunes Minus file, delete it from iTunes (declining the app's offer to delete the song from iCloud), and you'll see the song will remain in your iTunes library. Only four of 112 iTunes Minus tracks on my iMac couldn't be matched with DRM-free downloads. A bit rate of 256 kbps means it's DRM-free cancel out of the Get Info dialog, right-click the track and select 'Download.' A 128 kbps bit rate, alas, is the sign of the DRM beast-most likely because the store no longer sells the song. Right-click the song, select 'Get Info' and click on the 'File' heading. You should see it listed alongside music files on that computer if you've set iTunes to show the 'iCloud Status' of a song, you'll see it described as 'Matched.' After turning on iTunes Match there, wait for it to scan that machine's music, then search for an iTunes Minus track. It may be easier to check your DRM-free harvest on another computer you own. When it's done, you can use iTunes to download DRM-free, 256-kbps replacements of every song matched, including those in the old format that iTunes labels 'Protected AAC' and I'll call 'iTunes Minus.' And those free copies are yours to keep even if you cancel your iTunes Match subscription. Open iTunes, go to the Store menu and select ' Turn on iTunes Match.' Then wait: This service must audit your entire library to see which songs are in the iTunes Store's current inventory and which ones must be uploaded to your private iCloud library. One of those, the $24.99/year iTunes Match, provides your easiest exit from DRM. But that option quietly disappeared when the company announced a suite of iCloud-linked music services in 2011. The usual, free workaround is to burn those tracks to a CD, pop that CD back into the computer and have iTunes copy the songs as regular, unlocked MP3 or AAC files.īut that takes time, leaves you with lower audio quality than what Apple, Amazon and other stores sell now, and won't work if your computer, like most laptops, lacks an optical drive to burn CDs.Īpple used to let you upgrade songs from its old DRMed format to 'iTunes Plus' files with no DRM and better sound quality (a 'bit rate' of 256 kilobits per second instead of 128 kbps) for 30 cents each. It's been over seven years since Apple began selling songs on iTunes without 'digital rights management' usage restrictions, but many of us still have those ancient files lying around, unplayable on Android phones and tablets, Sonos hi-fi systems and other gadgets that didn't come from Apple and can't run iTunes. How can I convert them to DRM-free files?Ī. I still have over a hundred old iTunes purchases with DRM that don't work in my non-Apple devices.

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