Question: I have music that I bought from iTunes that I can't play on my blackberry, or even on my computer with Windows Media Player. Is there a way around this limitation? I mean, I paid for this stuff, so I should be able to play it outside of just iTunes!

Answer: I completely agree with you. If you paid for music, then you shouldn't be limited to playing it in on just your one computer running iTunes (in my opinion anyway).

When you buy songs from the iTunes store, it downloads them to your computer in mp4 format. You won't be able to play those songs anywhere else because they have DRM protection built into the music files.

It turns out that there are a couple legal ways to remove DRM-protection from music purchased from iTunes, so you can play them on other music players like Windows Media Player, WinAMP, etc.

  1. Make backup CDs using iTunes and then import the CDs back into iTunes.

    With this approach, you'll need a recordable CD or DVD for each album that you want to convert. Plug in the CD-R into your CD burner, select the album in iTunes, and choose the File -- Library -- Back up to Disc menu in iTunes 8 (used to be File -- Backup to Disc in older versions, but now the menu is hidden under the Library menu in version 8 and greater).

    Once the backup process has finished, then eject the CD-R, put it back into the CD burner, and then import the songs back into iTunes.

    Be sure to configure iTunes to use MP3 encoding when importing songs, which will make sure that it imports them into mp3 format that will run on other music players.



  2. Convert the DRM-protected songs directly to mp3 format.

    This approach basically plays each song (digitally, inside the program) and records the song into another non-DRM format such as mp3. It's not trying to crack the DRM-protection, so it's legal and retains the same level of quality as the original song.

    The result is an mp3 file for each song that will play on all types of media players like WinAmp and Windows Media Player... and yes, Blackberries too!

    The program I use for converting m4p music from iTunes into mp3 music is the AlM4P Converter from Aimersoft. You tell it the files that you want to convert, and the format that you want to convert to (e.g. m4p to mp3) and it does it's thing.

    Once converted, then you can run the resulting mp3 file on any other music player. Here's an example using Natasha Bedingfield's hit song Pocketful of Sunshine - a song that my daughter bought recently on iTunes and was in the m4p format.

    I used Aimersoft to convert it to mp3 format and then I was able to play it in Windows Media Player, and also on my Blackberry (erm, if I wanted to play a teenage girl song, that is).

    The thing I like better about this approach is that I didn't have to use a CD-R disc to convert it and then re-import it back into iTunes (which is kind of a pain), and it was a lot faster because all I had to do was click a button or two in the Aimersoft program.

    They have a free trial that you can use that does the conversion but limits the song length to one minute.

    Alternatives to iTunes:

    Looking for an alternative to iTunes that doesn't leave you having to worry about DRM protection?

    You can find the same songs on Amazon and buy albums or individual songs just like on iTunes, but in regular mp3 format without the DRM protection. They'll run on any mp3-compatible music player, and will also run on iTunes and on your iPod or iPhone.

    Here's a link to the Top MP3 Downloads on Amazon, and all of them are completely free of DRM-protection:

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