My Recent Trials – Converting m4p to mp3 format in 2011
You’d think there was a manual for this on the internet, but after much searching, it is obvious there are many outdated sites and blogs on the subject and not a lot regarding tactics you can use. Some of this is due to content restrictions on forums, etc. due to the copyright infringement problems sometime associated with the process.
This is a great place to start :: [http://www.wikihow.com/Convert-Protected-Audio-Into-a-Plain-MP3]. It gives several alternatives to the copying process and is a nicely explanatory site. I’d like to comment on the various alternatives given on that site and then add my two cents worth on what I myself ended up doing.
1. Direct method – yeah, so this is obviously what the RIAA (and therefore what Apple) wanted you to have to do to free your songs from DRM. It sucks in that it’s lossy, it takes time, and it takes multiple CD’s or a CD-RW. Did I mention it’s a colossal waste of time? It is.
2. Using a virtual CD-RW program – this is slightly better, is still lossy, still takes time (not quite as much) and doesn’t require CD’s, etc. Is it a waste of time? Yes, but not as much, iTunes will not copy more than 1hr worth of music at a time, which means the process can only be automated as much as with a real CD – that is, 10 CD’s at a time. I used this method… see below for details.
3. Image Burning – a little more involved and likely about as lossy, but can be quite a bit faster, as you can “burn” many songs at once, usually. Nero is required for this, or something like it. I decided not to use this method, as I don’t own Nero and had already purchased a “converting program” – see below.
4. Using Audacity – Not a bad alternative, if nothing else is possible for you. This method is very very time intensive, as all your conversion takes place in real time. This would take me about 2 weeks to convert all my songs – day and night, 24-7. It is also lossy and you usually have to not be doing any other audio stuff on your computer at the same time. This all adds up to suckage.
5. Using Digital-Only Lossless Method – I don’t know what a virtual Audio Cable is… this is listed as “Very Advanced”… I am not that, although I may educate myself on this method a little more. I’m afraid though that this method also requires you to record at real-time speeds – which sucks.
6. Using Hymn – Some people say Hymn is illegal and some say otherwise. It effectively bypasses the DRM and directly converts m4p to mp3. This has been deemed illegal and is no longer a workable option. I direct you to this :: [http://macdailynews.com/2008/02/25/apple_orders_hymn_project_to_cease_and_desist/]. As a side note, DoubleTwist still exists but it no longer functions to strip DRM, but is a great little mp3 and ogg player (et.al.)
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I ended up purchasing NoteBurner (ver 2.35) and am using it to convert all my iTunes m4p music to mp3. The process is tedious, but at least I don’t have to use real CD’s, and it can be nicely automated, to a point – it needs input about every 10 minutes to get the next playlist burning. The software itself acts as a virtual CD-RW which iTunes can “detect” to burn a CD to (virtual device) and then it continues the process by taking the burned virtual file and ripping it (encoding it) as an mp3 to a custom-designated site on the HDD.
On this version, I am having difficulty with the program sometimes correctly naming the newly created mp3 files and sometimes not. I’m not too perturbed, since I can easily use another piece of software called mp3tag (ver 2.49) to create corrected filenames for the mp3′s from the tags (which are still transferable via the NoteBurner software).
All in all, not a bad way to go. It cost me $35 and will eventually take me about 4-5 days (24hrs a day) to convert my entire library – compared to likely twice that long for using real CD’s and 4 times that long or more for real-time conversions.
Here are links to the two pieces of software I used:
http://www.noteburner.com/
http://www.mp3tag.de/en/
… I used iTunes itself to “burn” CD’s to the virtual drive, btw.
I am fairly sure these programs are not virus-ridden, but make no assurances. Good luck with your own m4p to mp3 conversion processes. Note to self… iTunes was great, but now I’m off to DoubleTwist, etc., instead, whenever possible.
-ENT
