Removing iTunes DRM?

I'm usually not one to do it, but I wanted to send a couple songs to my girlfriend through AIM but they were bought on iTunes.

Any way for me to unlock them? I'm using the latest version of iTunes and I'm on a mac.

Check this
http//www.hymn-project.org/

and t3h kma'z is go0d!

The Hymn/jHymn project is obsolete, as it was never updated for iTunes v6+, but on the jHymn forums you'll find QTFairUse6. Although a bit of a hack compared to how jHymn removed DRM, it still works pretty well and is the best option for iTunes at the moment.

http//www.hymn-project.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1553

[quote38cce2780b="dmorris68"]The Hymn/jHymn project is obsolete, as it was never updated for iTunes v6+, but on the jHymn forums you'll find QTFairUse6. Although a bit of a hack compared to how jHymn removed DRM, it still works pretty well and is the best option for iTunes at the moment.

http//www.hymn-project.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1553[/quote38cce2780b]
yeahhhh...that uhh...that was the link i meant to give you..........

Damn you David! cry

Thanks for the links, yo.

But it looks like this is meant for Windows... is that right? I'm on a Mac.

Try this...

http//www.qweas.com/download/audio_mp3/audio_converters/applemacsoft_drm_converter_for_mac.htm

Also this
http//www.burningthumb.com/drmdumpster.html

Second one seems good...but you need a CD-RW.

It automatically puts all the songs on the cd you selected, till it fills, then transfers once unprotected, then erases, then repeats process...It's a bit tedious, but I think that's all that's available.
The older programs don't work after V6 of itunes came out.

Thanks, mate.

It's only one song, so if I'm gonna burn a CD I don't really need a program to re-import the song. Was trying to save on a blank CD but it's not a big deal.

Thanks again, y'all.

Sorry, the only suggestion I have for Mac is also from the jHymn forums

http//www.hymn-project.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1900

It's a helluva kludge, but not quite as bad as recording to CD and re-ripping.

Speaking of which, keep in mind that recording to CD then re-ripping sans DRM always works, but you lose audio quality unless you rip into a lossless format. Re-encoding Apple's lossy format to MP3 or another lossy format will significantly degrade the quality by multiplying the data loss.

QTFairUse6 works by hacking into iTunes as it plays back the tracks, grabbing the sections of iTunes audio buffer after it has decrypted the tracks, and re-writing these as-is (without re-encoding) to unprotected m4a format. So no additional loss is incurred, unless you want re-encode in another format. I'm not sure of an equivalent Mac procedure.

Yeah, I wasn't too worried about lost audio quality for this one.

I appreciate that link, though; as for audio quality... since iTMS sells its mp3s in 128 kbps (or did, when I purchased all my music), would the audio quality really be any worse? (Normally I encode my music at around 1000 kbps, so I imagine those would be noticeably different; but then, those are from my CDs, so I wouldn't have to worry about them.)

Yes, it can get a LOT worse. Apple's AAC codec is higher quality than MP3, so 128k AAC is roughly comparable to 192k MP3. If you re-encode ANY lossy format, you'll notice a loss if you have any sort of ear for that kind of thing.

128K AAC is actually quite good to my ear and I consider it acceptable for 99 cent purchases. MaxPC did a double-blind study with several people, comparing the quality of iTunes' 256K DRM-free tracks at $1.29 to the standard $0.99 128K tracks, and with most songs, most could not discern a difference in audio quality. Their recommendation was, unless DRM was a big issue for you, to stick with the standard 99 cent tracks -- the extra 128K of bitrate really didn't warrant the extra 30 cents.

Yeah, I usually just buy from iTunes if I can't wait to get the CD... impulse buys, mostly.

That's good to keep in mind. Generally the only time I'll burn CDs is for other people, who don't have much care for sound quality, though.

Happy birthday to all Windows users...I just used this and it removed DRM, and I am now playing M4A files in Winamp. D

Works with iTunes7. It even retrieves all the files that are in your "Music" playlist in iTunes.

http//hymn-project.org/download.php

Download myFairTunes 7. )

[quoteb049300981="TFOAF"]Happy birthday to all Windows users...I just used this and it removed DRM, and I am now playing M4A files in Winamp. D

Works with iTunes7. It even retrieves all the files that are in your "Music" playlist in iTunes.

http//hymn-project.org/download.php

Download myFairTunes 7. )[/quoteb049300981]

Oh really????!!!!! Wow!!!!!!!

Welcome to last year, and look about 9 posts up. You make it sound like this is something new. lol

MyFairTunes is based on the QTFairUse engine and was first developed as a GUI for QTFairUse back when it only had a command line. Now QTFU has a built-in GUI so MyFairTunes isn't exactly needed anymore. But hey, choice is good. Both work just fine, and have for some time now.

FWIW, I read a squib last week that Apple lowered the prices of it's non-DRMd music to $0.99 as well.

[quotedd60b0faad="dmorris68"][quotedd60b0faad="TFOAF"]Happy birthday to all Windows users...I just used this and it removed DRM, and I am now playing M4A files in Winamp. D

Works with iTunes7. It even retrieves all the files that are in your "Music" playlist in iTunes.

http//hymn-project.org/download.php

Download myFairTunes 7. )[/quotedd60b0faad]

Oh really????!!!!! Wow!!!!!!!

Welcome to last year, and look about 9 posts up. You make it sound like this is something new. lol

MyFairTunes is based on the QTFairUse engine and was first developed as a GUI for QTFairUse back when it only had a command line. Now QTFU has a built-in GUI so MyFairTunes isn't exactly needed anymore. But hey, choice is good. Both work just fine, and have for some time now.[/quotedd60b0faad]
lol lol lol lol lol

Well that's ...well. Ugh. I meant to add that...the fact that it has a GUI.