Remove iTunes DRM on Windows and Mac

There are many ways to remove DRM protection from iTunes music. On Windows OS, you can remove the DRM from iTunes music using the burn-and-rip method or you can turn to programs like TuneClone and DoubleTwist. On Mac OS X, iMovie is the perfect solution to removing DRM from iTunes music. Besides, freewares like FairGame is also a pretty good choice. So this article is dedicated to introducing several methods of removing the nasty DRM from iTunes music on Windows and Mac OS X. It is divided into the following two parts:

Remove iTunes DRM on Windows using TuneClone

A. Download TuneClone from http://www.tuneclone.com and install it.

It is compatible with Windows XP and Vista (except Vista 64 bit). A virtual CD Burner will be installed. This virtual CD-RW will be used to convert music files.

B. Launch TuneClone. Click the "Settings" tab. In the pop-up window, you can specify output folder, output file name format, output format, etc for the output files. Note: You can check whether TuneClone virtual CD drive is successfully installed and where it is installed in the bottom left corner of the interface.

C. In iTunes, create a new playlist and add the iTunes music files you want to remove DRM from to the playlist.

D. Select the playlist and click the "Burn Disc" button. In the pop-up window of "Burn Settings", select "TuneClon Virtual_CD-RW" from the "CD Burner" drop-down list, click the radio button next to "Audio CD" and tick "Include CD Text" option. Click "Burn" to start burning.

Upon the completion of burning the disc and encoding the music, you can open the TuneClone manager screen to show all the converted music files. To locate the output folder, simply click the "Folder" tab on the interface.

Remove iTunes DRM on Mac using iMovie

In the iMovie window, select the 'Media' tab located between 'Themes' and 'Editing'. You will notice that the top right portion of the interface now offers a media browser. Select the 'Audio' tab and locate the playlist which contains purchased music, or search by artist/title.

Select the DRM-laden song and drag the file from the media browser into the iMovie timeline where it says "Drag audio here to build your project."

In order to export the song, iMovie requires that a visual image be associated with the audio track - iMovie thinks that it is going to be exporting a movie. Simply drag a blank image (or any other image) to the track above the previously imported audio file. Once iMovie has processed the image, select the 'Share…' sub menu item from found inside 'Share' in iMovie's menu bar.

Ensure that 'Expert Settings' is selected in the "Compress movie for:" drop-down menu. Selecting 'Expert Settings' mode will provide the options to export the file as an audio file. Select the 'Share' button.

In the Save as… dialogue, select "Sound to AIFF" in the Export drop-down menu, Choose an appropriate directory for iMovie to export to, title the file, and select 'Save'. Depending on your machine configuration, iMovie will compress and export the movie project as an audio file in 15-40 seconds.

Locate the exported AIFF audio file and drag to your iTunes Library. Right-click on the file and select "Convert Selection to AAC". Once completed, 'Get Info' on the new file, edit meta data, add album art, and trash the originally purchased and AIFF audio files from your iTunes library.