iTunes DRM Solutions?

[Rounder44]

2 minutes ago, kirkmc said:

It says m4p, and should be recognized by third party apps. Can you share one of those files with me, by Dropbox or something else? 

 

If there's DRM, you can't play it using Quick Look (select a file in the Finder and press the space bar). I have a bunch of m4p files that are old, and were never available in non-DRM versions, but I have other m4p files that don't have DRM and work in Quick Look. 

OK,

 

The Heartworn Highways DID play but the Los Lobos clearly says protected and a 2012 purchase date.....

 

So how do I sort protected from mp4's?

 

Thanks,

 

R44

[kirkmc]

Make a smart playlist by bit rate 128 kbps. Assuming your other tracks are not at that bit rate, any tracks with DRM will be in the playlist. 

[Rounder44]

2 minutes ago, kirkmc said:

That one does have DRM; it says FairPlay, which is the DRM system. 

Haha!

 

I don't see fairplay but it won't play!

 

Man I am SO glad I finally discovered Amazon for LESS $$$ gives instant downloads AND sends the original CD.

 

 

Thanks,

 

R44

 

 

[wgscott]

Aren't the iTunes DRM files the ones having the file suffix .m4p  ?

[kirkmc]

3 hours ago, wgscott said:

Aren't the iTunes DRM files the ones having the file suffix .m4p  ?

Some purchased files also have that extension. I don't know why, because not all purchased files are m4p.

[cambridgehank]

On 10/25/2017 at 4:44 AM, kirkmc said:

If you burn a CD then rip it, you'll be ripping 128 kbps files that have been converted to PCM, but still at the 128 kbps quality. 

 

iTunes Match is the only way to do this. Ideally, you create a new iTunes library with just the purchased tracks. Download them, then turn off iTunes Match, and switch back to the other library, adding the newly downloaded tracks. The $25 it would cost for the year of using iTunes Match will be more than compensated by the music you download. 

Kirk, I created a smart playlist with the 128 kbps files, found 344 songs out of my 12, 356 songs.  Most of these, I purchased a while ago to add to a playlist.  Any suggestions on how I can keep the songs in the playlist if i use Match to replace the files?

[kirkmc]

I don't use Match any more. But won't it just match the tracks, since they're purchased tracks? 

[cambridgehank]

When I used Match in the past, it left the song without a playlist.  I have so many single songs that I purchased for playlist and when previously used Match, iTunes did not reload the song into the playlist associated with the song.  Hope that makes sense.  I have found 344 more songs that for some reason Match did not replace and that all are in one playlist or another.  I don't see a way to replace the song without removing it from the playlist.  Do you?

[kirkmc]

I don't understand what you're saying about the songs and playlists. Can you post a screenshot?

[cambridgehank]

Most of the songs I purchased from iTunes Store are located in a playlist or two.  When I used Match in the past, it replaced a lot of my previously purchased songs in my media folder.  Those replacements were not connected to any playlist at all.  I was following your post about using Match to replace the 128 kbps purchased files I found.  I would like to keep them in the original  playlist(s).  Do you have a suggestion for replacing them and restoring the playlist?

[kirkmc]

What original playlists? When you buy music from the iTunes Store, it's added to a Purchased playlist, but no others. You can add anything you like to any playlists. Just find the tracks and drag them to a playlist. 

[cambridgehank]

Here goes.  One screen shot is of the song and it's playlist.  The other is the info page for the song, it is an old purchase and protected.  Any ideas on how to replace with an upgrade and keep the song in the playlist?

[cambridgehank]

3 minutes ago, kirkmc said:

What original playlists? When you buy music from the iTunes Store, it's added to a Purchased playlist, but no others. You can add anything you like to any playlists. Just find the tracks and drag them to a playlist. 

I am trying not to have to do that for 344 songs.

[kirkmc]

The playlist in question is a smart playlist, presumably searching for tracks at 128 kbps. If it's being replaced after matching by a 256 kbps track, than it cannot show up in that playlist. 

[cambridgehank]

I really have you confused.  What I used to do, was look at various sites and get suggestions for R&B or Jazz playlist.  Then if I did not already have the song on a cd that I could burn , I would purchase it from iTunes.  I am trying to maintain my playlist integrity.

[cambridgehank]

I guess I could put my master iTunes, that is on my MacBook, next to my iMac screen and go through the 344 songs to put them back into my playlist.  I can do that .  Thanks Kirk

[mythrenegade]

I’m baffled as to how there was protected music for sale in 2012. The new library plus iTunes Match solution will fix it, give you better sound, and can be cancelled after a single month once you’ve fixed the problem. The new library will avoid the mismatch problem mentioned above. 

 

Joel

[cambridgehank]

How would you create a new library from a playlist?

[Rounder44]

The easiest way is to just start over! iTunes match will/may fubar your library. You need to separate your DRM from non-DRM and THEN match just those.

 

Then open iTunes and drag and drop one at a time your others albums. If you're confident you've removed all the DRM cancel Match. If you do this check each file/album as you do! Problem with Match is it does not discriminate between version of songs as accurately as you'd think. Note my Waylon Jennings into "A Tribute to Margaret Thatcher" debacle a few years ago! 

 

You will make yourself crazy trying to automate this too much. If you resign yourself to the fact you're starting all over and just go at it slowly you'll be happier I assure you! I'm just now about done with mine.

 

Alternatively you can bring the new non_DRM files back to the original library and make this the "new" library again.

 

Bottom line is you do NOT want to take a well organized library of music and just Match it! I had much better luck this time but still don't trust it!

 

HTH

 

R44

 

 

[cambridgehank]

That is what I am doing.  I created a playlist with the DRM files on both of my iTunes libraries.  I am slowly replacing the new files into the spot occupied by the DRM file in  the playlist(s) I have created over the years.  Thanks

[new_media]

 

On 12/28/2017 at 9:08 AM, Rounder44 said:

Bottom line is you do NOT want to take a well organized library of music and just Match it! I had much better luck this time but still don't trust it!

 

FWIW, I've been using Match since it was in beta and it has never had any negative effects (or any effect at all, really) on my local library.

[cambridgehank]

On 12/28/2017 at 11:18 AM, mythrenegade said:

I’m baffled as to how there was protected music for sale in 2012. The new library plus iTunes Match solution will fix it, give you better sound, and can be cancelled after a single month once you’ve fixed the problem. The new library will avoid the mismatch problem mentioned above. 

 

Joel

I have found 300 plus songs like this.  Purchased a while ago, I ran iTunes Match and none of them were matched or changed?  They are all purchased from iTunes.  Not sure what I am doing or not doing to upgrade these songs with Match? 

[mythrenegade]

As I understand how iTunes Match works, you should be able to create a brand new library with no songs. Connect it to your iTunes account and download those 300 songs to this new library. They should all download as unprotected 256kbps AAC. Copy them out of this library and go back to your regular one and replace them. 

 

Joel

[cambridgehank]

Thanks. I’ll give it a try.

[cambridgehank]

10 hours ago, mythrenegade said:

As I understand how iTunes Match works, you should be able to create a brand new library with no songs. Connect it to your iTunes account and download those 300 songs to this new library. They should all dowload as unprotected 256kbps AAC. Copy them out of this library and go back to your regular one and replace them. 

 

Joel

What I have been questioning, what is the easiest way  to replace the old version in various playlist, that I have created?  If I replace the song, I will loose the link to the playlist.  I think, I can pull up my existing library on my iMac, create the blank library on the MacBook Pro.  compare the two and replace the songs in the playlist.  Does that make sense?