Copy-Protection (DRM)

Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a technology, which controls the use of purchased digital content, such as songs. DRM exists to prevent illegal sharing of copyrighted material, however it often imposes limits on where and how these files are played for customers who have legally purchased the content. Common sources of DRM protected content include older iTunes Music Store purchases, as well as purchases from other music stores such as Napster and Walmart.

Why can't Tunesify convert DRM protected files?

Aside from technical limitations, such as file encryption, the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) deems it illegal to produce software which circumvents copy protection. Apple rightly does not allow apps on the Mac App Store that encourage illegal activites. For this reason, Tunesify and all other audio converters on the Mac App Store cannot convert these files.

I have DRM protected content, what can I do?

If you have songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store, usually with the file extension ".m4p", you can subscribe to iTunes Match, which allows you to re-download these files in a higher quality iTunes Plus (DRM-free) format. Note: all music now sold on the iTunes Music Store is provided DRM-free.

If you have Windows Media Audio files, usually with the file extension ".wma", you may be able to burn these files to an audio CD if you have access to the computer that is authorized to play these files. You could then import the audio CD into iTunes. If you do not have access to an authorized computer then, unfortunately, you must re-purchase or re-download the files. I recommend purchasing only from DRM-free sources, such as the current iTunes Music Store or traditional physical CDs.

Tunesify is erroneously detecting DRM in files that are not copy-protected.

If you believe that you have an audio file that is not copy-protected but is detected as such by Tunesify, please e-mail me the file at andrew@tunesify.com for further investigation.