Is iTunes Plus still a thing?

[pup]

I've been wondering why my Sonos app can't play certain songs from my iTunes library and it just dawned on me that these are all old iTunes purchases that still show up as Protected AAC format. And of course iTunes won't let me convert them to anything else. I know that you used to be able to 'upgrade' this older music to iTunes Plus 256 kbps, for like 30 cents a song or something, and in the process it would remove the DRM, but that option doesn't seem to exist anymore in the iTunes Store, or at least I can't find it. If I go to the song in the store, I only have the option to repurchase it at full price.

Is there still a way to convert these songs to iTunes plus, or some other way to remove the DRM? I've tried just deleting a few and then re-downloading them just to see if Apple gave me the updated file, but the new files are still the old Protected AAC at 128 kbps.

But now that I think about it, I thought that when iTunes Match came out, that these songs were automatically upgraded - don't know why I think that, but it seems familiar.

 

[sublunar]

It's looking like iTunes Plus upgrades are no longer a thing - hasn't been for a few years. I'd suspect that the song that is in the old format is now a separate file to the 256kbps version that you could 'rebuy' it for.

I can't even be sure that the linked solution to subscribe to iTunes Match is the best thing but in the UK it's £21.99 a year with the downside that it takes your music into the cloud.

Apple would simply suggest you subscribe to Apple Music which is more expensive of course.

 

[Juicy Box]

Is there still a way to convert these songs to iTunes plus, or some other way to remove the DRM?

I was testing possible ways of removing the DRM a while ago (over 15 years ago) to play on non-Apple devices.

I figured out a really easy way to do it, but it wouldn't be convenient for large batches. How many DRMed songs do you have?

But now that I think about it, I thought that when iTunes Match came out, that these songs were automatically upgraded - don't know why I think that, but it seems familiar.

This would also work, and would be the best thing to do for large batches of songs with DRM.

You can sign up for a year, convert all your songs, then cancel. Just make sure there is a back up of all your songs, DRM or not!

 

[pup]

Well I actually had iTune Match since it came out, so I don’t know why my songs weren’t upgraded - am I crazy that iTunes Match was supposed to have upgraded the music? I also have Apple Music now, so between the two you’d think the music would have been upgraded. I’m surprised that Apple bothers to keep the old files on their servers.

If there’s a way to do it file by file, I suppose I could but it’s well over 300 songs in total, plus sorting them back into playlists - it would take some effort.

 

[MacGizmo]

I always used to right click on the Apple-purchased songs and just hit the "export as MP3" item. It only worked on Apple's own DRM songs though (what were they, AAC?)
[automerge]1593344999[/automerge]
DRM has done nothing but ensure that I, and anyone with half a brain, will continue to just get music from "other sources" online if I really want a copy of the song file (which is increasingly rare for me at my age anyway).

 

[pup]

More info.

On closer inspection, the vast majority of my old iTunes purchases (around 2,100 songs) show up as "Purchased AAC Audio Files". Of the remaining 650, roughly half show up as "Matched AAC Audio Files" and the other half as "Protected AAC Audio Files". There's no pattern as to which ones are matched and which are protected - date added, play count, etc. Usually whole albums are one or the other, but not always. All of the purchased and matched files are 256 kbps like they should be, and have no DRM.

The one common thread is that all of the protected files have an iCloud status of 'uploaded' vs 'purchased' or 'matched'. This must be where things have gone sideways - even though the files have Apple DRM, iTunes Match must have never recognized them as being purchased content and therefore never upgraded them. They were just uploaded into iCloud as if they were ripped from CDs (except keeping apple's DRM in tact).

And if I delete one of the songs, and go to the iTunes Store to redownload the purchase, then the new file will have an iCloud status of matched, but the file is still the old 128 kbps protected AAC with DRM.

Weird.

 

[sublunar]

It could be that certain songs were removed from the iTunes database or otherwise unavailable when iTunes match was active.

I think that, like movies, songs come and go depending on the publication version (whether a song or album is a re-issue).

For example, if the song was remastered for iTunes or remastered by the studio it would be re-released as a new version and the old one (which you 'purchased') would not exist any longer and for some reason didn't get matched.

Sounds like a failure of the system to me.

As mentioned earlier, the way to go might be to export to MP3 and then re-import. But that certainly sounds like a lot of files to process what a pain!

 

[pup]

Yeah that may be the answer. The easiest solution for me, since I have Apple Music, is to just delete and download the Music version. It seems like a big task, but I'll probably just go through and fix the stuff I still listen to or is in playlists.