The 10 step circumvention convention
There's a "dirt cheap" way to get around every copy-protected song you find. What you need is a second computer with an audio in port (or an iMic set for microphone, which I use), an audio cable, and an audio-recording program (I recommend
Sound Studio (sub-2MB), try it for free).
All right, so it's not dirt cheap if you don't have a second computer with audio in or an iMic, or the cable. Anyways, all you do is:
[1] Connect the audio out from your main machine to the audio in on your second computer with the cable.
[2] Launch Sound Studio on your second computer, and check the "Soft play-thru" option in the Show Input Levels hover window. Also, go into the preferences. Under the "Display" tab, check the box for "Move insertion point with playback." Confirm. Then create a new blank document.
[3] Prepare the copy-protected song on your main computer in iTunes.
(I'm going with the user's honesty that the user is going to use the soon-to-be unprotected copy of the song for only personal usage and not for redistribution, thereby avoiding infringement.)
[4-1] Hit the record button in Sound Studio on your second computer.
[4-2] Play the song on your main computer in iTunes.
[4-3] When the song is done playing, hit the square button in Sound Studio again. If you accidently played part of another song (or the same song again) during this process, don't worry. In step 7, you can edit that out.
If you know how to work with Sound Studio (or the audio app of your choice), then do what you gotta do. But, if you're not completely sure what to do with your recording, then follow the rest of the steps below.
[5] On your second computer, save the document to the desktop (or folder of your choice) on that same computer. The file name should have the artist name and song title, so you don't forget what you just recorded. Save the file under type AIFF.
[6] Go to the beginning of the recording and delete any added silence that you don't need.
-- For beginners: In Sound Studio, scroll all the way to the left of your recording window. Look at your waveform, that is, the set of "L" and "R" flat and wave-like dark gray lines. Position your mouse at the very left of the "L" and "R" window and aligned between the two dark gray lines. Hit the spacebar. The moment you hear anything but silence from your second computer, hit the spacebar again. The blinking "line" window cursor should be at that point where you hit the return key. Now...take a look at the "cue" at the top of the window. Make a quick mental note of that number. Then hold down the left arrow on your keyboard until that number has decreased by about 1.000. (For instance, if the "cue" was originally at 08.673, hold down the arrow until the cue appproaches 07.673.) Finally, hold down shift and the up arrow, and press the delete key. (At this point you can forget about the mental note of the "cue" number.)
[7] Play the edited Sound Studio recording (the one you're currently working with) through once. If at the end of the song you find that the recording has too much silence or has additional audio content that is unnecessary, highlight that part of the recording (click on the first point on the waveform where the extra sound occurs...may take trial and error...then hold shift and press the down arrow) and delete it.
[8] Save the file again.
[9] Transfer the Sound Studio file back to your main computer. Drag the file into iTunes. To keep from losing track in step 10, do not scroll through the iTunes library until step 10 is complete.
[10] Rip the Sound Studio AIFF file through iTunes to the format you want (I suggest a quality AAC bitrate). As it rips, note the dimmed track title and other song information that appears just below the AIFF file. That is the new AAC file that is being ripped. Once the rip has completed, remove the original AIFF file you dragged into iTunes from your iTunes library. Finally, move the file in iTunes to a specific playlist so you don't have to search through your iTunes library to find it.
Now you are left with your newly ripped copy of the formerly copy-protected song. This new copy of the song you just recorded into Sound Studio, then ripped back into iTunes, can be duplicated to eternity. Duplicate at your own risk.
