M4P to MP3 Conversion? iTunes Won't Let Me Play My Own Music!

[mac57mac57]

Thanks to the cutoff of iTunes 10.6.3 from the iTunes Store, iTunes will no longer allow me to play a number of my legally purchased songs, which are in M4P format, since my PowerMac G5 DP running Sorbet Leopard cannot be authorized to play them! It cannot be authorized because it can no longer access the iTunes Store to get authorized! This is a double whammy - not only am I cut off from the iTunes Store, I cannot play my own music. This REALLY irritates me!

Does anyone know a simple and reliable way to convert M4P to MP3 (or any other generic format)? I did some Google'ing and even tried one or two programs, but it looks pretty bleak out there. It is a "pit"... all the programs I found want to collect your Apple userid and password; scams all of them, I suspect.

I know that I can make a playlist out of the M4P songs and use Apple Music to burn them to an audio CD, from which I can then rip them back without DRM, but that is quite an undertaking. I am wondering if anyone knows of a tried and true program that will convert M4P to MP3 (or other generic format) as an alternate? I have tried Audacity, Cog, Sox and several others, but none of them will open M4P. Sheesh!

I would love to hear any and all options that you may know! Thanks!

 

[sublunar]

I’m guessing you don’t have a more modern Mac? Those music files are of an age where they would all be protected with DRM. I’d suggest re downloading on a newer Mac with Apple Music

 

[mac57mac57]

I do have two modern Mac's, and both can play the music, but I want to be able to do so from my PowerMac G5 as well. And... neither of them can burn CDs. Hence the question...

For now, I have dusted off my 2008 Mac Pro, which runs up to 10.13, and am doing the CD approach. It is hard to get a modern Mac AND one that can burn CDs too. My Mac Pro is the only one that fits the need!

 

[Bigwaff]

Modern Macs can burn CDs with most $20-$30 USB external optical media drives found on Amazon.

 

[Nermal]

There's an (old) program called Requiem that can losslessly convert those files, BUT it requires - according to my notes - iTunes 10.7. It also requires iTunes to be authorised to play the files. Do any of your working computers have 10.7 on them? Does 10.7 still talk to the iTunes Store?

 

[mac57mac57]

I tried iTunes 11 on Snow Leopard - IT doesn't talk to the iTunes Store anymore, so 10.7 most likely won't either. Thanks though ... I will look up Requiem and see what I can find.

 

[mac57mac57]

Modern Macs can burn CDs with most $20-$30 USB external optical media drives found on Amazon.

Indeed! But so will Older Mac's like my Mac Pro, and with no expenditure to get an external burner! I'm frugal... less money is better!

 

[Nermal]

I will look up Requiem and see what I can find.

There is no point in doing that if you don't have a working iTunes 10.7.

 

[mac57mac57]

Agreed, but hoping for later versions...

 

[MikeTaku]

Hey guys,
Can anyone please tell me how can I convert my M4P files to MP3 without using unreliable programs that ask for my Apple ID and password? I want a simple solution that doesn’t involve burning CDs.
Mike Taku.

 

[mac57mac57]

Good luck @MikeTaku. I have given up and gone the CD route. The CDs are burned; later today/tomorrow, I will rip them back... voila! DRM gone. It's a painful process, but I only have 26 M4P files in my collection, so I will endure it.

 

[Slartibart]

VLC will actually transcode M4P into another format/container including mp3. all2mp3 or Max might do this to (do not have a M4P at hand currently to check) - in any case you can use Max if you want a target audio format not supported by VLC (using VLC to just get rid of the protection).

 

[mac57mac57]

Excellent! I will give VLC a whirl, see how it goes and report back. In the meantime, I now have the DRM free versions of all the songs of interest via the CD route, so there may be TWO usable solutions, although VLC would be infinitely simpler.