[SOLVED] itunes m4p files

**jamesrl** · December 17th, 2008

And for the record, you currently have to use (within a Windows machine that Itunes can open the files within)
MyFairTunes http://sourceforge.net/projects/myfairtunes
or QTFairUse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QTFairUse6

**capnthommo** · December 17th, 2008

hi jerome, yes that looks like being the only way but as i said earlier, the data doesnt always come across and then the player only sees 'track one, track two' etc and so when it comes to the next cd it tries to overwrite the first set. and i haven't figured out a way to stop this happenning yet. editing the titles and so on doesnt seem to make a difference. i think the GSTreamer options will be worth a shot too. but that;s the last, positively. no, honest, i mean it this time. thanks again to everyone

**shifty_powers** · December 17th, 2008

Originally Posted by jamesrl

I guess I shouldn't have said it was illegal or not illegal, I think we both will agree that it is in questionable legal territory (esp as laws differ in different countries). As we all saw back in the day with DeCSS there are many legal issues out there, but looking at the case of DVD Jon, (Norwegian Courts) found that since he only decrypted dvds he legally owned he was entitled to do so:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Lech_Johansen

In my book, distributing copyrighted works == Illegal, decrypting works you paid for, so you can make backups or play on unsupported OSes != Illegal. I have yet to hear of anyone being successfully prosecuted for decrypting works that they themselves purchased.

PS: I should add that the method of decrypting m4p, only works if you have the right to play those specific m4p's on the specific windows computer you are using.

well dvd jon only applies to norwegian law.

but yes, it is all questionable, and between you me and the four walls had a crack at this myself once upon a time and found it to be a monumental pain in the ***...

**johnfrlv** · March 11th, 2009

Originally Posted by capnthommo

hi jerome, yes that looks like being the only way but as i said earlier, the data doesnt always come across and then the player only sees 'track one, track two' etc and so when it comes to the next cd it tries to overwrite the first set. and i haven't figured out a way to stop this happenning yet. editing the titles and so on doesnt seem to make a difference. i think the GSTreamer options will be worth a shot too. but that;s the last, positively. no, honest, i mean it this time. thanks again to everyone

I found you have to go into the music file and rename each "track" before loading the next CD to keep them from being replaced. Yes it takes a while but haven't found an easier alternative yet.

**LowSky** · March 11th, 2009

You do know that Itunes just released almost everything in their library form DRM, you pay $0.30 a song to upgrade it to DRM free. Stupid and annoying as now im thinking of spend the $50-60 on upgrading my library so Its one less thing for me to dual-boot for. Sure its only like 200 songs compared to my 15000 songs I have (I dont really purchase much songs on iTunes) in my library, but to have them all would be great.

**capnthommo** · March 19th, 2009

hi johnfriv and lowsky. thanks for the update. i have actually given up on this one. i use my ipod as is to play anything under DRM that i cant play any other way and just make sure anything i get now is in cd or mp3 format. can't say i have really noticed any great sense of loss, once i got my head around it.
i have since found a cool replacement for Itunes too, at
http://www.emusic.com
it has loads of tracks and all in DRM free mp3 format, including most of the artistes i like. ok there are some that aren't available, but i can always get the cd for those few. i pay a monthly fee for a set number of tracks and if i should happen to lose one i can redownload it free. and when i've bought it i can put it on whatever i want - not restricted to their branded player. and no, it's not a subscription so they don't disappear if i decide not to continue.
it works out at about 30pence a track as opposed to itunes 79pence, and whoohoo! they are actually mine, like i bought the record.
sorry, i came over a bit evangelically then, didn't i? i'm not advocating it but others might find it useful too.
cheers
nigel

**thisnamestoolong** · May 4th, 2009

Hey I'm jumping into this a bit late in the game, but I actually found a pretty easy workaround for playing iTunes files in Linux. All I had to do was install Quicktime and the ******* version of Songbird (with the Quicktime plugin) through Wine, and my protected iTunes files work fine. If anyone has any ideas for ways to strip the DRM from iTunes 8 files though (other than the burning to CD method, it is far too time consuming and reduces the quality quite noticeably), I would still be interested...