iTunes DRM conversion

Anyone had any experience in converting a lot of DRM iTunes music, like 20GB+, into mp3?

Suggestions

yes and no

wav to MP3... batch edits (or some such thing a geek wrote)

I'm not much use but hey at least ya got a reply

or can't ya just select range of songs (in itunes or other program) right mouse click "convert to MP3" - in small groups ie not 20gig at a time

I dunno how DRM fits into this, but I converted my lossless files to 192kb/s mp3s using itunes a couple of days ago.

First I duplicated my itunes folder so the original wouldn't be fucked with.

Opened itunes holding down the option key (probably alt key on windows, but look it up). This starts itunes with a dialog asking where your library is. I pointed it to the duplicate.

I changed my import settings from lossless to mp3/192kb/s.

Selected the entire library (cmd/ctrl + A of course) and right click - > convert to [import settings you just changed in prefs]

Leave for a couple of hours/overnight to process.

When you come back you'll have 2 versions of each track and the originals still selected. Don't de-select (if you do just arrange view by kind and reselect). Right click and select delete and confirm that you want to move the actual files to the trash as well.

Dunno if DRM puts a spanner in the works or because you own it it should allow...

If it does put a spanner in the works and you can't find a program to convert, I guess what I'd wind up doing is burning to a virtual CD/DVD with itunes (not a real CD) then re-importing it back in again. A bit of a pain but it works.

I assume by DRM he means from apples AAC (???) format to plain ol MP3 - as in files brought via itunes don't work in a lot of other programmes and are often/generally not very user friendly, unlike MP3 which is

encode at 320 kbps (if the source files are lossless)

My lossless files came straight from my CDs which are now packed away. They are Apple Lossless (as opposed to FLAC) and on an external HDD. I just wanted a version with a smaller footprint for carrying around with me on the laptop.

Apple also sell non-DRM AAC files, which would will convert with the above steps. The DRM might not be so kind.

Though I guess you'd know all that really...

DRM was actually dropped from iTunes Store music in Jan 2009.

my professional experience of apple is they used to demand all files in their lossless format for distribution via itunes and then disabled all support for that format from Producer (which you have to use to get files onto the itunes store).... *facepalm*

they take wav now