Virtual CD Buring/Ripping to Remove DRM

[any ANONYMOUS forum user]

Acording to this:

Beginner's Method

This has an additional step. That makes it work in any version of iTunes and adds some advantages.

Burn your purchased protected songs onto disc.

1. Get iTunes free for PC or Mac from the Apple web site[1].
2. Install.
3. Set your iTunes import Preference to MP3, or whatever you want.
4. Set your burn Preference to Audio CD.

Make a playlist of your iTune purchases. About 75 minutes, 15-25 songs, fills a 700-meg Audio CD.

1. From the File menu select New Playlist.
2. Drag songs from the Music Library into this playlist.

Burn these to the CD that you set to Audio disc in the Preferences.

1. Menu select File/Burn Playlist to Disc.
2. Insert CD when prompted.

Your protected songs become AIFFs on the Audio CD. This Audio disc is playable on most any CD player, including the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC's.

Why this next additional step? Click on the CD icon under Library. You'll see that the AIFFs have the iTunes store ID tags [song, album art, performer, etc.] instead of just Track 1, Track 2, etc. This information got onto your computer because you paid to download the music. But the ID tag of each AIFF track on the Audio CD is stored on your computer, not in the AIFF file. However, an MP3 carries its ID data with it. And a data CD disc of MP3s, not an audio one, will store the ID tag info carried by each MP3 file.

To make the AIFFs into MP3s and preserve this ID info, rip the songs back into iTunes like this:

1. Click the CD icon under Library.
2. Select all songs [Either CNTRL+A or CMND+A].
3. Drag your AIFFs into the Music Library. You may play them while they convert.
4. Sort the Music Library by Date Added to collect your new MP3s.

Now you have MP3 versions of the purchased songs in the Library. Plug your MP3 into the computer and when its icon comes up in iTunes, drag the MP3s onto it. Or you can transfer MP3s over WiFi to your PS3 or Xbox 360. Or transfer them using a second disc that's storing them as Data.

To Store your MP3s and their tag data:

1. Set your burn Preference to Data CD. The data CD can hold several hundred MP3s.
2. Drag your converted MP3s from the library into a New playlist.
3. Menu select File/Burn Playlist to Disc.
4. Insert another blank CD when prompted.

You can play music from a Data disc on some CD players and most computers, including the PS3 and PC's NOTE: Keep your original Audio CD of purchased songs for high-quality listening. The MP3s lose a lot in getting so small but are fine for listening on the go.



Direct Way with Virtual CD-RW Software

There is a software named "NoteBurner" which can process the above two steps directly and in a straightforward manner.

The only thing you need to do is to select the default CD burner to "NoteBurn Virtual_CD-RW". The software will do the rest of the work for you automatically. Compared to methods described below, this method does all the work automatically within one software. NoteBurner is only for Windows XP/Vista*. Note that the trial version of NoteBurner is limited to tracks with a length of less than 03:01 minutes.

*NOTE: NoteBurner is currently incompatible with Windows Vista 64-bit systems.



Advanced Method Using Audacity for All Protected Audio

1. Open your recording program. It should be one that can save as an MP3. If you don't have a recording program you can download Audacity, which is cool and free, but if you already have another good recording program you can use that instead. (If you download Audacity, don't forget to grab the LAME encoder.)
2. Switch your sound-recording mode. Go to your system tray (in the lower-right corner of your screen, next to the clock) and double-click on Volume Control. Pull down the Options menu and click Properties. In the "Adjust volume for" box, press Recording, check all the boxes, and click OK. Your computer is probably set to record from the microphone; check the box under "Stereo Mix". You should only need to do this once.
3. Set up your recorder. Switch back to your music-recording program and create a new file. Make sure it's in the format you want; Audacity defaults to Mono mode, so if you're using that you'll need to go to Edit -> Preferences and change the Channels drop-down box to "2 (Stereo)".
4. Do it. Once your recorder is ready, press Record. Then switch to your audio source (whether it be iTunes, Windows Media Player, or another program) and press Play. Listen to the rapturous sound of your music being freed from DRM . When the song ends, press Stop, then switch back to your recording program and press Stop there.
5. Clean up. If you're going to be using a microphone with your computer, go back to Recording Control and switch the recording mode back to Microphone. Delete any unwanted sound or silence on either end of the waveform. Amplify if necessary. Save the project (in Audacity you'll want File -> Export as MP3) and close. You're done!

Very Advanced Digital-Only Lossless Method
Purchase and install Replay Music (the demo is free for several tracks). The program will record audio from your sound card even if you don't have Stereo Mix / Wave-Out Mix / What U Hear. It will also split tracks and tag them automatically.
*Note that Replay Music uses a song identification service, so it can't tag 100% of the music tracks.

If you use Linux, you can use PulseAudio Volume Control to record sound from any application. If you have a Mac you can use SoundFlowerBed.

one should be able to use a virtual CD burning and ripping process to remove DRM protection.

We have tried this with no success and I am looking for some comments and direction.

When we burn, we are burning the same file format that we start with -- and that may be the problem. For example, if the file is a wma file, we are burning the file as a wma file onto the ISO image-- and then when ripped off it is still a wma file and remains protected.

Contrast this to the physical burning where you open a DRM protected file on your computer you have legally purchased in WMP. You use WMP to burn it to a CD as a Mp3 or WAV. Then you rip it back off -- and this file is no longer copy protected.

It may be necessary to somehow convert the DRM protected file to mp3, wav or aif file when it is being virtually burned to the CD, as it is when WMP is used to burn a physical CD.

The problem of course is that the program that we want to open DRM protected files (that have been legally purchased) cannot open these. And if they cannot be opened, they cannot be converted.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

The first thing you need to do is to try lossless DRM removal software. When using it you don't lose any quality and it is the fastest method unlike anything mentioned above. Besides lossless DRM removal tools are free. There are a few problems with such tools though. They are not distributed officially, so you can get a virus/spyware/malware when downloading software from unknown web-sites. Use VirusTotal to check your downloads with multiple antiviruses. Note that this won't give you 100% protection.

Another problem with lossless DRM removal software is that it doesn't work with latest versions of Windows Media Player and iTunes.

If your content provider doesn't force to upgrade WMP 10, you can use FairUse4WM (or drmdbg + freeme2).

For removing DRM from iTunes, you can use Requiem.


Most users that can't use lossless DRM removal software, prefer to use Soundtaxi or Tunebite. These programs re-record music files from your sound card. They work much faster than in Real Time.


As for burning DRM-protected tracks, you need to create an Audio CD from them. Burning DRM-protected WMA, M4P to a data CD doesn't have any sense. Instead of burning your tracks onto a real CD, you can create a CD image (like .ISO) on your hard drive. Such images can be mounted using virtual CD/DVD software like a free version of Daemon Tools.