Among various popular Apple gadgets, Apple music may be one of the hottest. Apple music allows you to listen to over 70 million songs with the ultimate music streaming experience offered. Thus, numerous music lovers are trending in listening to Apple music for a feast for the ears. However, just like every other prominent streaming service, songs of Apple Music are copyrighted by DRM protection which prevents you from using, modifying and distributing of the copyrighted music. Once you cancel the Apple Music subscription, all your downloaded streaming music will become unavailable because of DRM. To listen to Apple music freely offline, you need to remove DRM from Apple music at first.

Part 1: What is DRM-protected Apple Music?

DRM, the abbreviation of Digital Rights Management, is a copyright protection scheme that controls the use of proprietary and copyrighted works. It is known to all that DRM protected works can only be used in the way that copyright holders set. Apple Music are protected by FairPlay DRM Protection developed by Apple Inc., which prevents them from being played, transferred or copied on non-Apple devices. The songs downloaded from Apple Music are copy-protected M4P files using the AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) format encoded at 256 Kbps. Usually, M4P files can be opened with Apple’s iTunes on authorized devices.

Many of you may know that the DRM-free songs downloaded from Apple iTunes Store are M4A files that are mostly encoded with the loss AAC codec. Actually, M4P is a file container and an M4P file is copy-protected; M4A is also a file container while an M4A file is an iTunes audio file that isn’t copy protected. M4P and M4A are both file extension frequently used with AAC files, but AAC is a lossy compression codec. Simply speaking, unprotected AAC files have the M4A extension, while the protected versions have the M4P file extension.

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Part 2: Top 3 M4P Converters in 2024

The protected M4P songs downloaded from Apple Music can be played well by authorized Apple devices. If you want to play M4P music freely on non-Apple devices, you need a powerful M4P converter to remove DRM from Apple Music and convert M4P to a more versatile and more widely-supported format like MP3. Here’s the guide on how to remove DRM from apple music and convert M4P to MP3 with the top three M4P converters in 2024.

  1. Leawo Prof. DRM

Among a variety of M4P converters, Leawo Prof. DRM is regarded as the most powerful one. It can work as a top music converter that removes DRM from protected Apple music and converts M4P and non-DRM M4A music to DMR-free MP3 format with original quality reserved. Except for lossless DRM removal and video/audio conversion, you can select proper channels/sampling rates/bit rates so as to freely transfer the DRM-free Apple music songs to any media players and portable devices for unlimited enjoyment.

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Features

  • A wide range of input DRM-protected file types supported, including iTunes video, including iTunes/Apple/Spotify music, Audiobook and eBook.
  • Wide support output format: MP4, MP3, M4A, AAC, WAV, FLAC. WMA, OGG, MKA, etc.
  • Real 1:1 DRM removal supported: original audio tracks, subtitles and music ID tags 100% reserved.
  • Audio Tracks, Audio channel, Subtitles, Sound Track, Sampling Rate and Bit Rate selectable.
  • AC3 Dolby 5.1 surround sound kept when it removes DRM from iTunes videos.
  • Available in Mac and Windows version.

  2. FreeConvert

FreeConvert.com is a free online file conversion tool that supports different file types, including image, video, document, and music file formats. It integrates with an M4P converter that can easily convert M4P to MP3. It is quite convenient for you to upload music files from Device, Dropbox, Google Drive and URL. It is a convenient tool that works on any web browser for audio and video conversion. And you can convert music to MP3 with several steps: Enter FreeConvert Music Converter, click on the blue “Choose Files” button to upload M4P files and convert M4P to MP3 in a while.

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Features

  • Open source and free converter online.
  • Files are protected with 256-bit SSL encryption and automatically deleted after 2 hours.
  • Support more than 500 file formats, including MP3, M4A, OGG, MP4, MOV, etc.
  • Work on any web browser.

 3. MP3Cutter

MP3Cutter is a web-based file converting tool that cuts MP3 and other audio files as well as converts M4P to MP3. It is so convenient that there is no software to download and install on your computer. As it works on your browser, you can apply it on Windows, Mac, Linux, or a mobile device. It converts a number of audio and video formats from one to another, including: WMA, MP3, FLAC, M4A, M4B, M4P, M4R, etc. You can simply use MP3Cutter to convert music to MP3 with several clicks. You can click on “Choose File” button to upload your M4P file and trim the music file, and then choose “MP3” as the output format, finally just click on “Cut Audio” button to convert M4P to MP3.

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Features

  • Easy to use, you can cut MP3 music and remove unwanted parts from an audio file.
  • A variety of formats supported, including WMA, WAV, AMR, WMV, AVI, MP3, etc.
  • Convert all common audio files between MP3 and other formats.
  • Web-based tool that works on any web browser on different platforms, including Mac, Linux, Windows and even a mobile device.

Part 3: Comparison & Conclusion

In this post, three M4P converter applications and online services are recommended to remove Apple DRM and convert M4P to MP3. Here comes a simple comparison chart between these three converters for you to easily select a proper solution that fits you the best.

Product Leawo Prof. DRM FreeConvert MP3Cutter
Remove DRM from Apple M4P music Y N Y
Remove DRM from iTunes M4V video, M4B audiobook, Audible AA/AAX audiobook and Spotify DRM-protected file. Y N Y
Channel, Sampling Rate, Bit Rate selectable Y N Y
1:1 input to output conversion Y Y Y
Video and audio converting Y Y Y
Play video and audio instantly Y N N
No installation required N Y Y
No internet required Y N N
Windows and Mac version Y Y Y
No Ads and watermark Y Y Y
File size limitation N Y Y


To sum up, Leawo Prof. DRM is powerful in DRM removal and M4P to MP3 conversion. It is easy to use and works at 50X higher speed. Leawo Prof. DRM applies advanced digital media processing technology that guarantees lossless quality of the music. FreeConvert and MP3Cutter are web tools that convert video and audio files between hundreds of formats without any software installation. However, the two online converters can only support limited file size and require good network . Consequently, Leawo Prof. DRM is the best option for you.

Part 4: How to Remove DRM from Apple Music with Leawo iTunes Converter?

With intuitive and user-friendly interface, Leawo Prof. DRM integrates iTunes Converter application that works as an M4P to MP3 converter to simply remove DRM from Apple music and get DRM-free MP3 file from DRM-protected M4P Apple music. You can download and install the program on your PC at the beginning and then follow the instructions here.

Note

    Make sure you’ve authorized the computer by logging in with your Apple ID to play the M4P music file. iTunes cannot open during the DRM removal process.


Step 1: Download Leawo Prof. DRM

  • Leawo Prof. DRM
  • Leawo Prof. DRM

    - The most complete 5-in-1 DRM removal program in the world
    - 50x faster to remove DRM
    - Support multi-task processing
    - Support batch conversion
    - User-friendly interface and practical functions
    - Support Windows & Mac OS

Step 2: Launch the Program and Import M4P Music Files

Launch the program to enter the main interface, click on “Add Files” button on the sub-menu bar to open “Add Files” panel and import one or more DRM M4P Apple music files to the program. Or you can also import the target Apple music files directly by drag-and-drops.

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Step 3: Edit Music Files

Now the imported M4P Apple music files will be listed under the category “music”. Select an M4P file and then click the “edit” button to pop up an editing panel where you can freely choose Channels, Sampling Rates and Bit Rates for output MP3 audio file. Click on “Apply to All” to apply the settings to all the music files.

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Step 4: Save Output MP3 Files

Return to the “Home” page, click on “…” button at the bottom to set an output directory for saving the converted MP3 file.

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Step 5: Remove DRM from M4P Music File and Convert M4P to MP3

Finally, click on the blue “Convert” button at the bottom right corner to start removing DRM from M4P music and converting M4P to MP3 simultaneously. And the DRM removal and conversion process will be completed in minutes.

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Step 6: Check the Converted MP3 Files

When the conversion is finished, you can check the converted MP3 files under the “Converted” tab. You can play the MP3 music and locate the file here.

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