Article: While iTunes can play most protected audio files, you will be unable to recover unprotected versions through iTunes Match if the music is old enough or if you didn't purchase it to begin with. You can use a work-around by burning the protected music to a CD and then ripping the CD to MP3 in iTunes. There are a few caveats, however:  You'll need to be authorized to play the protected M4P files in iTunes in the first place in order to burn it to a CD. There will be a small drop in quality. You'll want to use a CD-RW if possible if you have a lot of files to convert, otherwise you'll need a lot of blank CD-Rs. You can reuse a CD-RW up to 1000 times, which can be a lifesaver for large libraries. Make sure that this is a new, blank, CD-RW-type CD. If you're using a computer without a DVD drive, you'll need to buy an external USB DVD drive for your computer before you can proceed. Its app icon resembles a multicolored musical note on a white background. Click the Kind tab above your music library list to do so. If you don't see the Kind tab, do the following to make it appear:  Right-click the sorting options bar at the top of your iTunes library. Check the Kind option. Look for files with "M4P" listed in the Kind column; any M4P file is a protected iTunes file. Hold down Ctrl (or ⌘ Command on a Mac) while clicking each song that you want to convert. Right-click one of the selected songs, select Add to Playlist in the drop-down menu, click New Playlist, and type in a name for the playlist. It's in the upper-right side of the playlist's page. A drop-down menu will appear. It's in the drop-down menu. Doing so prompts a pop-up window to appear. Check the "MP3 CD" box, then click Burn at the bottom of the window. Your playlist's music will begin burning onto the CD. This may take several minutes. Once the CD finishes burning, you can proceed with converting the music. . Once you've created the CD, you should be able to open the CD inside of iTunes, select the contents of the CD, and create MP3 versions of the music on the CD by clicking File, selecting Convert in the drop-down menu, and clicking Create MP3 Version in the pop-out menu. Once you've created MP3 versions of your music, you'll be able to delete the protected versions of the music from your computer. before burning more music onto it. If you want to convert another 80 minutes of music, make sure that you wipe clean the CD before burning the music in question onto it.
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Understand how this method works. Insert a CD into your computer. Open iTunes. Sort your music by Kind. Find protected audio files. Select up to 80 minutes of music. Create a new playlist for the files. Click ⋯. Click Burn Playlist to Disc. Create the MP3 disc. Wait for the CD to finish burning. Rip the CD's music to MP3 Format the CD