True enough. I actually think it’s a little quicker/easier to “View Source” or “Show Page Source” within the browser and then copy it from there. I confess that I did that, but I was so annoyed that I no longer wanted to paste it and comment on it further.
My real annoyance wasn’t with the procedure, it was at the fact that any procedure was necessary at all.
Thanks for posting the developer’s remarks, though. I’ll try to keep my tantrums to a minimum. 
Interesting. I had the impression that paid iTunes Plus upgrades had been discontinued a few years back, and you could simply replace the original files with upgraded versions, but it’s entirely possible I am misinformed. I just did some searching, and there are threads in various forums that suggest that the paid upgrade program was terminated and that the only approved way to upgrade 128 kbps songs to 256 kbps songs now is to pay for either iTunes Match or Apple Music.
If someone has a lot of 128 kbps/protected songs, it may be worth subscribing to iTunes Match or Apple Music just long enough to upgrade their lower fidelity songs, but that can raise a whole other set of complexities.
Phooey. Thanks for the correction.
FWIW, I burned audio CDs from my DRM purchases a long time ago. I did rip them back and save the results to MP3 CDs, but those MP3 files are not kept on-line. I am keeping the original DRM-wrapped files, because they aren’t causing me problems (I use Music and sync to iPods).
Thanks @josehill , @Shamino , @mschmitt !
It’s sounding tricky but I’ll do some more research to see if I can liberate the .m4p’s. Last attempt, I copied all my music files to an iMac (round white base, swivel display, from which I very well might have purchased many tracks and was at some point ‘authorized’) and these files wouldn’t play as iMac wasn’t authorized. I managed to get the iMac online but its version of iTunes was no longer able to connect to Apple and thus could not be ‘re-authorized’.
Then I ruined several CDs trying the iTunes options to burn mp3s, which would spin but fail to convert them. Something along those lines (it was about 2 years ago I tried).
So next time I’ll do more research and see what’s still possible. I don’t subscribe to anything music now but maybe as was suggested I could for a month or short time frame, for the sake of freeing music I purchased/licensed.
I’ll say no more here so as to not further distract from OPs question. Apologies for the diversion.
I still use iTunes with Sequoia, Tahoe, and GoldenGate.
A “modified” copy gives me all the functionality I need… which is mostly the “old” internet radio tuner (which Apple removed from Music so they could sell you their services).
I think if you upgrade a track through Apple Music, you lose access to it once you end the subscription. With iTunes match, however, you truly get a DRM-free version of the track. That has definitely been my experience with iTunes Match, but I don’t think I ever tried upgrading through Apple Music on my computer.
I do know that I had non-DRM tracks on my computer that were downloaded to my phone from Apple Music. After I let the subscription lapse, I lost access to those tracks on my phone. I’m assuming it would be the same if I downloaded a track from Apple Music to my computer after deleting the non-DRM version.
Signing up for iTunes Match is a year-long commitment, but it’s only costs $25 for the entire year.
I’m not sure exactly what you did, but…
If you tell iTunes/Music to burn an MP3 CD, it doesn’t actually convert anything. It just makes a data disc with the selected files. If the files are protected-AAC, that is what will be on the disc. I have no idea how this differs from requesting a data disc.
When I’ve done this, I’ve always burned the tracks to an audio CD. Which works. And it’s perfectly legal, because FairPlay allows CD burning. The only restriction is that a playlist containing FairPlay tracks can only be burned 5 times, but you can always create more playlists if you run up against that limit.
Clearly, there was DRM. Just with a different policy from purchased tracks.
It definitely can be confusing.
iTunes Match functionality is included in paid Apple Music subscriptions. iTunes Match only “matches” files that you have already imported from another source. For example, iTunes Match will match files that you imported from CD or that you imported from a non-DRM’ed service. Once a song is matched, it becomes a permanent, non-DRM’ed part of your library.
Apple Music allows you to download files that you did not purchase or otherwise “match” through Apple Music, but those are only for offline listening while your Apple Music subscription is maintained. They are DRM “protected.” They are not the same as files matched by iTunes Match.
I use Broadcasts (from the App store, free to try). Works great for internetradio.
If you know the URL of the station you want (usually available on the station’s web page), you can create an iTunes or Music entry for it. I have several playlists of such entries for stations I listen to.
Yes, I know. I wasn’t confused about the difference in how Apple Music and iTunes Match work. The point of my post was to rebut your assertion in an earlier post that you could get DRM-free versions through Apple Music. I was just providing a real-life instance which showed the Apple Music file still had DRM.
You might like to look at Swinsian. I have been using it for “my own” music, ie not Apple paid downloads, more CD rips, and have been very happy with it. I’m using Version 3 having just recently updated. I’ve found his support to be good and helpful when I have needed it. As with all individual developers there’s always the risk that support stops.
I occasionally use Cider
I use VLC to play music on the mac, though found it buggy on ios … its not pretty, but its open source and lets me use files that are in folders that are playlists, and I can add and remove when I want. I sync to my phone via icloud, store the music locally in my phone, and use the music stored locally in my phone with an app called Offline Music Player.
The trick was to get whatever silly format apple had put things into when you imported or bought it and get it to .mp3, which for me is perfectly good enough quality. apple mac music will convert to mp3. Now when I buy music through the apple music store the first thing I do is convert it to mp3 and copy it out of the music app.
Despite this sounding complicated, its so much better than the disaster that apple music apps not syncing properly, repeatedly, for years, was.
So far I don’t think anyone’s mentioned the ability to play music (classical, in my case) stored on my iPhone using CarPlay, but I may have missed something. Any thoughts?
I took a strange route for music in my vehicle. I stream music through CarPlay using several non-Apple apps, and I listen to music I own via an SD card. At the moment, I don’t subscribe to any streaming services for on-demand listening to particular songs, though I understand that services like Qobuz, iDagio, and others support CarPlay.
For classical streaming, I mostly use the SiriusXM iPhone app. The service has increased in price several times since I first started subscribing, but at $11.99/month, I find the entry-level “app-only” subscription to be reasonable for the variety and sound quality that I receive. I also listen to a few of my favorite out-of-area classical stations/programs via the free version of the TuneIn Radio app.
I noticed that my vehicle has an SD card slot, so I exported my entire iTunes library to an SD card as 256 kbps MP3 files using the Export for iTunes app. It’s trickier than you might think to figure out exactly what SD capacities and file formats a vehicle supports. My vehicle is a 2024 model, and it turned out that a 256 GB SD card would work, though I didn’t actually see that documented anywhere. A 256 GB SD card is big enough to hold almost my entire library.
SD card playback uses the vehicle’s native interface, not CarPlay. Visually, it’s not quite as nice as CarPlay, but it displays album art, is reasonably easy to use, and it sounds quite good. If you have an older car with an SD slot, you probably will be more limited in capacity, possibly as low as 16 or 32 GB.
A lot of cars will also play files from a USB stick.
The things to watch out for are:
And then there are issues with the UI. My car, for instance, presents each media folder as a big scrolling list, and the radio’s knob is too awkward to use while driving (it’s pretty awkward even when standing still). Touch screens may be easier if there’s a scroll bar to manipulate, but even that could be too awkward if you have a lot of songs.
Most cars, however, will recognize folders/subdirectories. At least one level below the root, even if they won’t go deeper. In order to make access to a lot of songs convenient with a car’s interface, I recommend a directory structure like:
Initial → Artist → Album → Songs
For instance:
This way, at each layer of the UI, you’re not scrolling through hundreds of rows to find what you want.
And FWIW, automakers should do something like this automatically. When I plug my iPod into my Honda and pull up the list of artists, it makes me scroll through 900 rows, which is insane when you can only navigate the list by turning a 2" knob.
Some GM vehicles support NTFS as that is what I use on a Samsung T5 SSD drive using the built-in audio system with over 27,000 tracks on it. FAT32 and HFS+ were also available. The files are Apple Lossless. FLAC and OGG were also other options along with the usual mp3 and AAC. This vehicle is a 2020 Cadillac but other GM models at that time used the same software with different names such as CUE for the Cadillac models so it was not exclusive to them. Things have changed now as GM is using some type of Google software and Apple CarPlay is no longer an option on many GM vehicles as it was some time ago. I just like getting into the car and not bothering to plug in the phone for music as the sound is better anyway using the built-in system using the Apple Lossless files. YMMV.
On my new 2027 Kia, I can just start playing any of the music downloaded on my iPhone using Apple Music (the iOS app, not the streaming service), or the CS Music Pro app and it starts playing through Apple CarPlay. The “Now Playing” app in CarPlay shows the tracks and lets me pause and skip.
To select the music and start playing, I do have to use the actual iPhone, but once it’s going I can navigate the tracks with CarPlay or my voice using Siri.
I also use Tidal for streaming and it works with CarPlay too. It works fine, but has a somewhat limited interface. To select albums or other subsets, I need to go back to the iPhone app, not Carplay.
Thanks to all for your suggestions! It’s starting look like what I want doesn’t (yet) exist: a single app I can install on both my Macs at home and my iPhone that can create playlists of (complete) classical works from my collection playable “hands-off” in CarPlay.
My 2026 Civic hybrid does play USB sticks using some kind of native Android software that I think can be voice-activated; I will see what it can do, but I’m reluctant to multiply entities.
Thanks again.
[p.s.] You have always been able to fool Apple music apps, of course, into playing complete classical works: my decades-old solution is to call each work an “album” and each movement a “title.” If I could make a playlist of albums somehow, my problem would be solved, but as far as I know I can’t.