Sharing iTunes music among devices.
DRM
When I buy a piece of music from iTunes, on how many devices can I use it?
Basically, there are two ways to buy iTunes music.
- Normal purchase. Allows transfer to up to five computers and burn to up to seven copies.
- iTunes plus purchase. Less restrictions.
The following is a direct quote from the support.apple.com website (underline added):
- iTunes DRM-protected music includes audio with a bit rate of 128 kbps. You can transfer songs and videos to up to five computers, burn seven copies of the same playlist to CD, and sync to an unlimited number of iPods.
- iTunes Plus music refers to songs and music videos available in our highest-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding (twice the current bit rate of 128 kbps) and without digital rights management (DRM). There are no burn limits and iTunes Plus music will play on all iPods, Mac or Windows computers, Apple TVs, and many other digital music players.
- You can redownload purchases from the App Store and iBooks Store for free as long as the app or book is still available for purchase.
Compatibility
iTunes by default uses a format called AAC (citation needed). Many music players, though, require MPEG (i.e. MP3) format. You can use iTunes to convert an AAC to an MP3.
Convert iTunes to MP3
- Begin by making sure your conversion settings are set to MP3.
- On Windows, go to the Edit menu and choose Preferences
- Then choose Import Settings.
- Then choose MP3 or MPEG.
- Next, in iTunes, find and select the AAC songs you want to convert to an MP3 by single clicking on them.
- When the songs you want to convert are highlighted, click the File menu in iTunes.
- Select Create New Version and then Create MP3 Version. This will convert the iTunes songs to MP3 files for use on other kinds of MP3 players.