Monday, July 31, 2017

The Best iTunes Add-Ons in 2017 - iTunes Tools Review

Do you use iTunes to enjoy media files like iTunes music, video, iBook etc.? And have you encountered any inconvenience when using iTunes and how did you solve it everytime? Such as the iTunes library being big, taking a lot of time to create a playlist, having difficult importing files and a lot more. Please don’t worry, here I will recommend the top 10 best iTunes tools and add-ons. You can follow me to learn more about them and use them to solve any iTunes problems you may have.

Top 1. DRmare DRM M4V Converter – Best iTunes DRM Remover (Windows & Mac)


iTunes videos including the movies, TV shows, music videos, iTunes Extras are encoded with the FairPlay DRM protection, making it impossible to play on non-Apple devices. With DRmare M4V Converter, an all-in-one iTunes DRM removal tool, you can easily strip DRM protection from all kinds of iTunes videos, including both rentals and purchases and convert the DRM-ed M4V videos to universal DRM-free video and audio formats, such as MP4, M4V, MOV, AVI, FLV, MKV, MPEG, etc. for any hot devices. It stands out from other iTunes DRM video converting tools for its high efficiency and lossless quality. You may download the free trial version as below to test out how it performs on converting protected iTunes movies to unprotected files and devices.

Top 2. Aurora – Great Alarming Tool for iTunes (Mac)


If you are fed up with the dull alarm tone, you may try this cool alarming software which runs on a Mac computer. It supports to turn your Mac computer into a cool alarm clock by using your favorite playlists from the iTunes library as an alarming music. In addition, it has the other features like fade in, shuffle, wake computer, etc. This software won’t cost you any money.

Top 3. HandBrake – Best DVD to iTunes Ripper (Mac)


Do you have multiple DVDs which you want to import to your iTunes to enjoy? Usually iTunes doesn’t have such feature to importing files from purchased DVDs. With this free DVD to iTunes Converter, you can easily rip DVDs and convert them to an iTunes compatible formats of videos. What’s more, it can keep the subtitles, closed caption, cut videos etc. and it is totally free.

Top 4. iTunes Fusion – Fantastic iTunes Sync Software(Windows)


iTunes Fusion, formerly named iTunes Sync, is really awesome for syncing files. Unlike iTunes which only supports to sync files to Apple devices, this tool support to transfer files to almost any phone, tablet and MP3 player and it can automatically detect the files which are already in your devices to skip them. Furthermore, it supports to convert music file to MP3 so that you can play them on your old devices. It offers a 30 days free trial and then costs $9 for personal license or $15 for unlimited license after the end of the trial.

Top 5. iTunes Folder Watch – Best iTunes File Loading Add-On (Windows)


It is annoying to keep adding iTunes files manually whenever you get new media files. iTunes Folder Watch can liberate your from the tedious job. It monitors the folder which you have specified and import files automatically to the iTunes library when new iTunes compatible files are found. This is extremely useful for users who download digital media files from different sources besides iTunes. The basic version is free. If you want more advanced features, you can pay 7.50 Euros to get the advanced version.

Top 6. Senuti – Perfect iPod to iTunes Copy (Mac)


With this intelligent iTunes program, you can simply transfer music from your iPod or your friends’ iPod easily with only one click. It excels other software for its smart feature to compare the songs in iTunes library with the ones in iPod device to automatically remind you of the duplicates with a blue dot. Additionally, it supports to transfer playlist, video and preview songs. The price of the paid version is $18.99.

Top 7. Moody – Best iTunes Music Playlist Creator (Windows & Mac)


Finding right music which matches your mood is important, it can makes feel relaxed when you are in anxiety and make you happier when you are down etc. With this smart and neat software, which uses different color to represents different mood, you can easily generate a playlist you want by clicking the color on the software screen in different time. This is an easiest and fastest way to tag songs and what makes it better is that it is a freeware.

Top 8. TuneUp – Best iTunes Music Organizer (Windows)


TuneUp supports to search the ID 3 tab info and meta data including artist name, album name, genre, date etc. for messed iTunes music, you just need to drag and drop the music to the TuneUp screen and it will do the job for you. Besides this feature, it can also find the mussing album cover, remove duplicate songs and recommend new music for you. This software costs $39.95/year or $49.95 for lifetime license.

Top 9. TuneSpan – Great iTunes Backup Tool (Mac)


Your iTunes library may take up large space on your hard drive especially if you download many 720P and 1080P videos. So it is necessary to backup your media files to other hard drives. But if you copy the library manually to your other external hard drives, your may get messy folders. This iTunes backup tool can help you relocate your content to different hard drives according to the genres, making everything organized well. It costs $14.99 available from App Store.

Top 10. TunesKit Audiobook Converter- Best iTunes Audiobook Application (Windows & Mac)


This is a special tool for getting rid of FairPlay DRM from iTunes audiobooks and convert them to other common audio formats such as MP3, AAC, M4A, M4V, WAV, FLAC at a 30X faster speed with 100%original quality preserved. After that, you can upload the converted audiobook files to play online or transfer to any portable devices without any limit. The trial version is free but has a length limitation on the output files.

In a Word

Above are the top best iTunes tools we found after reviewing dozens of software. You can take a look at them and check if there are any software you want. By installing all these perfect add ons, you should be able to get better use of iTunes and make it easier to enjoy iTunes media files. However, there maybe still a lot of other tools we didn’t review, if you have other iTunes tools you want to recommend, please feel free to leave your comments here. Also, we will keep updating the top 10 list, so that to make it up to date all the time.

Saturday, July 29, 2017

How to Edit iTunes DRM M4V Movies in Final Cut Pro X

“I have got a lot of iTunes videos. Recently I am trying to create a video for school. Is it possible to edit iTunes videos in my Final Cut Pro X?” – Asked by a student from colleague
Final Cut Pro is a series of user-friendly and powerful video editors. It supports to import videos from a lot of sources like local videos, projects and so on, making editing easiest ever. Because of this, it attracts many users including video lovers, filmmakers. If you are also interested in editing videos in Final Cut pro, here I will answer the questions mentioned above and find a solution to it.

Part 1. Everything You Need to Know about  Editing iTunes Videos with Final Cut Pro X

As the encrypted digital content, iTunes doesn’t allow unauthorized distribution and copying for the movies and TV shows. Even for watching on Apple devices, you have to authorize the videos from iTunes first before playing. This DRM mechanism encrypts and limits the iTunes movies for playing on specific devices only. So theoretically it is impossible to edit iTunes movies within any video editor, even including Apple’s own Final Cut Pro X or iMovie. Therefore it causes restrictions for iTunes users who legally purchased iTunes movies and would like to cut them into new clips for enjoying on other devices. To many iTunes users, DRM could be a nightmare. Luckily, instead of being crippled by the iTunes FairPlay DRM protection permanently, we can try some third party iTunes DRM removal software to break the DRM encryption for good before importing the videos to FCP.

Part 2. Remove DRM from iTunes TV Episodes for Editing in Final Cut Pro X

It is not so difficult to break the DRM protection if you have a proper iTunes DRM remover. Here I will suggest the all-in-one DRM M4V converter called DRmare M4V to FCP Converter for Mac/Windows. It is redesigned with a clean user interface and the latest DRM decryption and encoding technology so that it can completely bypass DRM lock from iTunes movie rentals and purchases and convert the DRM-ed M4V iTunes videos to Final Cut Pro compatible formats. You can simply download the free trial version of this smart app and follow the step by step instruction as below to start removing DRM from your iTunes M4V videos and converting the movies to edit with Final Cut Pro.

DRmare DRM M4V to FCP Converter

drmare m4v to fcp converter
  • Convert iTunes 1080p/720p HD movies, TV shows, music videos, iTunes Extras
  • Convert DRM iTunes M4V to FCP supported MP4, MOV, MPEG and other formats
  • Keep lossless quality, including AC3 5.1 audio track, closed caption, subtitle, etc.
  • Support a large number of popular mobile devices and media players
Step 1Add iTunes M4V Movies, TV Shows
add drm m4v files
After launching DRmare M4V to FCP Converter, you can navigate to the lower left of the software main screen and then click ‘+’ to add the iTunes DRM M4V videos from your iTunes library. Or alternatively, you may just drag the M4V video files from iTunes folder and drop them to the DRmare main interface.
Step 2Set Output Format as Final Cut Pro
fcp output
Next, you can select the output profile for Final Cut Pro by simply clicking the Format droplist at the bottom side and selecting Editing panel. If you want to do more settings on the output iTunes videos for your FCP, you can go to the ‘HD Video’ or ‘General Video’ tab to select a compatible format such as MOV or MP4 and change the video parameters like bit rate, frame rate, etc.
Step 3Convert iTunes M4V to Final Cut Pro X
convert itunes movies to fcp
Once everything is ready, you can click the ‘Convert’ button at the lower right side, the software will begin to batch convert your iTunes M4V movies or TV shows to Final Cut Pro at up to 30X faster speed. Please wait a while before it completes the conversion. Once it finishes, you can click the converted list button at the bottom menu bar to locate all the converted iTunes videos that get ready for importing to Final Cut Pro for editing.

Part 3. How to Add DRM-Free iTunes Videos to Final Cut Pro X

Now after removing DRM protection, you can start to import and edit the DRM free iTunes videos on FCP. You may skip this part if you are already an experienced FCP user. If you are a starter, you can get started with these steps:
import itunes videos to fcp
1. Launch Final Cut Pro X on your Mac, then find the ‘File’ menu at the top of your desktop > Click ‘Import’ > Choose ‘Media’ , you will see a media selection window.
2. You can browser the converted iTunes movies that you want to import to FCP from your computer hard drive to locate and select the target files.
3. In the end, you can click the ‘Import Selected’ menu, they will be added to the project panel. At last, you can drag the videos to the timeline to edit them.
In brief, by removing the DRM from iTunes videos, you can edit it easily on any video editors including Final Cut Pro. It is really a great experience to do that. However, if you still not so familiar with Final Cut Pro, you may take some time to learn about it and there are a lot of tutorials available online.

Thursday, July 27, 2017

How to Convert iTunes DRM M4V Movies to MP4 in an Efficient Way

MP4 is a mostly widely used format of video today, which has the MPEG4 codec, almost all the devices and players can play it. Similar, M4V is also another video with MPEG4 codec, but it is a proprietary format developed by Apple and used for the iTunes movies, TV shows, Extras. In general, M4V can only be played on Apple devices such as Macintosh computers, IOS mobile devices and so on. But what if you want to play the iTunes videos on non-Apple devices? Are you completely out of the luck? No worries, here in this article, I will walk you through the steps on how to convert iTunes DRM M4V Movies to MP4 step by step, please follow me to find out the details.
convert m4v to mp4

Part 1. Everything You Need to Know to Convert DRM M4V to MP4

It may be not that easy to convert iTunes M4V to MP4 by using a free M4V to MP4 online. As one kind of Apple digital media files, iTunes videos all come with FairPlay DRM digital right protection. This copyright protection limits the videos from being played, edited or converted on non-Apple devices. Therefore a common M4V to MP4 Converter which only has the basic converting feature won’t work. Generally, for an iTunes DRM M4V video, you need to take a new way to record and save the video to a new MP4 format of video or get a DRM removal software to help you remove DRM completely first before you can convert the M4V to MP4. You may worry that it will take a typically long time. Good news is that there is a better one-stop solution, by using a perfect DRM M4V Converter from DRmare company. It can remove DRM and convert the iTunes videos from M4V to MP4 simultaneously in a 20X faster speed. This is known as the fastest speed by far.

DRmare M4V to MP4 Video Converter

drmare itunes m4v converter
  • Remove DRM from iTunes protected M4V videos with ease
  • Convert M4V videos to MP4 format in a fastest speed
  • Retain original audio tracks, subtitles, AC3 5.1 audio tracks
  • Support to convert to various mobile devices and media players

Part 2. Quick Steps to Convert iTunes M4V Movies to MP4

DRmare M4V Video Converter offers free versions for both PC and Mac, you can download a right version you want to try it out for yourself. I am sure you would be amazed at how well it performs. Here I will use the Mac version to show you how does it work. It takes only three steps to remove DRM and convert iTunes DRM videos to regular MP4 files quickly.
Step 1Import your DRM iTunes videos
import m4v videos
You can click ‘Add Files’ button from the bottom left to open a window. Then you will see all the DRM videos which are in your iTunes library and you can select the files you want to convert and press ‘ok’. Another way to load the videos is to drag&drop the files from iTunes library directly.
Step 2Specify the output format as MP4
change output format as mp4
On the bottom left corner of the software, there is also a format option to change the format, please choose the right format as MP4.
Step 3Start to convert iTunes videos to MP4
convert m4v to mp4
After all settings are done, you can simply click conversion button, DRmare will convert the videos and remove DRM in a fastest speed. What is more, the software supports batch versions. Normally, it only takes minutes to convert couples of iTunes video files.

Part 3. Sum Up

In brief, with this Fantastic DRmare M4V to MP4 Converter, removing DRM and convert M4V to MP4 has never been easier. Normally the software has the default option for converting M4V to MP4, you just need to add the iTunes videos and then click the conversion button. The software will quickly process your video at a 30X faster speed which is the highest speed by far. If you are in need of watching iTunes videos in other devices besides Apple devices, you should definitely get this tool to help you. The trial version is functionally the same as the paid version except there is a length limitation on the output files, you may try it out before you buy.

Video Tutorial: Convert iTunes DRM M4V Movies to MP4


Tuesday, July 25, 2017

How to Easily Remove DRM from iTunes Films without Quality Loss

DRM protection is very common nowadays, it exists in the devices like computers, game consoles, printers and digital media files including iTunes audio, video files, iBooks etc. The original target of the DRM is for protect  piracy such as illegal distribution of files. However, it also brings a lot of trouble for users who have already purchase the files and as a result, most of them can’t get the best use of the digital media files. If you are also tired of DRM protection, you can follow me here in this article, I will introduce you a best way to get rid of DRM from your iTunes videos losslessly.
remove DRM losslessly

Part 1. How to Choose an iDeal iTunes DRM Removal Converting Tool

To strip DRM from iTunes rentals and purchases, all your need is a DRM removal tool. You may consider the following 3 things when selecting an iTunes video DRM removal tool. The most important part is the output quality. A good DRM removal software should preserve 100% quality. Second, it should run fast. Instead of waiting couples of hours to convert videos, a well-designed converting tool will run in a fast speed. Finally, there are maybe unpredictable issues happened during converting, a good software should also come with instant support.
After seeking DRM Removal tool online for some time, I found that there are a variety of software from different providers such as DRmare, TunesKit, Aimersoft, Noteburner, M4Vgear, TuneBite. All of them has the feature to get rid of DRM from M4V videos. But the one that really impress me is theDRmare M4V Converter for Windows/Mac which has most beautiful interface and best performance. It can remove DRM like a flash while keeping 100% original quality, you can also try out all the software and you will see what I said.

DRmare M4V DRM Removal Converter

drmare m4v converter
  • Remove DRM protection from purchased and rented iTunes movies and TV shows
  • Losslessly convert DRM-ed iTunes M4V to MP4, MOV, AVI, FLV, MP3, etc.
  • Run fast and retain original audio tracks, subtitles, AC3 5.1 audio tracks
  • Lifetime free software update, 24/7 technical support, you can get help any time

Part 2. How to Losslessly Remove DRM from DRM M4V EPisodes

DRmare M4V Converter for Windows/Mac is rather easy to use, you don’t any technical knowledge to use it. Even a new user can use it proficiently for the first time. Following is the Detailed instruction on how to convert iTunes videos step by step:
Step 1Download and install DRmare M4V Conveter
open m4v converter mac
There are two version Windows and Mac available. You can click to download from the link above. Please choose a right version according to the type of your computer. I will take the Mac version for instance. After installing and opening the software, you will see the main screen.
Step 2Add the iTunes Videos you desired to the software
import m4v videos
If your Videos are all downloaded and saved on the iTunes library, you just need to click ‘Add Files’ button at the bottom left, the software will be able to detect the files and pop up a window for selecting the right files. Or alternatively you can drag the video files from iTunes to DRmare M4V Converter main screen. It supports batch conversion, so you can add as many files as you want.
Step 3Set the output format as lossless M4V
choose lossless m4v or mp4
To keep the original quality, I would suggest you to choose the original iTunes video format lossless M4V or MP4. It won’t change any quality of your video content but just remove DRM. What’s more, it can keep the AC3 dolby 5.1 surround and subtitles.
Step 4Apply the settings to remove DRM
remove drm and convert videos
After clicking the start button at the bottom right, the settings will be applied and DRmare M4V Converter will remove the DRM protection and export to new videos you requested.

Part 3. Perfect Video Converter to Remove DRM from iTunes Videos

As you see it is pretty easy to remove the DRM protection, right? By only 3 steps, all the DRM will be removed without the need of touching video files quickly. What is more, this way is not only easy, but also can keep 100% quality of your videos. Personally I have tried multiple different solutions by other software, the one to convert by DRmare M4V Converter is best as I know. If you still haven’t used this DRmare Media Converter yet, you should definitely download it to have a try. Sincerely hope you can enjoy your iTunes movies better with this DRM removal tool. If you have any comments, please feel free to write it down below.

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Things You Should Be Aware of About Digital Rights Management

In our daily life, we may encounter a lot of restrictions when we enjoy digital media contents or playing games such as some media files are only accessible by a specific player and some games are only playable on a specific device. The common reason of these limitations is that most of these files or games are DRM protected so as to prevent illegal piracy or distribution. Are you familiar with DRM? If not, you can read this article to learn more about it. It covers the topics about what is DRM and how DRM works and so on.
DRM technologies

Part 1. What is DRM and DRM Technology

DRM is an abbreviation of digital rights management or digital restrictions management which is created to protect the digital media contents such as software, games, videos, music, eBooks from being pirated and control some devices like CD, DVD, printers, mobile devices etc. to access some specified services only and it was first developed in 1980s. This is very helpful for content authors and device manufacturers. However, it also brings so much trouble and inconvenience for the paid legal users, so there are a lot of people are against DRM and it didn’t stop piracy much actually. In Octabor 1998, American enacted the DCMA ( Digital Millennium Copyright Act) to outlaw the actions of removing DRM from copyright protected and it has accelerate the development of DRM technology greatly.
DRM Technology means the program used to protect the copyright. There are thousands of different DRM techniques with different forms, almost each company has its own DRM system. The most important DRM technologies are Apple FairPlay, Microsoft  PlaysForSure, PlayReady, Windows Media DRM, Windows Genuine Advantage , Content Scrambling System (CSS) and  AACS (Advanced Access Content System) for DVD and Blue-ray, Google Widevine, Adobe Primetime, and CMLA-OMA DRM schemes and so on.

Part 2. How Does Digital Rights Management Work

Although there are different DRM systems, they work basically the same way. Take the FairPlay DRM for example, it use the AES algorithm in combination with MD5 hashes. In general, it can encrypt the contents and limit the access times, playing devices and so on.
1. First of all, to achieve this target to make DRM work, a Digital Program Authorization Center( also know as DRM server) must be established first.
2. Then it requires to encode the digital content like videos and audio files with a public key and the URL of the DRM Server on the head of media files. The public key is used to prevent the file from editing.
3. Third, when customers buy a DRM file, it will add two private keys, one is saved on the DRM server and the other one with customer info is saved on the downloaded file. With both private keys, the DRM system can verify and authorize the file to be played normally. This looks like a secret handshake between the download file and the DRM server.
Currently the two most widely used DRM systems are Windows media DRM and Apple FairPlay Streaming DRM. Both are developed to protected the media files and devices from its own IOS or Windows ecosystems and they are not compatible with each other. With both DRM, they can limit the access/modification/distribution of the digital media contents and hardware devices for Microsoft and Apple.

Part 3. Is It Legal to Remove DRM and How to Do That

From what has been mentioned above, DCMA was released in USA in 1998, so it maybe not legal to remove DRM for sharing and distribution in some countries. However, for the inconvenience which brought by DRM, more and more people start to complain about DRM. Because DRM is against of the spirit of free software/web/content today. And things seem to start to change in some areas. In 2009, Apple gave up the DRM protection on its iTunes music, so as to enable music lovers to enjoy them in a better personalized way they prefer.
Though there is no DRM protection on iTunes music any more, there are still DRM protections in other digital media files such as the iTunes movies, TV shows, Apple Music, Audiobooks iBooks and so on. They still cause inconvenience for users want to enjoy the media files on non-Apple devices such as Android devices etc. Good news is there nowadays there are many technology companies like DRmare, TunesKit, Aimersoft, Noteburner, M4V Gear, Adoreshare have developed kinds of perfect DRM media software to help users to strip DRM and make it easier to enjoy the digital media files freely. For instance, I have used DRmare M4V Converter personally to break the DRM protection from the videos and then convert them to other formats of videos. It stands out for its neat design and great performance which can losslessly convert videos in a fastest speed. Users who interested in it can simply download it to have a try.

Saturday, July 22, 2017

How to Get Rid of FairPlay DRM from iTunes Episodes

Nowadays there are many digital media files are encrypted by DRM protection so as to prevent any unauthorized distribution and copying. As the one of the biggest digital media file ecosystem, iTunes also encrypt the media files such as movies, TV shows, Apple Music, audiobooks, iBooks etc. with DRM protection. No one like this encryption because they cause inconvenience to us to enjoy them everywhere. So they are looking ways to try to get rid of this restriction. If you are also want to do that, you can simply follow me here in this article, I will introduce the FairPlay DRM and explore a best way for you to remove DRM from the digital media files simply.
FairPlay DRM

Part 1. Top 2 Things You Need to Know about FairPlay DRM

What is FairPlay DRM

FairPlay is one of the digital rights management system created by Apple. By adding this kind of DRM, the majority of the iTunes Media files are encrypted. As a result they can’t be copied to other devices for playback and can only be played via the authorized Apple devices such as iPhone, iPod, iPad, Apple TV and computers etc. Also, it limits you to authorize the files to no more than 5 devices. This may help to protect the copyright somehow, however, it is not perfect as it also limits the purchased legal users from taking full control of the videos easily.

How Does FairPlay DRM Work

In general, FairPlay DRM can not only encrypts common Media Files to DRM-ed files but also manage every files to play on less than 5 devices in total. To achieve this goal, it requires a DRM server. When you purchased an iTunes media file, it will generate one public key and one user key to the purchased media file and another user key to the DRM server. The public key is used to prevent the media file from editing or modified. The user key is used to unlock the files when you try to play it for the first time and it can help you authorize the video to play on other devices. The FairPlay protected files can only be played on the authorized devices through iTunes.

Part 2. How to Remove FairPlay DRM from iTunes Digital Media Files

If you also tried of the DRM restriction, now it is time to get rid of them. As long as you have the right FairPlay DRM removal Converters, you can remove DRM from various kinds of media files easily. The processes to remove DRM from iTunes videos, audiobooks, Apple Music, iBooks are more or less the same, I will not illustrate them one by one, but please note that different software support different media files. Here I will take the iTunes videos to show you show how it works.
To do so, you will have to get a special DRM video removal software.  Among all the software in the market today, you may take a look at the DRmare DRM M4V Converter for Windows/Mac which has a best user-friendly interface and highest performance. The converting speed can reach 30X faster which is by far the fastest software and the converting quality is known as lossless. To check the full tutorial, you can visit: How to Remove DRM from M4V Videos Lossslessly.

Part 3. In Conclusion

After removing FairPlay DRM from your videos, you should be able to enjoy the iTunes videos freely. This is really great. However, please kindly note that the software DRmare DRM M4V Converter is not supposed to be used for commercial. And it is not recommend you to distribute the files to others, but only use it for personal. If you have any comments about our software, please feel free to leave any comments below.