Rerecord Your Music

Using software such as WireTap Studio ($30, www.ambrosiasw.com) or Audio Hijack Pro ($32, www.rogueamoeba.com), you play your DRM music on your Mac while the software records it in real time (note: the developers of these apps don’t promote their software for this use). In this how-to, we’re using Audio Hijack Pro.

1. Settings

Set up Audio Hijack Pro for recording from iTunes.

Launch Audio Hijack Pro. In the left pane, select iTunes. Under Format, click the menu and select one of the presets, or select Custom to fine-tune your format settings. Under Files, designate where you want to save your files, how to name your files, and what you want the software to do when the recording is done. You can tweak the settings under Limits if you want to (we left it alone). Under Silence Monitor, we created a Custom setting that stops the recording when there’s silence for more than 1.5 seconds. That way, the recording will stop automatically when the song is done.

2. Record

Select All, then deselect songs you don’t want to record.

Click the Record button. iTunes will launch. In iTunes, select all of your songs—that’s right, all of them (Command-A or Edit > Select All). With all you songs color-coated, right click and select Uncheck Selection. This should remove the check mark in the box to the left of the song title. Now find the song you want to free from its DRM shackles, and click the box so it’s checked. When you play the song, Audio Hijack Pro automatically starts recording.

Since Audio Hijack Pro isolates the iTunes audio, it won’t record any other system sounds. So don’t worry about doing other things on your Mac as you record.

3. Finish

You can use iTunes to fill in the ID3 tag info, or you can fill in the tag info before you record in Audio H. ijack Pro.

You can end the recording by clicking the Record button in Audio Hijack Pro, or you can let the song end on its own and let Audio Hijack Pro sense the silence and stop recording. Navigate to where you saved your recording, and then drag and drop it into your iTunes library. All done!