Manatee

An M4P song that will not play or convert on a Mac

· 6 min read

An M4P file is an AAC song with copy protection attached. It plays only in Apple’s Music app, on a Mac signed in to the account that bought it or that subscribes, and no converter will turn it into an MP3. What to do depends on where it came from: an old iTunes Store purchase can usually be downloaded again without protection, while a song downloaded from Apple Music stays protected for as long as you keep it.

The two kinds of protected song

The .m4p extension covers two different situations, and the Music app tells them apart.

  • Old iTunes Store purchases. Until 2009, much of the store’s music was sold with protection built in. Those files play on computers authorized for the account that bought them, and they keep working.
  • Apple Music downloads. Songs you add from the Apple Music catalog and download for offline listening are protected too. They play while the subscription is active, on devices signed in to it, and stop if it ends.

To see which you have, select the song in Music and choose Song, Get Info, then the File tab. The Kind line reads Protected AAC audio file for an old purchase, Apple Music AAC audio file for a subscription download, and Purchased AAC audio file for a later purchase with no protection at all.

To find all of them at once, show the Songs view, right-click any column heading, and turn on Kind. Sorting by that column groups the protected files together.

When an old purchase will not play on this Mac

A protected purchase plays only on a computer authorized for the account that bought it.

  1. In Music, choose Account, Authorizations, Authorize This Computer.
  2. Sign in with the account used for the purchase, which may be an older one than you use today.
  3. Play the song again.

An account can authorize up to five computers. If the count is full, open Account, Account Settings and choose Deauthorize All, which Apple allows once a year, then authorize the computers you still use.

For an Apple Music download that will not play, check that Music is signed in with the subscribing account and that the subscription is active. Nothing else will make those files play.

Getting a copy without protection

For old purchases, download them again. The store dropped protection in 2009, and songs it still sells download today in the unprotected version.

  1. If the iTunes Store is not in Music’s sidebar, turn it on in Music, Settings, General.
  2. Choose Account, Purchased.
  3. If your library still holds the protected copy, remove it first. Delete it from the library, and when Music asks, choose Keep File so the old version stays on disk until you are sure.
  4. Download the song. The new file is an .m4a, and its Kind reads Purchased AAC audio file.

Songs the store no longer sells cannot be downloaded again. For those, the protected file is the only version, and it stays tied to Music on your authorized computers.

For Apple Music downloads, buy the song. There is no unprotected version of a subscription download. If you need a file that plays anywhere, buy the track from the iTunes Store, which now sells music without protection, or use a copy you own another way, such as a CD you import.

Converting once you have an unprotected copy

A re-downloaded purchase is an ordinary M4A in 256 kbps AAC, and it already plays almost everywhere. If you need MP3 for an older car stereo or a device that insists on it:

  • Music. In Music, Settings, Files, click Import Settings and set Import Using to MP3 Encoder. Then select the songs and choose File, Convert, Create MP3 Version.
  • Manatee. Manatee converts a folder of M4A files to MP3, WAV, FLAC or M4A in one drop, writing each result as a new copy beside the original. It runs on the Mac with nothing uploaded, free for 24 hours with every feature, then $9 once.

Manatee does not remove copy protection. A protected M4P is not something it will convert, and it does not try to get around protection of any kind. How to convert M4A to MP3 on a Mac covers the conversion itself in more detail.

One note on quality. AAC to MP3 is one lossy format to another, and each step discards a little more. At a high MP3 bitrate the difference is hard to hear, but keep the M4A as your master copy. Lossless versus lossy explains why.

Protected video follows the same rules

Films and TV episodes bought from the iTunes Store come as protected .m4v files. They play in Apple’s TV app on authorized devices, and no converter will turn them into an ordinary MP4. How to convert an M4V to MP4, and when you cannot explains how to tell a protected M4V from an ordinary one.

Questions

Can I rename .m4p to .m4a? No. Renaming changes the label only. The audio inside is still encrypted, and the renamed file still will not play outside Music.

Do old purchases ever stop working? Not while a computer is authorized for the account that bought them. Keep a note of which account that was, especially if you have changed email addresses since.

Why does Music skip some songs when I convert a playlist? Protected songs cannot be converted, so Music leaves them out without saying so. Sort the Songs view by Kind to see which ones they were.