DRM (or Digital Rights Management) is used to protect Legal music downloads to stop people sharing them on the likes of Kazaa.  It is a good idea in theory, and you can fully understand why this step has been taken, but in practice, it is less than ideal.  If (like me) you don't have a DRM capable personal MP3 player, you may as well not download the legal music at all, unless you plan to burn it to a CD or just listen to it on your computer.  The DRM also means that you have to listen to the music using Microsoft Windows Media Player.

The process described in this document is not strictly illegal because you can only perform the operation on music that can be opened by your own Windows Media Player software. If you can't open the file because it wasn't bought for use on your computer, you can't remove the DRM. Please note, however, that in some countries it is an offence to "Circumvent DRM Protection" so I cannot be held responsible for any problems that arise from using the methods shown on this website.

It is not possible to remove the DRM from protected files you have downloaded from a peer-to-peer network or other computer because you don't own the license to use it. Please don't email me and ask me how to do this - you can't!

So, this isn't an entirely straightforward process and may take some time, but it will mean that you can use the music you've paid for!!!

To Remove DRM from legally purchased music:

First off, you need to download a few free programs: Windows Media Player (although I'm sure you've got this - it's bundled with every version of Windows since 98), the Nero Fast Burning Plugin (details from wmplugins.com and download from here), the BETA version of CDmage (from the cdmage website or mirrored here if you have trouble with the download) and an audio conversion program (Personally, I use coolsoft's Power MP3 WMA Converter - as good as free because the trial version still allows full conversion functionality without a time limit)

Once these are downloaded and installed, open your music with Windows Media Player, and choose to Burn a CD.  Then, using the Nero plugin, burn to a CD Image. Open the CD Image (.nrg file) in CDmage, and extract the tracks as a Wave file.  Then it's a simple matter of converting the Wave files to mp3 or your preferred format using your chosen converter.

This method will give you the highest possible quality through the conversion, and it won't cost you a blank CD as is suggested on a load of other sites.

For full Step-By-Step instructions, check this out.

If you are getting error messages, if the CD image method doesn't work, or if you want to remove DRM from WMV video files, please see my FAQ Page.

Good luck - any problems, please contact me.

Please note: This process does NOT work with Windows Media Player 10. See the FAQ Page for details.