Convert Apple Music to MP3

By Charlie Jacobs on February 27, 2023

Apple Music is the second most popular streaming music service and it's available on PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android phones & tablets, PS5 and some TVs like Apple TV and Samsung TV. That is to say, Apple Music has covered mainstream devices. However, we can still meet many similar questions online like "How can I convert Apple Music to MP3?", "How can I play Apple Music songs on my iPod?", etc. The origin of such questions is the limitations from Apple Music.

To prevent unauthorized copies, Apple packs FairPlay, a kind of DRM protection technology, on all Apple Music songs, which makes it impossible to use conveniently like MP3 files. For example, Apple Music songs can't be copied to iPod, Walkman or MP3 player for offline playback, Apple Music songs can't be added to video editing programs or applications. What is more, all the downloaded Apple Music songs will disappear from your music library when your Apple Music subscription expires.

We know that iTunes or Music app is bundled with conversion features and can be used to convert audio files. So many users may try to convert Apple Music songs to MP3 with iTunes or Music app, but they will only end up with an error message.

Some users may try audio recording software to record songs when playing, this could be feasible. However, this requires manual operations, manual ID3 editing and costs too much time. You will soon become tired of such a process when trying to convert an album or a playlist because it's really time-consuming. Is there any fast and convenient way to convert Apple Music to MP3? Of course, you are in the right place.

To convert Apple Music songs, albums and playlists to MP3 fast and conveniently, what you need is a professional Apple Music to MP3 converter called "AudGeek AppliTune Converter" which can convert Apple Music to MP3 at 20X faster speed with ID3 tags kept, and we will introduce its features and user guide later. Besides, we will introduce some basic knowledge you need to know about Apple Music.

Part 1. Apple Music File Format You Should Know

When talking about Apple Music, we usually see many people say it's AAC format. In fact, AAC could be an audio codec and it's the abbreviation of Advanced Audio Coding, it could also be a file extension *.aac though it's not commonly used. *.aac file extension cannot be added to iTunes or Music app, and it cannot be played on iPhone, iPad, iPod and many other MP3 players. Generally speaking, the AAC format in our daily life usually refers to *.m4a file extension which uses AAC encoding.

When it comes to Apple Music, Apple packs DRM protection technology into AAC. The file extension of Apple Music AAC songs become to *.m4p. According to Apple, both iTunes Store songs and Apple Music AAC songs are encoded in 256kbps AAC, which is equal or better than 320kbps MP3 and the file size is slightly smaller. In iTunes on Windows or Music app on macOS (Apple Music quality set to AAC), we can open iTunes Media folder and go to "Apple Music" folder and we can easily confirm that the downloaded Apple Music songs are in *.m4p format. However, on macOS, if you set Apple Music quality to Lossless or Hi-res Lossless, the file extension will be *.movpkg and the file size is much bigger.

As to how to find iTunes Media folder location, you can click iTunes menu "Edit" > "Preferences" > "Advanced" tab on Windows or click Music app menu bar "Music" > "Preferences" > "Files" tab on macOS.

Apple Music M4P files or MOVPKG files are DRM protected and it can't be played on iPod Nano/Shuffle, Sony Walkman or MP3 player. It's also meaningless to copy the downloaded Apple Music files to other device as the files are DRM protected and associated with the Apple ID you used to subscribe Apple Music. That's why so many Apple Music users want to convert Apple Music to MP3 to bypass the limitations.

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Part 2. Test of Converting Unprotected Songs and Apple Music to MP3 with iTunes on Windows

iTunes is bundled with many features and one of them is conversion. iTunes can be used to convert some audio files to MP3 with built-in MP3 encoder. As iTunes also holds the downloaded Apple Music songs, it's not strange that many users may want to use iTunes to convert Apple Music to MP3. Now let's have a test to convert unprotected songs as well as Apple Music songs to MP3. The steps are the same.

Step 1: Launch iTunes, click menu "Edit" > "Preferences" and stay in "General" tab.

Step 2: In "General" tab, click "Import Settings..." button.

Step 3: In the popup "Import Settings" dialog, go to "Import Using" list and choose "MP3 Encoder". In Setting list, choose audio bitrate preset or choose "Custom" if you want other bitrate. MP3 bitrate can be up to 320kbps.

Step 4: Go back to Library, choose Apple Music songs or other songs you want to convert and highlight them.

Step 5: Click menu "File" > "Convert" > "Create MP3 Version" to start conversion.

There will be two conditions of the result depending on the format of the songs you selected in Step 4.

Converting Unprotected Songs to MP3: It will be successful and the output MP3 files will be saved in the same folder of the source, and it will be displayed in iTunes library as well.

Converting Apple Music Songs to MP3: You will end up with an error message that "XXX (song title)" could not be converted because protected files cannot be converted to other formats.

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Part 3. Test of Converting Unprotected Songs and Apple Music to MP3 with Music App on macOS

On macOS Mojave 10.14.6 or below, iTunes is still the default music player. And you can follow the steps of Windows version above. On macOS Catalina 10.15 or above, iTunes was replaced by Music app. It can be imagined that the result on macOS will be the same. Check the steps below.

Step 1: Launch Music app, go to menu bar, click "Music" > "Preferences".

Step 2: In "Files" tab, click "Import Settings..." button.

Step 3: In the popup "Import Settings" dialog, go to "Import Using" list and choose "MP3 Encoder".

Step 4: Go back to Library, choose Apple Music songs or other songs you want to convert and highlight them.

Step 5: Click menu "File" > "Convert" > "Create MP3 Version" to start conversion.

The result is exactly the same as what you got on Windows. When converting Apple Music songs to MP3 with Music app, you will simply get the same error message. By the test above, we reach a conclusion that it is not feasible to convert Apple Music to MP3 with either iTunes on Windows/macOS or Music app on macOS.

Don't worry, Apple Music to MP3 conversion is not that difficult. You just need to find a correct converter as below.

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Part 4. AudGeek AppliTune Converter: Fast & Intuitive Apple Music to MP3 Converter

AudGeek AppliTune Converter is a dedicated Apple Music to MP3 converter which comes with intuitive and user-friendly interface, fast conversion speed, high-quality output, rich features and flexible options. No doubt, it can meet your requirements of Apple Music to MP3 conversion.

Before purchasing, we highly recommend you download the free trial version to have a test first. The free trial version can only convert 3 files at a time and can only convert 3 minutes for each file. If you are satisfied with the features and output files, you can purchase a license to get a registration code to unlock the limitations and enjoy all wonderful features.

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Part 5. Easy Guide of Converting Apple Music to MP3 with AudGeek AppliTune Converter

AudGeek AppliTune Converter can convert Apple Music to MP3 in only a few clicks. You don't need to use iTunes or Music app, neither you need to download Apple Music songs before conversion. Just make sure you have a stable internet connection.

Step 1 Sign in Apple ID on AudGeek AppliTune Converter

Launch AudGeek AppliTune Converter after installing it, and you will see a built-in Apple Music web player and "Sign In" button as well as hint message at the upper right corner. Click "Sign In" button to enter your Apple ID and password. You don't need to sign in again if you don't sign out the built-in Apple Music web player.

Step 2 Choose MP3 output format

Click the gear icon at the upper right corner to open Settings dialog, and choose MP3 as output format. As to bitrate, 256kbps is used by default, but you can choose 320kbps or other quality as you like. If necessary, you can change output folder, choose how to rename the output MP3 files and how to sort output files into folders.

Note: If you want to locate the output MP3 files after conversion, you can select "Open the output folder" in "After conversion" list.

Step 3 Add album or playlist to conversion list

Go back to built-in Apple Music web player, open detailed page of your favorite album or playlist, and click "Add to List" button in the middle right, then all the songs in the album or playlist will be added to conversion list.

Step 4 Start Apple Music to MP3 conversion

By default, all songs will be checked and you can check title, artist, album, duration and artwork. If there are some songs you don't want to convert, simply uncheck them. After choosing the songs, simply click "Convert" button to start Apple Music to MP3 conversion. The Apple Music converter can convert Apple Music to MP3 at 20X faster conversion speed, so you will get output MP3 files in a short time.

Once Apple Music songs have been converted to MP3, you can open output folder, then copy or transfer the output MP3 files to your music device and enjoy on the go without any limitations, or use in different video editing programs and apps.

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Bottom line

Downloaded Apple Music songs are protected files and can't be played on many devices because of the protection. There are two mainstream ways to convert Apple Music to MP3. One way is to use some Apple Music Converters which need to work with iTunes or Music app, and you can convert the songs offline for downloaded Apple Music songs. The other is AudGeek AppliTune Converter which comes with a built-in Apple Music web player and you can only convert the songs with a stable internet connection. Both of them can efficiently convert Apple Music to MP3 with ID3 tags kept. With more user-friendly interface and faster conversion speed, AudGeek AppliTune Converter may be the better one.

If you need to convert Apple Music to MP3 for different purposes, do not hesitate to download AudGeek AppliTune Converter and have a free trial.