There are other two methods to bypass the DRM control. The first method is to burn a copy to an audio CD and then rip/encode it. Some software products take an even smarter method which allows user to burn music to a Virtual CD-RW disc and then automatically rip/encode the music stored on the Virtual CD-R. This makes the whole conversion process automatically and faster. NoteBurner is the typical example which uses this Virtual CD-RW drive method.

NoteBurner M4P to MP3 Converter converts any unprotected music and DRM protected music files (such as M4P, WMA, M4B) to unprotected MP3, WAV, WMA formats with Virtual CD-RW drive. It is a protected audio and music converter tool designed for virtually burning DRM protected music or audio files to a special virtual CD-RW drive where you can easily get plain MP3, WMA or WAV files ready for use on any computers or music devices.

The second method is to use a recording software and sound card. TuneBite and SoundTaxi is the most popular software tools.

Let's read comments from one of thousans of NoteBurner users as the following:

"These two software can convert WMA or even protected itunes music M4P to MP3. They worked perfectly on my computer. The only difference between TuneBite and NoteBurner is that TuneBite uses recording technique while NoteBurner burns music onto a virtual CD-R. I cannot tell any difference in terms of the music quality. But I would agree that NoteBurner is faster and more reliable than TuneBite. I recommend NoteBurner."

On DECEMBER 14, 2006, Bill Gates gave an interview about DRM to a group of bloggers, admitting that putting anti-copying technology into media makes it worse. He concluded by advising everyone to just skip the DRM on music by buying CDs and ripping them.

Gates said that no one is satisfied with the current state of DRM, which "causes too much pain for legitmate buyers" while trying to distinguish between legal and illegal uses. He says no one has done it right, yet. There are "huge problems" with DRM, he says, and "we need more flexible models, such as the ability to "buy an artist out for life" (not sure what he means). He also criticized DRM schemes that try to install intelligence in each copy so that it is device specific.

His short term advice: "People should just buy a cd and rip it. You are legal then."

A NoteBurner M4P to MP3 Converter buyer sent email to us stating:

"Apple should have removed the DRM control long long time ago! How can we convert DRM protected music to unprotected WAV, MP3 or WMA? This problem sucks many iTunes users like me. NoteBurner is Cool! It takes a smart method to bypass the DRM control: it burns music to a virtual CD-R, Rip the Virtual CD and then encode the music to MP3. It's very fast according to my experience: for a 4 minutes music, it takes only about 20 second! it works perfect on my computer. And I found the quality of the converted music is perfect. I bought the program immediately after I convert one of my purchased iTunes songs to MP3."