I’m trying to convert files to MP3 format so I can submit songs for a festival. But it wont let me. please help I’m bald from ripping out my hair 
If you bought $.99 songs from the iTunes store, chances are good you have FairPlay Copy Protection on them and will not copy into other applications.
The classic way to get round that is create a playlist, drag the songs to the playlist and burn the playlist to a CD. Then rip the CD music back to iTunes and then drag those songs out to another application. Make sure to set iTunes CD Import to WAV and not another compressed format or the music will start sounding gargly, bubbly and honky from multiple compressions. This process will not copy more than 78 minutes of songs per CD.
You can also use SoundFlower to record what the computer is playing directly into Audacity. You have the same multiple compression problems with Audacity and the whole process is real time. You have to play each song beginning to end to capture it.
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/User:BillWharrie/Using_Soundflower_to_record_streaming_audio
Koz
Thank you. I’ll give it a try and let you know how it goes.
The newer iTunes songs are no longer copy-protected (at least from what I’ve read…). [u]Here[/u] is a news story from 2009.
If you’ve downloaded the optional [u]LAME MP3 Encoder[/u], you can load the AAC file into Audacity and save-as MP3. If you can’t open the iTunes AAC file, you may need to install the FFMPEG Import/Export Library. (If you have iTunes installed on your computer, I think Audacity can use it’s AAC decoder to open the file.)
If your files are copy-protected, you can upgrade your older downloads to remove the copy protection, but Apple charges a per-song fee. There are other “work arounds”, and as Koz suggested you can usually play the song and make a new recording and save in the format of your choice. I think recording is legal, but “cracking” copy protection is illegal in most countries and i don’t think we are supposed to discuss it here.
If you have a lot of files to convert, you might try a “file conversion” application, rather than a full audio editor like Audacity. I find [u]XRECODE[/u] is very-handy for converting between various audio formats. With that program, you can drag & drop, and convert several files at once. (The link is for an older FREE version. XRECODE II is not free.)
Do you mean converting iTunes songs to MP3 or converting songs to MP3 so that you can add them to iTunes library? Anyway, you can use DRmare Audio Converter to make it possible.
this tool will let you convert songs to MP3
