How to import iTunes M4P into Windows Movie Maker

Many people are fond of making slideshows on their Windows Movie Maker, however, it won’t let them import any purchased music song as they are DRM protected. Since iTunes store tops the music retailer in the world, the following tutorial focuses on how to convert purchased iTunes M4P music to MP3, WAV or unprotected WMA so as to import it into Windows Movie Maker project as background music. The tutorial is composed of three parts:

Part 1. Something about Windows Movie Maker
Part 2. How to remove DRM from iTunes M4P music
Part 3. How to add the output DRM-free music to Windows Movie Maker

Part 1. Something about Windows Movie Maker

Windows Movie Maker is a totally free program that comes with Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional, and Windows Vista. Below are the audio/video formats accepted by Windows Movie Maker:

Video files: .asf, .avi, .wmv
Movie files: MPEG1, .mpeg, .mpg, .mlv, .mp2
Audio files: .wav, .snd, .au, .aif, .aifc, .aiff
Windows media files: .asf, .wm, .wma, .wmv
MP3 format audio: .mp3

Part 2. How to remove DRM from iTunes M4P music

The music songs you purchased from iTunes store are under DRM protection. You cannot directly import them to your Windows Movie Maker project. However you can burn the protected music files to CD-R or CD-RW disc to make an audio CD and then use some CD ripper software to convert the audio CD track back to MP3, WAV, WMA, etc. iTunes allows you to burn the protected music files to CD-R or CD-RW disc to make a standard audio CD:

1. Insert a CD-R or CD-RW disc into your CD-ROM drive. You’d better use CD-RW disc as it can be used for more than once.
2. Burn your playlist to make an audio CD. You cannot select the “MP3 CD” option since it requires the protected music files be converted to unprotected MP3 files.
3. After the audio CD is successfully burned, insert the disc into your CD-ROM drive again. Then you can use iTunes to import the music tracks on the burned disc to MP3 files.

The steps are very simple indeed. Yet, I’d like to introduce a little application called TuneClone M4P to MP3 Converter. It applies the virtual CD burning technology so that there is no need to use real disc. I wrote the tutorial about this program a few days ago. You can follow this step by step tutorial to learn how to remove DRM from iTunes M4P music with TuneClone M4P to MP3 Converter.

Part 3. How to add the output DRM-free music to Windows Movie Maker

After you get the output DRM-free music by adopting either the disc burning/ripping method or virtual CD burning method discussed in Part 2, now you can begin to import it into your Windows Movie Maker project.

Click on “File”. Then click on “Import”. A window will appear. In the window, navigate to the sound or music file you want to add to your movie. Then double click on the file. You’ll see the icon for the file in your Windows Movie Maker “Collections”. Click on the icon and drag it on to the timeline to the part of the video you want the sound or music to play.

Stream Your Entire iTunes Library From Anywhere?

iPhone and iPod owners – especially if you’re audiophilic – would know how much of a pain it is to run out of space on your unit when you still have lots of music to transfer from your iTunes.

A future software update from Apple may solve this little problem of storage. Future iTunes and iPhone software could eliminate the need to sync your unit with your console. Instead, your player will access your entire iTunes media library on the go.

This strikes me a little bit like how online media services operate – like YouTube and imeem for example. Makes me wonder why it wasn’t done before.

Instead of downloading music from your iTunes to your player, the device would use metadata files, which typically uses less than 1% of the space the original file uses. The device would need a wired or cellular connection to access the media files from the Mac or PC though. Which brings us to the downside – what if you can’t connect to the Net?

At any rate, this is a remarkable idea that I want to see happen. The tech would also mean that you can organize your iTunes library from your iPhone or iPod Touch. It could also mean iPods and iPhones could communicate with each other like the Zune (finally).

Articles you may also have interest in:

Free Custom Ringtones for iPhone 3G using only iTunes
iPhone 3G Reviews