- Feb 25, 2018 We've evaluated all five feature-packed Blu-ray ripping program for Mac & PC based on functionalities and features that each software owns. Of course, which Blu-ray ripper utility you employ to rip and convert your Blu-ray/ DVD movies is best determined by your actual needs, the platform of your machine and basically your budget.
- In the Music app on your Mac, choose Music Preferences, then click General. Click the “When a CD is inserted” pop-up menu, then choose an option: Show CD: Music opens the CD but doesn’t play or import it. Play CD: Music begins playing the CD without importing it. Import CD: Music automatically imports the CD. Import CD and Eject: Music imports the CD, then ejects it.
With the advancement of technology, we can now enjoy more movies and music at TV, smart phone, tablet, etc. at home, without going to the cinema. These digital contents have made our lives more interesting and entertaining. But, it's not easy to access and play them on any device you like, as most resources have been encrypted by the Digital Rights Management (DRM).
On one hand, this encryption protects its content from being copied. On the other hand, it also prevents all digital media from being played on or transferred among unauthorized devices, even if users have paid for them. This is most evident in iTunes Store, a leader in the sale of the online digital files. Yet, all hope is not lost, as there are many tools that can remove the DRM protection, so that you can play these media in a host of devices, or share them everywhere freely.
Here are top 10 best DRM removal software for Mac and Windows users to remove DRM from iTunes movies, songs, Apple Music, audio books and more.
1. TunesKit DRM M4V Converter (Mac & Windows)
Jan 25, 2018 Get the right software MacX DVD Ripper. I just recently tried out this software, and I'm very pleased with how easy it is to use. MacTheRipper 5. MacTheRipper is likely the longest-lived DVD ripper on the market: I've downloaded and used MTR a. RipIt is another popular choice.
As the No. 1 top rated iTunes DRM removal tool, TunesKit DRM M4V Converter is a very powerful and professional software in DRM protection removal that can remove the DRM encryption from iTunes movies (both rented and purchased ), TV shows and music videos. It will remove DRM first and then convert those video files from protected M4V to MP4 and other formats in very fast speed and high efficiency.
It has a clean interface that makes it very easy to use without requiring any technical know-how to go through with it. The best part of this iTunes DRM converter is that it can remove DRM from iTunes movies without touching original video and audio tracks, so that you'll get DRM-free MP4, M4V files with original 5.1 Dolby sound, AD tracks, subtitles retained.
Pros:
1. Support DRM removal for purchased and rented iTunes movies;
2. Convert DRM M4V to MP4, MOV, MKV and other formats;
3. DRM-removed files are of the same quality as original movies;
4. Work with non-DRM video and audio formats.
Cons:
1. Mac version doesn't work with High Sierra or higher.
Availability: $44.95 with free trial
Target Files: iTunes movies, TV shows, music videos
- Complete Guide:How to Use TunesKit to Convert iTunes Movies Losslessly
2. TunesKit DRM Audio Converter (Mac & Windows)
TunesKit DRM Audio Converter, as its name implies, is dedicated to removing DRM lock from protected audio files, including iTunes M4P, audiobooks, Apple Music, and Audible AA, AAX. As an all-in-one DRM remover for audios, it's able to convert the protected audios to MP3, WAV and other common formats with ID3 tags and metadata preserved.
Pros:
1. DRM removal tool for Apple Music, iTunes songs, Audible audiobooks;
2. Convert DRM'd audios to unprotected MP3, AAC, WAV, etc.;
3. Support converting DRM-free audio file formats;
4. Keep original ID3 tags, chapters, and sound quality.
Cons:
1. Require to install iTunes.
Availability: $39.95 with free trial
Target Files: Apple Music, iTunes songs, Audible audiobooks
- See also:Complete Guide to Remove DRM from iTunes Music
3. Ondesoft iTunes Converter (Mac & Windows)
Ondesoft iTunes Converter is a superb DRM stripper that will allow you to remove the DRM encryption of various digital files including iTunes movies, TV shows and podcasts. It is lossless hence will retain all aspects of the media files without compromising them in any way.
Pros:
1. Convert different types of DRM-ed media from many sources;
2. Fast in processing;
3. Support lossless DRM removal.
Cons:
1. Has issues with the Windows operating system.
Availability: $35.95 with free trial
Target Files: iTunes movies, TV shows and podcasts
4. Aimersoft DRM Media Converter (Windows)
Aimersoft DRM Media Converter is another great DRM removal tool that is noted for its versatility courtesy of it being able to remove the DRM from a wide range of audio and video files and also for its compatibility with most devices. It has efficient speed in stripping off DRM and also the conversion of the files to shareable content. It decrypts protected files from iTunes, Amazon among many other online stores.
Pros:
1. Very fast and easy to use;
2. Decrypt files from many other sources apart from iTunes;
3. Has the iPhone and iPod copy to feature.
Cons:
1. Does not burn the files to cd's or DVDs;
2. Can only work on Windows platform;
2. Stopped upgrading for years.
Availability: $35.95 with free trial
Target Files: Video/audio files from iTunes, Amazon and more
5. Requiem DRM Remover (Mac & Windows)
Requiem is a best DRM removal software free tool that promises efficiency in the removal of Apple's DRM encryption on audio files, videos and also iBooks that have been purchased from iTunes. This software prides itself in being 'lossless' as its removal process preserves the quality and all the details of the files decrypted among many other aspects.
Pros:
1. It's free to download and install;
2. Lossless in DRM decryption;
3. Decrypts iTunes audiobooks, audio files and also movies.
Cons:
1. Decryption and conversion speed are relatively slower;
2. Doesn't support iTunes 10.7 or later.
Availability: Free with no cost
Target Files: iTunes music, videos and books
6. MuvAudio (Windows)
MuvAudio is another notable DRM removal software that will decrypt your audio and other digital files by stripping them off the FairPlay DRM protection. In addition to decryption and conversion, this software will also maintain the high quality of the media files and make them playable in a lot of popular devices as well as setting the files in order and preserving their metadata info. Its speed is also very commendable same to its efficiency in getting the DRM removal process done successfully.
Pros:
1. Preserve metadata and original quality;
2. Support all major file formats such as MP3, M4A, WMA, and OGG.
Cons:
Best Software To Digitize Dvd
1. It takes a lot of space on your device when downloaded;
2. Only compatible with Windows system.
Availability: $18.99 with free trial
Target Files: Convert protected audio files
7. Sidify Apple Music Converter (Mac & Windows)
Sidify Apple Music Converter is a very reliable iTunes DRM removal software that has high ratings in removing DRM from Apple Music songs. It works in fast speed in conversion and supports the latest Mac and Windows operating systems. This DRM removal software for Apple Music has a user-friendly interface that is very easy to navigate and operate without any expertise needed.
Pros:
1. Effectively and losslessly record Apple music steams.
Cons:
1. It's relatively expensive.
Availability: $39.95 with free trial
Target Files: Apple Music, iTunes M4P music and audiobooks
8. MyFairTunes (Windows)
MyFairTunes DRM removal software is another free tool that will strip the DRM encryption and allow you to share tracks from Apple Music. With its easy to use interface, this freeware is a perfect addition for you to have access to a wide range of tunes from iTunes. It works with iTunes and processes the audio items straight in the library.
Pros:
1. Free to download;
2. Takes a relatively low space on your device;
3. Remove the DRM from iTunes audiobooks, music and movies.
Cons:
1. Relatively slow in removing DRM;
2. Stop updated for years.
Availability: Free with no cost
Target Files: iTunes songs and Apple Music
9. DRmare M4V Converter (Mac & Windows)
Another best iTunes drm removal software introduced is DRmare M4V Converter, a trustworthy professional iTunes video converter tool for Windows and Mac users.
With this useful program, you can easily download any DRM-protected iTunes videos including movies, TV episodes, podcasts, etc. and convert them from special M4V to common M4V, MP4, MOV, AVI, or other media formats without quality loss. You can also extract the audio tracks from iTunes videos at a fast speed.
Pros:
1. Remove DRM from iTunes M4V videos;
2. Support multiple output formats such as MP4, MOV, MKV, etc.;
3. Transfer iTunes movies to various portable devices.
Cons:
1. Free version can only convert 1 minutes of files.
Availability: $44.95 with free trial
Target Files: M4V videos from iTunes Store
10. Tunebite Premium (Windows)
Solde by Audials, Tunebite Premium is specifically designed to get rid of DRM protection from all types of vidoes, songs and audiobooks legally. With the support of many audio and video formats, you can easily 'record' any DRM protected media file and save in any format you want.
Pros:
1. Convert DRM-ed movies and music;
2. Remove copyright protection from DVD files;
3. Record online videos and export to your computer
Cons:
1. The output quality is relatively lower due to recording technology;
2. No Mac version provided yet.
Availability: $24.90 with free trial
Target Files: all types of copyrighted movies and music
Conclusion & Suggestion
Sharing of digital movies and music is part of the fun in enjoying the media. And getting rid of the DRM restrictions from those files is easy with those listed DRM removal software. All of them are legal and have a clean bill to run and enhance the fun of great digital lives.
If you want a free tool to remove the DRM and enjoy the videos or songs, you can try some freeware like Requiem and MyFairTunes, yet their limitations are also obvious. If you prefer to watching iTunes movies with high quality, you can try TunesKit M4V Converter, a fast DRM ripper to download iTunes videos with 100% lossless quality. And TunesKit DRM Audio Converter is also recommended for someone who'd like to get a good quality music, songs, audiobook from iTunes music, Apple music, Audible, etc.
Download TunesKit DRM M4V Converter for Free:
Download TunesKit DRM Audio Converter for Free:
Nick Orin is a review writer, software geek and Mac OS enthusiast. He spends all his free time in searching useful software and gadgets to share with others.
We've already covered how to digitize your DVDs, but their high-def cousins need a little extra help — and often, a lot more time. Here's everything you need to get started, and a few pointers to avoid aggravation along the way.
Why digitize your discs?
It's easy to buy movies from iTunes, or get digital copies bundled with a Blu-ray. But not all discs come with a digital copy. Older discs that did may have cheaped out with a rinky-dink standard-def version. (Booooo.) Some, but not all, discs are eligible for a $2 digital copy through Vudu/Movies Anywhere, but that's still extra expense for a film you already bought. You shouldn't have to pay twice for the same movie in HD.
And while movies from iTunes and other stores cost $15-$20 outside of occasional sales, Blu-rays sometimes cost a lot less. Buying and ripping cheaper discs gives you a first-rate digital copy at a significant discount, without the hassles of DRM.
Step 1: Don't be a jerk
If you're making digital copies of movies you own, for your personal use and no one else's, the Feds likely won't bother kicking down your door.
However, if you're thinking about using this guide to steal movies you don't actually own, kindly close this window, shut down your computer, and go sit in the nearest corner to contemplate your life choices.
Step 2: Assemble your team
To move your movies from disc to disk, you'll need:
An external Blu-ray drive
I used an older Samsung SE-506, which sells for around $100 and worked great. But The Wirecutter has a good roundup of more recent drives that cost less and may perform even better.
MakeMKV
This free-while-in-beta program shrugs off Blu-rays' copy protection and bundles their contents into handy, if hefty, files. (Remember, use those awesome powers only for good.) You'll need a new beta key for MakeMKV roughly every two months, which you can find here. For a deeper dive into MakeMKV, consult this Macworld article.
HandBrake
To squeeze those massive files into svelter shape, you'll need this free, popular Mac app. Just make sure you verify the checksum of Handbrake's .dmg file before you install it – a way to make sure that no sneaky hackers have replaced your legit copy with a nasty lookalike, which briefly happened to Handbrake in 2017.
Plex
You can always convert your movies into MP4 files and pop them into iTunes or VLC. But Plex offers three big advantages:
- Unlike iTunes, Plex plays Matroksa, or MKV, files. (I'll explain later why that's good.)
- Plex automatically pulls in your movies' poster art and other metadata, whereas iTunes requires an additional program called Subler.
- As long as you have an always-on, internet-connected computer or NAS drive running your Plex server, you can stream all your movies to your iPhone, iPad, AppleTV, Mac, or a host of other devices, anywhere you go. And while Plex charges for its live TV and DVR features, you can use it to store and stream movies for free, minus a one-time $5 unlock fee for its iOS apps.
Step 3: Get ripping
Plug in your Blu-ray drive, pop in a disc, and open MakeMKV. It'll take a few seconds to recognize the disc. Once it does, click the big, animated Blu-ray drive button to read that disc's contents, which may take another few minutes.
MakeMKV will list the disc's titles (video files) and their accompanying audio and subtitle tracks. Every title's selected by default; right-click any of the check boxes and choose 'Unselect All' to clear out the clutter, then pick the titles you want. The titles aren't labeled, but the one with the biggest file size and most chapters is almost always the movie.
Click the arrow next to that title to expand its audio and subtitle tracks. (The 'Unselect All' trick mentioned above comes in handy here, too.) You'll probably want at least the very first audio track — usually English language and 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound.
Audio commentary tracks are often in stereo English, below the foreign languages. Discs with multiple commentaries usually list them in the same order they're mentioned on the back of the Blu-ray's packaging. That's helpful if you want to keep the director's commentary but skip the cast's, or vice versa.
Select any subtitle tracks you want. It's okay to keep both the regular subtitles (all the dialogue) and the 'forced only' subtitles, which some discs use only when characters speak in foreign or fictional languages.
Choose an output folder — I recommend one on your local hard drive, for faster conversion — then hit the 'MakeMKV' button.
How To Digitize Files
Converting your chosen titles often takes an hour or more. When you're done, you'll have a jumbo-sized MKV file for each title you selected.
Why is MKV a good thing? While MP4 files can support multiple audio tracks, by default they can't work with more than one subtitle track, and that track has to be burned in to the video permanently. Adding more subtitles demands a lengthy, complicated process of exporting and importing subtitle files in different formats.
In contrast, MKV files can easily juggle multiple audio and subtitle tracks, and don't need to burn in subtitles. That makes MKV a more powerful, flexible format than MP4 — albeit one that iTunes can't play. If you're crunched for disk space, MKV files also tend to be slightly smaller than equivalent MP4s.
Step 4: To HEVC, or not to HEVC?
Before you continue, decide how you'll compress your videos: 'old, faster, and pretty good,' or 'new, slower, and even better.'
Tried-and-true H.264 converts relatively quickly, and it can squeeze a high-def Blu-ray file onto a DVD's worth of space or less. H.265 or HEVC, the new hotness baked into macOS High Sierra and iOS 11, makes files even smaller — but requires hefty processing power to crunch the necessary numbers.
In my tests, both H.264 and HEVC looked remarkably close to the original, even on a big TV screen. And HEVC held up no matter what I threw at it, from animated movies to black-and-white classics to films with lots of fast action and bright colors.
If you don't have a Mac made from 2017 onward, stick with H.264. Older Macs can play HEVC files just fine, but only the newest models have chips fast enough to encode HEVC decently.
With Handbrake 1.2.0 and later, users of post-2017 Macs can take full advantage of Apple's VideoToolbox technology to dramatically speed up HEVC encoding ... but there's a slight catch. (Big thanks to transcoding wizardDon Melton for his expertise on this next part.)
To make a very, very long story short, you have two options when compressing a video with H.264 or HEVC. Constant quality asks you how close to the original, uncompressed file you want the compressed version to look. Then it adjusts how much compression it applies scene-by-scene to hit that quality mark. This results in smaller final file sizes - but while it looked pretty good to my untrained eye, the resulting picture quality might not match that of your second option.
Average bitrate keeps the amount of compression within a much smaller range, hovering around a target you set. Basically, the higher the bitrate, the better your video looks, and the bigger the resulting file is. At the same bitrate and file size, HEVC looks better than H.264. At the same general quality, HEVC produces smaller files than H.264.
Handbrake can only do constant quality encoding in software. If you want the smallest possible file size with HEVC, you'll have to wait a looooong time, even with a fast new Mac. VideoToolbox's hardware-accelerated compression is a whole lot faster, ranging from 'impressively' for HEVC to 'insanely' for H.264, but it can only use average bitrate. (As I write this, it's not clear whether that limitation comes from the chips themselves, or the software talking to them.)
Here's a quick comparison of approximate file sizes using different compression methods, plus encode times relative to the actual length of the original clip. Remember, those speeds will vary based on your own hardware – I used a 2017 5K iMac – but the numbers below can give you a rough idea of what to expect:
Original: 1.25GB
H.264, software encoding: 1x real time, 239.5MB
HEVC, software encoding: 1.6x real time, 50.3MB (... no, that's not a typo. But on average, constant-quality HEVC runs about 35% smaller than equivalent H.264.)
H.264, VideoToolbox, 6000kbps: 0.2x real time, 286.8 MB
HEVC, VideoToolbox, 4000kbps: 0.4x real time, 205.6 MB
Good news for folks with older hardware: You can't use VideoToolbox for HEVC, but you can use it for H.264. Even on an aging 2012 Mac mini, I still got compression speeds between 0.25x and 0.33x real time. And you'll still get great-looking results, and much smaller files, with H.264 compression.
Step 5: Compress for success
Close MakeMKV, fire up Handbrake, and open the MKV file you just created. In the Presets pulldown menu, select General > Fast 1080p 30 or Very Fast 1080p 30 (to make an MP4 file), or Matroska > H.264 MKV 1080p 30 or H.265 MKV 1080p 30 (to create an MKV).
How To Digitize Dvds
In the main window, go to the Video tab. If you want to use VideoToolbox with either H.264 or HEVC, make sure you select that option from the list of encoders, then set your desired bitrate. 6000kbps gets good results for H.264. For HEVC, 4000kbps gets perfectly good results at a smaller file size, while 6000kbps will get you a picture closer to that of the original, with a file size roughly one-third larger.
If you're using software encoding, you can tinker with Handbrake's quality presets -- 17 for H.264, 22 for HEVC -- but they served me well enough. Smaller numbers mean less compression, higher quality, and bigger file sizes, and vice versa.
Under the Audio tab, click the Tracks dropdown menu, then select Add All Tracks. Track 0 will be the default; you can specify a certain track for that spot using the pulldown menus in the list of tracks.
Follow the same steps in the Subtitles tab. If you're making an MP4, you can only pick one track, and it'll be burned into the video. For an MKV, set Track 0 to 'Foreign Audio Search,' and leave 'Forced Only' and 'Burned In' checked. If your movie has any scenes where non-English dialogue gets subtitled, this should ensure those subtitles show up – though for whatever reason, Handbrake's not always great at doing this. If you always want a subtitle track to automatically appear when you're watching a film – say, if it's a foreign language – check 'Default' next to that track.
Under 'Save As,' make sure the resulting file has the name you want. Even if you'll be storing your movies on an external hard drive, I recommend creating the compressed files on your local drive. Handbrake will work much faster, even when you factor in the time needed to copy them over later.
Some TV shows on Blu-ray cram all their episodes into a single title, divvied up into chapters. Luckily, Handbrake lets you specify beginning and ending chapters for a compressed video.
Open the original MKV file in VLC to see where each episode begins and ends. Then specify those chapters, give each episode the correct file name, and click HandBrake's 'Add to Queue' button. When you're done, just start the queue, and HandBrake will process all the waiting files.
This trick also works if you've got multiple different MKV files lying around waiting to be compressed. Open a source, add audio and subtitle tracks, name the file, add to queue, and repeat with the next source.
Step 6: Popcorn, anyone?
To drop your MP4 movies into iTunes, just drag them into the Movies window alongside your other titles. Right-click the file and select 'Movie Info' to add your own title, synopsis, and other metadata. Under the 'Options' tab, change the media from 'Home Video' to 'Movies.' In the 'Artwork' tab, you can paste in poster art.
In Plex, adding MP4 or MKV movies is as simple as dropping them into whatever Movies folder you've specified on your server. You can turn on or off your desired audio or subtitle tracks from each movie's page in Plex, or from Playback Options (the icon that looks like little slider bars) while watching the movie.
Note that if your movie has the same title as other films — as Kenneth Branagh's 1993 Much Ado About Nothing did for me — Plex may pull in metadata from the wrong movie. To fix this, move the offending file out of your Plex Movies folder. Add the year it was made, in parentheses, to the end of its name — Much Ado About Nothing (1993).mkv, for instance. Then drop it back in where Plex can find it, and watch the correct metadata roll in.
One more fun Plex tip: If you don't like the poster art Plex provides, change it! From a movie's info page, click the pencil icon in the upper right to edit metadata. Select Poster in the resulting window, and a gallery of different options will appear.
It was the pictures that got small
Don't let your favorite hi-def movies waste away in little blue mausoleums. Ripping your Blu-rays — again, emphasis on your Blu-rays — will give you a great-looking, relatively compact library of beloved flicks that you can watch even when you're far from your TV.
Got any tips, tricks, or best practices I've missed? Share your ripping recommendations in the comments below.
Updated December 2018: Updated with new information about Handbrake's latest update.
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