M4P files come from the days that Apple made a proprietary format for iTunes and Apple Music. You should have not heard of M4P files before. They actually sound like MP4 (those movie files) but they're entirely different. We’ll teach you how to convert M4P to MP3 files without iTunes.

MP3 files are the most popular format for music back then. They never faded. It’s because their platform is so universal. You can use them in any hardware or software media player. If you had MP3 players back then you’ll know what I mean.

We also have many music software that will never abandon MP3, including iTunes and Apple Music. It’s now a popular theme for Apple Music goers to know how to convert from one format to another. We’ll guide you with this task in the following sections.

Article Content Part 1. Why Should You Convert M4P to MP3? Part 2. How to Convert M4P to MP3 without iTunes? Part 3. Two Online M4P to MP3 Converter Part 4. Summary

Part 1. Why Should You Convert M4P to MP3?

Remember that M4P files are proprietary Apple Music or iTunes format. They are actually AAC encoded files (Advanced Audio Codec). They have slightly better quality than MP3’s. Their main difference is that M4P files are DRM protected.

The non-protected counterpart of M4P is M4A. To better remember this, the letter ‘P’ stands for protected while ‘A’ stands for ordinary unprotected audio. It’s a good acronym so you won’t forget.

Discussing How to Convert M4P to MP3

The DRM protection of Apple is so proprietary that they created their own standard. That standard is called “Fairplay”. Fairplay uses encrypted keys, and along with using the Apple cloud servers, can allow registered only devices to run their music.

As for Apple Music or iTunes, they’ve created a converter inside their software to transform music into MP3 or other formats. This has a limitation though, so we’ll teach you how to convert M4P to MP3 without iTunes.

If you’ve converted M4P to MP3 successfully, then you’ll be gaining freedom in using your music. You can use them anywhere at any time with any media player. You are also not bound anymore with any streaming music subscription. This is favorable for any music collector as they can make unlimited backups of their songs.

Part 2. How to Convert M4P to MP3 without iTunes?

How to convert M4P to MP3 without iTunes? We’ll teach you the fastest and most versatile method now. You’ll be using a third-party tool for this and it’s called TunesFun Apple Music Converter.

Try It Free Try It Free

TunesFun Apple Music Converter is the latest in the Apple Music Converter series. It has a slick and simple GUI (Graphical User Interface). It’s populated with all the popular media formats such as MP3, AAC, M4A, AC3, FLAC, and WAV. It has a 16x conversion speed so it’s very fast. Best of all it can also remove DRM from your songs while converting.

Download a free trial of TunesFun Apple Music Converter to learn more about it. If you’re satisfied then purchase a time-limited or lifetime access key. This will remove the 3-minute time limit cap on conversions.

Selecting Apple Music M4P Files on Third Party Software

Once installed open your TunesFun software then go to the Library tab. This is where your Apple Music or iTunes library is stored. It’s already categorized neatly similar to iTunes or Apple Music. Choose the songs you want converting by the checkboxes.

On the lower portion, you have the output settings and metadata. Choose your output music format and output directory. You can also change the metadata settings of your songs so that it’ll reflect what you want.

Once satisfied then hit Convert to start converting. When finished go to the Finished tab. This is where all your converted music lies. Click View Output File to go to the output directory window. It will automatically open an Explorer or a Finder Window.

Finished Converting Apple Music M4p FIles to MP3 with Third Party Software

That’s it it’s that easy to learn how to convert M4P to MP3 without iTunes. We recommend purchasing a license key after evaluation. This has several perks. You get to have timely software updates personally. You also get a guaranteed 24-hour reply customer support system. Best of all you remove the 3-minute conversion cap on all your Apple Music or iTunes songs. Just a note, that in order to convert your Apple Music songs you’ll have to download them as offline content.

Part 3. Two Online M4P to MP3 Converter

There are several online M4P to MP3 online converters out there. This will be part of the how to convert M4P to MP3 without iTunes series. We’ll discuss the pros and cons below. Note that paid software will always have the advantage of timely software updates and complete customer support. You’ll also be safer using them.

M4pconvert – A popular and neatly arranged website for your M4P to MP3 conversion needs. It seems to be reliable and easy to use. The one thing that’s lacking is a GUI (Graphical User Interface) and some user-friendly menus. You’ll also notice it does not integrate with your iTunes or Apple Music library. If this is the case then you’ll have to manually upload and select your files. This is unlike TunesFun Apple Music Converter where it’s already automated and categorized.

Freeconvert - Freeconvert is another M4P to MP3 online file converter. Because it is free, you may have doubts if it really works with all kinds of M4P files. Note that you should be aware of spy-wares, adware, and mal-wares when coming to these sites. That’s why there is still a lot of advantages when using versatile tools like the TunesFun Apple Music Converters as it’s regularly being updated.

Part 4. Summary

In summary, we’ve taught you how to convert M4P to MP3 files without using iTunes. We have the TunesFun Apple Music Converter to do the job easily and conveniently. TunesFun can also remove DRM so it makes backing up your music collection easier. We recommend downloading the trial version first so you can evaluate the software.

Try It Free Try It Free

After that, purchase a license key to unlock the 3-minute cap and get other privileges of paid software such as security, software updates, and full customer support. We also introduced some free M4P to MP3 converters on the net. The main disadvantage of these converters is your Apple Music or iTunes library is not well integrated, making file navigation harder. You are also not sure of the security as these are free services.