iTunes: Music purchased from iTunes Store cannot be burned to MP3 format CD

Products Affected

iTunes Store

Symptoms

Playlists with songs purchased from the iTunes Store cannot be burned to an MP3 format CD.

When you try to burn an MP3 format CD using a playlist that only has songs purchased from the iTunes Store, this message appears: "None of the items in this playlist can be burned to disc."

When you try to burn an MP3 format CD using a playlist that has a mix of songs purchased from the iTunes Store and songs encoded from audio CDs, the burn begins, but the songs purchased from the iTunes Store appear dimmed in the playlist, and are not burned to the disc.

Resolution

Songs purchased from the iTunes Store may either be in AAC format or AAC Protected format depending on when they were purchased (older songs used AAC Protected format). You can convert AAC songs to MP3 format allowing them to be burned to an MP3 format CD, however AAC Protected songs can not be converted. You can, however, back them up to a data CD or DVD, or you can burn them to an audio CD (which can be played in a CD player).

To create a data CD or DVD

See iTunes: How to Back Up Music for help backing up purchased songs to a data CD or DVD.

To create an audio CD

See Burning an audio CD using iTunes for help creating an audio CD of songs you bought from the iTunes Store, or a mix of these songs and others you encoded from audio CDs.

A note about copyright

iTunes software may be used to reproduce materials. It is licensed to you only for reproduction of non-copyrighted materials, materials in which you own the copyright, or materials you are authorized or legally permitted to reproduce. If you are uncertain about your right to copy any material, you should contact your legal advisor. See the iTunes Store Terms of Service for additional information.