IMPORTANT NOTE: hymn, which I use with the below script for unlocking protected music, is no longer being updated. The new version, JHymn, is a Java-based GUI app that performs the same function and handles the iTunes 4.7.1 issues. It also provides the ability to back up your music (when you unlock it) to a new location. As it does not have a command-line interface, it is not usable with this script. If a command-line interface comes, I’ll update this script. Until then, use JHymn. I’ve posted my JHymn settings here.

I’m a user of iTunes, and I have purchased music through the iTunes Music Store. I’m also a big believer in fair use, and while I don’t condone anything illegal, I’m irritated by the FairPlay DRM system, particularly the five-computer authorization limit. I’m not spreading my purchased music around, but the need to remember what’s been authorized and what hasn’t, to authorize and deauthorize machines… it’s a pain.

I got hymn and FairKeys to download a copy of my FairPlay authorization keys and then un-DRM my purchased music. Then I made backups of both the protected and unprotected versions of the songs.

The problem then ended up being that I didn’t want to have to manually do that every time I bought something on iTunes. As such, I figured I needed a script that would do exactly that: Make a backup copy of the protected (*.m4p) files, decrypt any that didn’t have a corresponding decrypted version (*.m4a), and then make backup copies of the decrypted versions. “M4P Backup.vbs” was born.

The script will, for each *.m4p file found in your music library:

1. XCopy the file into a backup folder for you. (By using XCopy, you get a folder tree for your protected music files mimicked from your original music library folder.)
2. Check for a corresponding .m4a file in the same library folder.
3. If a .m4a isn’t found, the script calls “hymn.exe” to create one.
4. The decrypted .m4a file is backed up alongside the corresponding .m4p.

Below is a sample console session of the “M4P Backup.vbs” script. Click the image to enlarge it.

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Installation/Configuration:

1. Download hymn at http://hymn-project.org/. Get that working - I cannot offer technical support on hymn. You may also need to get FairKeys from http://www.nanocrew.net/software/ if hymn is unable to find your FairPlay keys. Check the hymn forums for information on using FairKeys with hymn.
2. Download “M4P Backup.vbs,” below. Unzip the script into a known location (i.e., your desktop).
3. Open your unzipped “M4P Backup.vbs” file in a text editor. At the top of the script, in a section marked “CONFIGURATION,” set the configuration variables as specified. Examples are provided in the script.

That’s it! Once you’re set, you can either double-click the script to execute it, or you can explicitly call the console script host to run the backup script in console mode (as shown in the screen shot): cscript "M4P Backup.vbs"

Download M4PBackup 1.0

Version History: 1.0: First release. Tested with hymn 0.7.1.