Are you annoyed by iTunes DRM? Do you want to remove it because you want to play the iTunes music on non-Apple MP3 players like PSP, Zune, Creative Zen, BlackBerry, PS3, iriver, Walkman, mobile phone MP3 player, etc., use it as background music in a home video, or anything else that DRM limits it to do? Many people know you can remove the DRM from iTunes music by simply burning the song to a CD, and ripping it back over, losing very little quality(if settings are correct):

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 encrypted iTunes 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.

And the method I am going to introduce does the same exact thing but you will not need a CD-RW disc, a CD ROM drive, or even need to burn anything! It’s that simple. Let’s show you how to perform this.

We are going to be using a program called TuneClone. TuneClone is basically a program that acts as a virtual CD drive that allows you “burn” MP3 from iTunes and “rip” it. TuneClone “lies” to your computer saying that you have a CD-RW drive that it will burn to (like Alchohol 120%). You can use this to move your library of M4P DRM protected music to the MP3 format that you can use on any player out there worth its salt. This is a useful tool for anyone looking to break their relationship with the iPod. The best part is that it maintains all of the music file’s metadata. Below is the step by step tutorial that shows how it works:

1. Download TuneClone from http://www.tuneclone.com and install it.

TuneClone is fully compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vista. A virtual CD Burner will be installed. This virtual CD-RW will be used to convert music files.

2. Make settings at TuneClone

Click the Settings button at TuneClone. In the pop-up window, you can specify the output folder, output filenames, output format, etc. for the output files.

Note: Apart from MP3, TuneClone also allows you to convert iTunes M4P to WAV and unprotected WMA.
Tip: You can get the output protection removed music folder by clicking the Folder button after the whole process.

3. Make settings at iTunes(iTunes 8 )

Create a playlist, and then add the files you want to convert into the playlist.

After you have created the playlist ready to be burnt, click the Burn Disc in the bottom right of iTunes.

In the pop up window of Burn Settings, make the settings as highlighted below:

4. Start to burn

Click the Burn button to start burning.

After the burning gets started, TuneClone will automatically convert the music file to MP3, WMA or WAV. You can open the manager screen to show all the converted music files.

The most important step is to choose the CD burner. Then the software can convert the music files automatically. It is exceedingly easy when you want to batch convert lots of files.

Many people complain that when they convert DVD to video and watch it on laptop or PC the quality get bad. Why this happens?
An ordinary DVD movie is often 7-8 GB in size, if we convert them to ordinary video formats the size would be hundreds of MB, so We have to face this problem that the code compress process would destroy most of unimportant data and the video quality get bad. How do we resolve this issue?
We can decrease the damage by converting DVD to MKV and other HD video formats. These HD videos are often bigger than standard video and keep high quality.

OK, let’s discuss it in details:
1. What’s MKV HD video?
2. How to convert DVD to MKV to keep the high quality?
(You can also learn how to convert MKV to AVI and other videos from this guide.)
3. How to play MKV HD video on Windows media player?

Part 1: What’s MKV HD video?

An MKV HD video file is a Matroska file, the Matroska Multimedia Container is an open standard free Container format . It is similar in conception to other containers like AVI, MP4 or ASF, but is entirely open in specification, And the size is often much more bigger than common video for the HD code methods.

Part 2: How to convert DVD to MKV HD video to keep the high quaity?

Here I listed a few good DVD to MKV converters I found on google, They all have good output quality, can input DVD disk, DVD folder, IFO, ISO and support MKV HD video, but you can select a better one with special feature for your needs.

Aimersoft DVD ripper

This DVD to MKV converter has been upgrade recently and added MT2S, TS, TP, TRP and MKV HD video formats into its output formats.

Important features:
1. Convert DVD to MKV, MP4, WMV, AVI, FLV, MOV, 3GP, 3GPP, MPG, RMVB, Xvid, ASF, WMA, M4A, MP3, AAC, OGG, MKA, AC3, WAV. ( Available for iPod, iPhone, PSP, Zune, etc)
2. Editing function: video cropping, trimming and effect adjusting;
3. Subtitle and Audio track select.
4. Chapters and Clips selecting, so you can choose any part of the DVD to convert and “merge into on file”.
5. Conversion speed: 58 minutes. (DVD: Kungfu Panda).

HQ DVD To MKV Converter

This is a specialized DVD to MKV converter, the output format includes only MKV, a DVD to MKV converter for the people who have owned other DVD converters but not include MKV video in their outputs and the price is cheaper than other comprehensive DVD rippers.

Important features:
1. Convert DVD to MKV only.
2. Subtitle and Audio track select.
3. Conversion speed: 1 hour 18 minutes (DVD: Kungfu Panda)

Avaide dvd ripper

Important features:
1. Convert DVD to MKV, AVI, WMV, MP4, FLV, MOV, MPG, 3GP, MP3, AAC, OGG, WMA for iPod, PSP, Zune, etc.
2. Chapters selecting; Time trimming to select any part of the DVD.
3. Conversion speed: 1 hour 37 minutes. (DVD: Kungfu Panda)

In summarize, if you already got one comprehensive DVD converter but doesn’t support MKV format, HQ DVD to MKV converter ($19.95) can help you save more $; Aimersoft DVD ripper ($35) has the fastest conversion speed and more editing function for users; Of cause, if you don’t care too much about these two features and want to spend less dollars Avaide dvd ripper ($29.95) is also a good choice for the same good output quality.
OK, choose one to convert DVD to MKV HD video, then I will tell you how to play MKV in Windows Media Player.

Part 3: How to play MKV on Windows media player?

Many people who download a HD video file with the extension MKV will often try to play it back with video player software they have installed on their systems. Most of the time this doesn’t work.
As it is based on DirectShow Windows Media Player will play back MKV HD video files perfectly if you have the proper codecs and filters installed. A great help here is the Matroska Pack. This pack is an ideal solution for new users as it installs pretty much all you will need to play MKV HD video files.

You can get more details and download the Matraoka Pack from its official site:
http://www.matroska.org/

Finally, I’m not a expert in digital area, so some resources in this article were collected from other professional site such as Wikipedia.com and afterdawn.com.
Any valuable advices would be great. Enjoy

From: http://www.video-movie-converter.com/reviews/convert-dvd-to-mkv-hd-video.html

It is no doubt that PSP is an excellent game player. However, it is not playing games all the time; you can use it to do a ton of other cool and (highly useful) things when you’re not in the game mode. Thanks to its pretty big screen compared to other portable video players, PSP is a nice gadget for watching videos as well. So the following tutorial focuses on how to rip DVD movies and TV shows, convert video files and convert online YouTube/Google videos to MP4 format for playback on Sony PSP.

The only tool you need is Clone2Go DVD to PSP Converter. Unlike other DVD to PSP converter programs, this DVD to PSP converter combines the following main features into one program:

• DVD to PSP
• Convert video to PSP
• Download online YouTube/Google video
• Convert downloaded YouTube/Google videos or local FLV videos to PSP

Note: Clone2Go DVD to PSP Converter is not free. It does cost USD29.95 to register the full version. And there are numerous DVD ripper and video converter programs that can convert DVD’s and videos to PSP compatible video formats.  However, if you want to avoid the trouble of finding so many free programs and don’t mind paying a small sum of money, the all-in-one Clone2Go DVD to PSP Converter would be the best choice for you.

First, let’s take a look at the main interface of Clone2Go DVD to PSP Converter.

And below are the highlights of how to use Clone2Go DVD to PSP Converter.

1. Add DVD movies or TV shows

Insert the DVD disc into the disc drive, click the Open DVD button to import it if you are going to enjoy the DVD movie on your PSP. Or if the DVD movie is saved as a folder on your computer, you need to click the Add Video button to locate that folder, which is composed of two separate folders: VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS. From the VIDEO_TS folder, select the .vob file to import and then click OK.

2. Import video files

You can also import videos stored on your PC by clicking the Add Video button and then click OK. The supporting formats are shown as follows:

3. Download YouTube or Google videos

If you want to enjoy online YouTube or Google videos on your PSP, click the YouTube button on the main interface. In the pop-up window, copy and paste the URLs of the YouTube/Google videos one by one.

There will be a list of the added YouTube/Google videos, which will be downloaded automatically one by one. And the downloading status is clearly shown on the list. After the status of all of them indicates Completed, you can tick whichever videos you want to watch on your PSP.

After the DVD’s, videos or YouTube/Google videos are imported, you can preview it on the main interface. If you only want a clip of the DVD/video, you can drag the Start to trim and Stop to trim button to get the certain segment.

4. Choose a proper profile

From the drop-down list of Profile, you can select the most appropriate profile:

Now you can click the Start Encode button to starting ripping DVD movies or TV shows, converting videos or converting YouTube/Google videos for your PSP.

5. Transfer videos to PSP

Since it is very complicated to transfer videos from PC to PSP. Here, I’d like to introduce a totally freeware called PSP Video Manager. You can download it to help you directly transfer videos to PSP or export PSP MPEG-4 videos located in your PSP to your PC without manually renaming PSP MPEG-4 files.

“My laptop HDD recently failed, so I replaced it with an iMac. Fortunately, my iTunes library was on an external HDD, so I have copied it across to the iMac. However, the songs that I have purchased from iTunes do not seem to be available. They have copied across, but are ‘greyed out’. I have authorised my new computer to play purchases. Is there anything else I am forgetting?”

It is relatively painless to switch over from Windows to Mac as Mac has support for a lot of commonly used files like Microsoft Word documents, Powerpoint slideshows and Adobe PDF files. So, compatibility is hardly an issue. What you do have to take note of however while switching over to Mac are your iTunes library and WMAs. Note: This tutorial was written under the assumption that you are running the latest version of iTunes ( iTunes 8 ) on both your Windows and Mac.

1. Add WMAs to iTunes on Windows

iTunes for Windows is built with Windows Media Audio (WMA) support - it is able to play and convert WMAs. However, because WMA is a proprietary codec, it isn’t available in iTunes for Mac. If you’re not careful, you’ll be left with a lot of WMAs which will be unplayable on your Mac.

The easiest way to dodge this problem is to convert all the WMAs you have while you’re still on your Windows machine. In your iTunes General preferences, under ‘Import settings’, make sure to have AAC or MP3 selected. Configure the bit rate if you like but because you will be converting from one lossy codec to another, there’s bound to be a profound loss in quality.

However, if the WMAs are DRM protected, it will be a little bit difficult. One method of dealing with the DRM protected WMAs is to get an audio converter. Make a simple Google search and you will get a lot of converters that can convert WMA to MP3. However, those that can convert DRM protected WMA to MP3 are rather limited. The one that attracts my attention is TuneClone Audio Converter (fow Windows only), which isn’t free but very well worth a shot if you have lots of DRM protected WMAs ready to be switched to Mac. TuneClone Audio Converter is capable of removing DRM protection from WMA files and convert WMA to iTunes (both Windows and Mac) compatible MP3 format by installing a virtual CD burner. Here is the guide: http://www.tuneclone.com/how-to-convert-wma-to-mp3-for-ipod.php

Apart from that, TuneClone Audio Converter can also be used to convert iTunes M4P (protected AAC) to MP3 for non-Apple MP3 devices. Here is the guide: http://www.tuneclone.com/itunes8-m4p-to-mp3.php

After getting the protected WMAs converted to MP3, add to your iTunes library the MP3 files, which will be transferred to Mac along with all the music in iTunes library.

2. Backup iTunes library on Windows

In Windows, open iTunes. Consolidate your library from the ‘File -> Library’ menu.

This will move all the music files into the iTunes Music folder and sort them by artist and album.

Navigate to your My Music folder. It’s typically found at C:\Documents and Settings\~username~\My Documents\My Music.

Copy the iTunes folder to the Desktop of your new Mac. Depending on the size of your library and the method of transfer, this could take a while.

3. Organize iTunes on Mac

If you are running iTunes on your Mac for the first time, you’ll be prompted with the initial welcome setup procedure. When it asks to search your drive for music files, make sure to decline. At the end, you’ll be presented with a fresh, empty iTunes library. Now, quit iTunes. By default, it would have already set up its own iTunes Music folder located in ~/Music. Go over to this location and delete the iTunes folder then copy and paste your iTunes Music folder from the desktop into it (the one which you have just brought over from your Windows computer). After all this is done, launch iTunes and you’ll be rewarded with your old, personalized iTunes library.

Clone2Go Free Audio Converter is a powerful yet easy to use freeware application for extracting audios from video files and converting video/audio files to some audio format.

Click to download Clone2Go Free Audio Converter

With Clone2Go Free Audio Converter, you can easily and quickly extract the audio tracks from video clips in formats such as MOV, WMV, FLV, MPEG-4, MPG, RM, RMVB, AVI, VOB, ASF, DV, 3GP, M1V and M2V and convert video/audio files to popular audio formats including WAV, WMA, OGG, MP3 and AAC for playback on portable entertainment devices such as iPod, iPhone, Zune, PSP, Mobile Phone, Pocket PC, to name just a few.

What’s more, Clone2Go Free Audio Converter allows you to extract audio files from online YouTube/Google videos and convert YouTube/Google FLV video to the specific audio format you need.

Key features of Clone2Go Free Audio Converter:

1. Very user-friendly interface and easy-to-use style.
2. Input video formats supported: MOV, WMV, FLV, MPEG-4, MPG, RM, RMVB, AVI, VOB, ASF, DV, 3GP, M1V and M2V.
3. Output audio formats supported: MP3, WAV, OGG and MP2.
4. Mobile devices supported:
Mobile Phone Series - Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, iPhone, Motorola, Blackberry, Dopod, LG, etc.
Apple Series - iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, iPod touch, etc.
Windows Mobile - Zune, Pocket PC, HP iPAQ, Dell Player, etc.
PSP Series - PSP, PSP3, etc.
Other Players - Xbox, Creative Zen, etc.
5. Support download YouTube/Google video and extract audio from online YouTube/Google video.
6. Support batch converting video/audio files to the specific audio format you need.
7. Customize output video frame size.

Availability:

Clone2go Free Audio Converter is totally free. You can download it from http://www.clone2go.com/down/audio-converter-free-setup.exe.

If you want to know more about Clone2Go Free Audio Converter, please visit the official website http://www.clone2go.com.