iTunes 8.2 fixes iMovie projects "not authorized" when adding iTunes content
<p>The latest version of iTunes seems to have fixed a problem with users not being authorized to add copy-protected songs to iMovie projects. When Apple released iTunes 8.1, people complained of the inability to add certain songs that were purchased from
The latest version of iTunes seems to have fixed a problem with users not being authorized to add copy-protected songs to iMovie projects. When Apple released iTunes 8.1, people complained of the inability to add certain songs that were purchased from the iTunes store.
Here's just one user's frustration with the previous version of iTunes:
"I cannot import any of my iTunes purchased music into iMovie 6.0 after updating to 8.1. I keep being asked to authorize my computer. I do so, and the song still won't load into iMovie. I'll be prompted to authorize again. Does anyone know a solution?"
Other people having this same frustration reported their problems in other Apple discussion threads (1, 2, 3).
It was true that iTunes version 8.1 broke the ability to import DRM-protected content, which persisted through all the 8.1.x versions of iTunes as well. Luckily the iTunes 8.2 update seems to fix this so we recommend you apply the update if you are experiencing this problem and have not yet done so. However, if for some reason you are still not able to import DRM songs into iMovie projects, the following workarounds should at least allow you to continue your project.
Workarounds:
1. Burn and re-rip audio
Collect all the songs you plan on using in your project, and put them in an album. Then burn the album to audio CD (not data or MP3-CD), which will strip out the DRM. Reimporting the songs will make them available to iMovie.
To protect the quality of the audio, when upsampling the tracks by burning them to CD, just use the AIFF/WAVE file off the CD instead of reimporting them to a compressed format such as MP3 or MP4. Reapplying compression algorithms like this (especially different ones) will cut down the quality of the audio track each time, and since the final iMovie project will be compressed anyway, keeping the audio as AIFF/WAVE files will cut out one additional compression step.
2. Update to iTunes Plus
For a small 30-cent fee, you can update your DRM-protected songs to iTunes Plus, which are all free of copy protection in addition to being higher quality audio. This will have the same effect as burning and re-ripping the tracks.
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