Before the digital age, customers freely downloaded and pirated software, music, etc., that should have had copyright protection, such that the makers of that software should have had material compensation from its use. However, so-called “free” downloads simply left these software, music, etc., producers out in the cold, so that they didn’t get any monetary compensation for their works, and consumers simply basically stole from these folks.

Enter DRM, which stands for Digital Rights Management. DRM meant that at the very least, producers of this content had some basic authorship-compensation rights.

Nonetheless, there are times when you’re going to want to make a copy of software you have already previously purchased and should have a full right to do so. For example, maybe you downloaded a movie from a website (which you have already paid for) and want to burn a DVD of it. In that case, DRM may get in the way, such that you’ll need to remove it.

Manufacturer-provided rights to make copies

In some cases, manufacturers do indeed make note of this right and therefore build the capability to make copies from your software for personal use into their software programs. However, copies cannot be made from the copies you produce. This should be enough to produce much of what you need, where you would normally need to get around DRM.

Nonetheless, if you need to “get around” the DRM protection, you should be aware that in fact, this is illegal. That said, here are some suggestions on how to do it if you simply must — at your peril.

There are several programs that remove DRM from encoded media files; you can use one of these, but you should be aware that many of them only remove DRM from audio files, not video files. (Again, be aware that this is absolutely illegal, according to federal law.)

Recording playback from your DRM protected media files

Another, and possibly more legal, way to remove DRM is to simply record the playback of your DRM protected media files. There are programs available that can do this for you, and they will record your DRM-protected media files inside your computer, so that you don’t get feedback, background noise, etc. Supporters of fully protected rights are, by the way, also fighting to close this particular loophole.

Tunebite

Finally, a program called Tunebite can convert digital media files from one format to the other, using your Windows media or iTunes player. It’s not technically removing DRM, so it may not be illegal. Nonetheless, you as a consumer are still required to make sure that the copies you make are for your personal use and only that.