Can You Download Music From Apple Music? What You Actually Keep
You can download music from Apple Music for offline listening, but you do not get to keep those files. Songs saved through an Apple Music subscription are protected by digital rights management (DRM), which is software that limits how a file can be played, and they go silent the moment your subscription ends. Only songs you buy outright from the iTunes Store are truly yours.
The confusion comes from the fact that both kinds live in the same library and look almost identical. This article shows you how to tell a subscription download from a purchase on your iPhone and on a computer, what actually happens to your library if you stop paying, and how to back up the songs you own so no expired subscription can touch them.
What is the difference between Apple Music downloads and iTunes purchases?
An Apple Music download is a rental copy you are allowed to play offline while you pay; an iTunes purchase is a file you own permanently. Both are AAC audio, but the subscription version carries Apple's FairPlay DRM, a copy-protection layer that checks for an active subscription before it plays, while the purchased version is a plain AAC file with no protection at all.
In practice this means a purchased song can be copied to any computer, phone, USB stick or MP3 player and will play anywhere that supports AAC or M4A files. A subscription download plays only inside the Apple Music app, only on devices signed in with your Apple ID, and only while your subscription is active.
| Question | Apple Music subscription download | iTunes Store purchase |
|---|---|---|
| File type | Protected AAC with FairPlay DRM | DRM-free AAC at 256 kbps (.m4a) |
| Plays after subscription ends | No — tracks stop playing | Yes — forever, no account needed |
| Copy to another device or USB stick | No — file stays locked in the app | Yes — copy like any other file |
| Convert to MP3 or other formats | No — protection blocks conversion | Yes — with any audio converter |
| Plays in third-party players | No — Apple Music app only | Yes — any player that reads AAC |
How do you tell subscription songs from purchased songs on iPhone?
On an iPhone, the fastest check is the iTunes Store app: anything you bought appears under your Purchased list, and anything that is only in your library because of a subscription does not. The Music app itself does not label tracks clearly, so you have to check from the store side.
Open the iTunes Store app (the purple icon, separate from the Music app), tap More, then Purchased, then Music. Every track and album there is a purchase you own. If a song sits in your Music library but never appears in this Purchased list, it came from your Apple Music subscription or was matched from another source — and it will not survive a cancelled subscription.
One more clue inside the Music app: long-press a song in your library. If the menu offers 'Delete from Library' but no purchase information, it is almost certainly a subscription track. Purchased items you have not downloaded yet show a cloud icon with a downward arrow next to them.
- Open the iTunes Store app, not the Music app.
- Tap More in the bottom bar, then tap Purchased.
- Tap Music to see every song and album you have bought.
- Compare against your library: anything missing from this list is subscription content you do not own.
How do you check which songs are protected on a computer?
On a computer, the Music app on Mac or iTunes on Windows shows each song's file type in a Kind column, and that column tells you exactly which songs are protected. Open your library in Songs view, then turn the column on if it is hidden: on Mac go to View > Show View Options and tick Kind; on Windows right-click any column header and choose Kind.
The Kind column labels each file, and the wording is the whole answer. 'Apple Music AAC audio file' means a subscription download that will stop playing when you cancel. 'Purchased AAC audio file' means a DRM-free file you bought and keep. 'Matched AAC audio file' means iCloud Music Library matched a song you already had to the catalogue and swapped in Apple's copy — this version is also DRM-free.
| Kind column label | What it means | Protected? |
|---|---|---|
| Apple Music AAC audio file | Downloaded through your subscription | Yes — stops playing if you cancel |
| Purchased AAC audio file | Bought from the iTunes Store | No — DRM-free, yours forever |
| Matched AAC audio file | Your file matched to Apple's catalogue copy | No — DRM-free at 256 kbps |
| AAC audio file | Imported yourself, e.g. ripped from a CD | No — plain file you control |
| MPEG audio file | An MP3 you added yourself | No — plain file you control |
If Sync Library is turned on, the same Kind labels sync across your devices, so one check on a computer settles the question for your whole library.
What happens to your library when your Apple Music subscription ends?
When an Apple Music subscription lapses, every track that came from the subscription stops playing, whether or not it was downloaded to your device. The songs usually stay visible in your library for a while, greyed out or refusing to start, and the protected files eventually become dead weight taking up storage.
Your playlists, likes and library organisation are tied to your Apple ID, not to the subscription, so they normally survive a gap and reappear if you resubscribe. What does not survive is playback of subscription tracks during the gap — there is no grace period for listening.
Three things are unaffected and keep working with no subscription at all: songs you purchased from the iTunes Store, files you imported yourself from CDs or downloads, and anything you bought in the past and re-downloaded. If a song still plays the day after you cancel, it was never subscription content.
How do you back up songs you bought from the iTunes Store?
The reliable way to back up iTunes purchases is to download them to a computer as files and copy that folder somewhere safe, because a purchase living only on your phone depends on Apple continuing to offer the re-download. Purchased songs download as DRM-free AAC files at 256 kbps, so they copy and play like any normal audio file.
On a Mac, open the Music app, find the purchased album or song, click the download cloud icon, then locate the files under Music > Media in your user folder. On Windows, open iTunes, sign in, go to Account > Purchased, download everything, and find the files in the iTunes Media folder inside your Music folder. Copy that whole Media folder to an external drive, a second computer, or cloud storage.
Keep two copies if the collection matters to you: one on another device in your home and one off-site or in cloud storage. A phone-only library with no backup is one lost phone away from depending entirely on the store still listing your purchases.
- On your computer, sign in to the Music app (Mac) or iTunes (Windows) with the Apple ID you used to buy.
- Open Account > Purchased (Windows) or find purchases in your library (Mac) and download every item to local files.
- Locate the Media folder containing the .m4a files.
- Copy the folder to an external drive or a second machine.
- Add a second copy in cloud storage if you have the space — audio at 256 kbps AAC is compact, roughly 2 MB per minute of music.
Can you convert Apple Music subscription downloads to MP3?
No — not with any legitimate tool, and this article will not point you at the others. The FairPlay DRM on subscription downloads exists precisely to block conversion, Apple's terms forbid removing it, and in many countries circumventing copy protection is unlawful even for personal use. Tools that advertise stripping the protection violate those terms and frequently bundle malware with the job.
If you want files you can keep, convert and play anywhere, the honest routes are: buy the tracks you love most from the iTunes Store or another download shop, or build a library from music that is legally free — public-domain recordings, Creative Commons releases and tracks artists give away. Our music search finds free tracks you can save as MP3 with no subscription attached, and the rules for what you may download where you live are covered in our FAQ.
A practical split many people settle on: stream to discover, buy the keepers. One purchased album a month builds a permanent library that no billing problem can switch off.
Frequently asked questions
Do iTunes purchases play on Android phones?
Yes. iTunes Store purchases are DRM-free AAC files (.m4a at 256 kbps), and every Android music player reads that format. Download the purchases to a computer first, then copy the files to the phone over USB or through cloud storage. No Apple account or app is needed on the Android side.
If I delete a purchased song, can I get it back without paying again?
Yes. Purchases are tied to your Apple ID and can be re-downloaded from the Purchased section of the iTunes Store app or the Account > Purchased menu in iTunes on Windows. The exception is when a rights holder pulls a release from the store entirely, which is why keeping your own file backup is the safer plan.
Why does a song I know I bought show up as an Apple Music track?
This usually happens when Sync Library (iCloud Music Library) matches your purchase to the streaming catalogue and displays the catalogue entry instead of your file. Check the Kind column on a computer: if it says Purchased or Matched AAC audio file, your copy is still DRM-free even if the display is confusing.
Can I burn purchased iTunes songs to a CD?
Yes. Purchased AAC files have no copy protection, so the Music app on Mac and iTunes on Windows will burn them to an audio CD or data disc with no restrictions. Protected Apple Music subscription tracks cannot be burned — the burn option simply fails for them.
Does iTunes Match protect my own ripped files?
No. iTunes Match uploads or matches the files you ripped from CDs and lets you re-download them on other devices, and the matched copies come back as DRM-free AAC at 256 kbps. Unlike an Apple Music subscription download, a matched file keeps playing even if you let Match expire — you just lose the cloud syncing.