Maybe I'm just incompetent (probably), but I just spent a whole lot of time using the search function, and it's taking me forever to find any useful info on any of this.

There should probably be a sticky thread, FAQ links, and Wiki entries for all of these:

1) how to convert iTunes protected tracks to MP3 without having to burn to a CD and rip to MP3

2) how to remove DRM from iTunes protected tracks losslessly

3) general info on QTFairUse and myFairTunes

http://hymn-project.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1555

I certainly am no expert (I just happen to have been given a $30 iTunes card so I'm trying to figure it out), but I would think that 95% of people who have ever used the iTunes store would want to know the simplest and/or best way to remove DRM from their purchased music, and most would want to make an MP3 (or other format) copy for use with non-iPod portables.

Is the AAC forum not the correct forum for iTunes-related info?

It would probably be a TOS9 violation. (drat)

Yeah, we're not allowed to talk about that stuff.

You mean an iTunes TOS violation? Since you can burn a CD in iTunes then re-rip it to MP3 in iTunes, doing that in a more practical fashion can't possibly be against the TOS. And you don't really have to be a major fair use advocate to come to the conclusion that if you're actually paying Apple for a music file, backing that up to a non-DRM format is perfectly legal, and if iTunes TOS says it's not, then iTunes TOS is not binding. To the contrary, iTunes contains functionality to let you convert their music directly to WAV, which is subverting their DRM.

no he's talking about HA forum TOS violation

The HA TOS refers to "copyrighted or illegal material." Although it's somewhat ambiguous, obviously this is not meant to refer to copyrighted material that you legally own.

CDs that you have purchased are copyrighted material, and half the posts on this forum are about how to work with CD audio files, converting them to FLAC, MP3, WAV, OGG, AAC, or whatever. Discussion of iTunes copyrighted material is no different. If we can talk about what to do with CDs that we own, we can talk about what to do with iTunes music that we own.

Is this not the case?

edit: After all, HA is the go-to place for people looking to learn about audio encoding, and even if it is not readily admitted, often times this knowledge is used to then illegally swap music back and forth. It would be awfully ironic if the one thing we couldn't talk about was iTunes music that we legally purchased.

Circumventing DRMed stuff and ripping non-protected red book is totally different, I don't think this topic violate TOS#9 though.