Not in 2001 when the commercials were airing - the iTunes Store was two years away...

Apple only had copy protection (m4p files) if you bought music from the itunes store during the time period where their contract with the music companies demanded they do that. When that clause ended, they stopped doing it, and IIRC when you redownload music purchased during that era from apple, you'll now get unprotected m4a files instead.

The files iTunes produced from ripping CDs were never copy protected.