Converting WMA to MP3...How?

[btluhrman]

So I am a new DJ and I use Windows Media Player. I usually just rip songs off of CDs and add them to my library. Well I recently just found itunes...it's a whole lot better, but I can't get all my old songs from Windows Media to itunes because of the file type. I've tried importing and it doesn't work. Help me please! Do I need a file converter or what? If so which one is the best and easiest to use. Thanks.

[Haydn]

So I am a new DJ and I use Windows Media Player. I usually just rip songs off of CDs and add them to my library. Well I recently just found itunes...it's a whole lot better, but I can't get all my old songs from Windows Media to itunes because of the file type. I've tried importing and it doesn't work. Help me please! Do I need a file converter or what? If so which one is the best and easiest to use. Thanks.

Are you using PC or Mac? Anyway, these ideas should help ...

http://www.askdavetaylor.com/converting ... _ipod.html

http://forums.dealmac.com/read.php?4,2504022,2504022

http://playlistmag.com/forums/ubbthread ... &Main=3917

[Matthew]

What bitrate are your WMAs? It may be worth it to rerip everything at a higher rate, or as WAVs.

[Lawrence]

What bitrate are your WMAs? It may be worth it to rerip everything at a higher rate, or as WAVs.

Exactly. What he's referring to is that WMAs are "lossy" formats, meaning that they degrade the quality of the audio in the compression process. Re-compressing them into another lossy format like MP3 is like taking a photocopy of a photocopy: with each progressive copy, the quality gets worse. The better the quality of the original photocopy, the better the second generation photocopy will be; but the second generation copy will never be as good as copying the original anew.

If the bitrate of the WMA is not top-quality, you are pretty much stuck because "converting" (in other words, "re-compressing") the files into MP3s will make them sound awful.

[Haydn]

What bitrate are your WMAs? It may be worth it to rerip everything at a higher rate, or as WAVs.

Exactly. What he's referring to is that WMAs are "lossy" formats, meaning that they degrade the quality of the audio in the compression process. Re-compressing them into another lossy format like MP3 is like taking a photocopy of a photocopy: with each progressive copy, the quality gets worse. The better the quality of the original photocopy, the better the second generation photocopy will be; but the second generation copy will never be as good as copying the original anew.

If the bitrate of the WMA is not top-quality, you are pretty much stuck because "converting" (in other words, "re-compressing") the files into MP3s will make them sound awful.

You make a good point Lawrence, but are you really sure converting to MP3 will make them sound 'awful'?

[CafeSavoy]

I've tried importing and it doesn't work. Help me please! Do I need a file converter or what? If so which one is the best and easiest to use. Thanks.

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/

[GemZombie]

What bitrate are your WMAs? It may be worth it to rerip everything at a higher rate, or as WAVs.

Exactly. What he's referring to is that WMAs are "lossy" formats, meaning that they degrade the quality of the audio in the compression process. Re-compressing them into another lossy format like MP3 is like taking a photocopy of a photocopy: with each progressive copy, the quality gets worse. The better the quality of the original photocopy, the better the second generation photocopy will be; but the second generation copy will never be as good as copying the original anew.

If the bitrate of the WMA is not top-quality, you are pretty much stuck because "converting" (in other words, "re-compressing") the files into MP3s will make them sound awful.

You make a good point Lawrence, but are you really sure converting to MP3 will make them sound 'awful'?

As he said, it depends: What quality is the WMA? What bitrate are you re-encoding too.

In my experience that type of conversion almost always has a noticable quality loss. Re-ripping is the definiteloy the best choice, and really won't take that much more time.

[btluhrman]

Thanks for all your help. I tried converting, but something about the liscence agreement came up and wouldn't let me convert. Is there anyway to bipass this?

[GemZombie]

Thanks for all your help. I tried converting, but something about the liscence agreement came up and wouldn't let me convert. Is there anyway to bipass this?

wma files can be protected. There are ways around this, but they are not technically legal, nor easy.

[Lawrence]

Thanks for all your help. I tried converting, but something about the liscence agreement came up and wouldn't let me convert. Is there anyway to bipass this?

No, you are stuck unless you resort to "illegal" means to get around the DRm (Digital Rights Management). You might be able to convert to ITunes' proprietary format, it might work, but I've never done that because I avoid using proprietary formats since my experiments in Minidiscs (Sony's proprietary compression) screwed me. ITunes automatically prompts you to convert WMA files to ITunes format when searching your music folders to build its library.

... yet another example of how DRM negatively impacts a legal user who simply did not know the pitfalls of using that format.

[Mr Awesomer]

... yet another example of how DRM negatively impacts a legal user who simply did not know the pitfalls of using that format.

caveat emptor

[GemZombie]

Thanks for all your help. I tried converting, but something about the liscence agreement came up and wouldn't let me convert. Is there anyway to bipass this?

No, you are stuck unless you resort to "illegal" means to get around the DRm (Digital Rights Management). You might be able to convert to ITunes' proprietary format, it might work, but I've never done that because I avoid using proprietary formats since my experiments in Minidiscs (Sony's proprietary compression) screwed me. ITunes automatically prompts you to convert WMA files to ITunes format when searching your music folders to build its library.

... yet another example of how DRM negatively impacts a legal user who simply did not know the pitfalls of using that format.

I don't know many places where one can by a .wma file, so I have to assume the file was created locally... in which case I can also assume the original location exists and could be used to create a new format.

DRM is rarely more than just an annoyance for legal users.

[btluhrman]

So what you are telling me is that there is no possible way to get all the liscence protected music from Windows Media Player to iTunes...

[lipi]

no one said it was impossible. in fact, both lawrence and gemzombie hinted at the fact that it is possible to break the drm protection. googlify "wma", "drm", "break" or some such similar and you'll find plenty of ways of doing just that.