[s1ngletrack]

Alright, I know that a solution exists, but I have done a fair amount of searching without coming up with a viable solution to my issue. I have seen quite a few references to MP3 players here and I put a little more faith in the members of this site than I do "joe schmo" out on the internet, so I figured I'd ask you, the good people of MTBR, for some guidance.

Thanks to Pepsi's "itunes" promo - and a friend who drinks copious amounts of Mt Dew - I have a rapidly growing collection of songs that were downloaded, for free, from the itunes store. The problem is this: all of these songs are in m4p ("p" - for protected) format. This means that I cannot listen to these songs on my new Rio Carbon MP3 player, and it is really pissing me off. I found online what appears to be an old hack (old meaning last fall) using a program called "Hymn" to convert these protected files to MP3, WMA, or whatever format. However, Hymn requires an older version of itunes (4.6) to work. I have 4.6 installed on my home computer, but have had no success dowloading songs from the itunes store using this version, leading me to believe that the uh, nice people at Apple - in their infinite wisdom, have closed a loophole somewhere making it even more difficult for music fans to play music downloaded from itunes on anything other than one of their exorbitantly priced ipods.

I know that there are members here who know a significant amount more than I do about such things - so I ask you, is there a way to convert my m4p files to wma, or am I stuck listening to these tracks on my laptop?

Thanks for any help.

 

[sodade]

DRM sucks. Delete all of your DRMd music and go to allofmp3.com and download high quality VBR mp3s for ~$1.50 a CD.

 

[Wherewolf]

Burn a CD?

Could you burn them to a CD and then rip the CD back to mp3 format? That should play on your mp3 player.

 

[s1ngletrack]

DRM sucks. Delete all of your DRMd music and go to allofmp3.com and download high quality VBR mp3s for ~$1.50 a CD.

Thanks for the response - sorry for all the questions, but I'm interested in hearing more.

1. So, "Ogg Vorbis" is a format itself? -like mp3 or wma?

2. Is Ogg Vorbis synonymous with VBR (variable bit rate?) ?

3. I noticed that they say nothing about accepting paypal - would you happen to know if they do?

4. Their downloadable software doesn't come packaged w/ a bunch of sh*t (spyware) does it?

5. Any idea how identical tracks formatted in VBR (at a reasonably high quality) and WMA would compare size wise?

6. Last but not least - how do I know if Ogg Vorbis will play on my Rio?

Again, sorry for all the questions, I am very new to this and am trying to feel my way through things.

 

[s1ngletrack]

Could you burn them to a CD and then rip the CD back to mp3 format? That should play on your mp3 player.

You know, from the sound of things, that might be the simplest solution short of trashing my existing tracks, or doing without.

 

[trailrash]

Wherewolf has it right. That's what I've had to do with my wife's MP3 player.

 

[sodade]

Thanks for the response - sorry for all the questions, but I'm interested in hearing more.

1. So, "Ogg Vorbis" is a format itself? -like mp3 or wma?

2. Is Ogg Vorbis synonymous with VBR (variable bit rate?) ?

3. I noticed that they say nothing about accepting paypal - would you happen to know if they do?

4. Their downloadable software doesn't come packaged w/ a bunch of sh*t (spyware) does it?

5. Any idea how identical tracks formatted in VBR (at a reasonably high quality) and WMA would compare size wise?

6. Last but not least - how do I know if Ogg Vorbis will play on my Rio?

Again, sorry for all the questions, I am very new to this and am trying to feel my way through things.

1. Yes - it is an open source codec and it is considered to be the best, but your player of choice must support OGG and most don't.

2. No - I think that you can have VBR OGG files, and I download all of my MP3s in VBR

3. I think that they used to, but not currently. My credit card co gives me temporary numbers to use for individual transactions. Since this is a russian site - I am a little paranoid about giving out a real CC#.

4. good question and the answer is thankfully no. Their SW kicks ass and is a great way to preview every single track on a CD even if you aren't buying from them.

5. I think that WMA is smaller, but I am afraid of anything MS so I use VBR MP3s.

6. doubt it - the list of players that support OGG is very small and it is only found on very recent HW. Check out cnet.com reviews because they make a point of noting OGG support.

I should point out that this site is of dubious legality. They claim that they are legal because of russian law, etc but I am sure that the artist is not getting paid for music downloaded. The difference is that with P2P, the RIAA can bust you - not so for this site. P2P also sucks for many reasons. My rationale for using this site is that it sends an important message to the RIAA. It is my hope that musicians eventually figure out that they don't need a middleman marking up their wares by >1000%.

 

[sodade]

I should note that I DL everything in LAME MP3 VBR 192kbps. It is really hard to notice a quality difference with higher bitrate stuff unless you are an audiophile with cone drivers made from the skin of nubile virgins.

 

[s1ngletrack]

I should note that I DL everything in LAME MP3 VBR 192kbps. It is really hard to notice a quality difference with higher bitrate stuff unless you are an audiophile with cone drivers made from the skin of nubile virgins.

Awesome - thanks a bunch for all of the info, it is much appreciated.