iPOD Problem..

[Trytostaydead]

I have a bunch of files as WMAs from Musicmatch Jukebox, but the program does not support WMA -> MP3 conversion, iPOD only wants MP3s and the WMAs are DRM protected. HELP!

[Datana]

Pretty much nothing you can do, in this case. The WMAs are heavily encrypted, and all of the old hacks (Unf*ck, Freeme) for getting around to recording them to WAV (and thus, by extension, to MP3) no longer work. I've heard of a recent Winamp plugin that enables you to copy a v1-v7 DRM file via the record to disk plugin, but wouldn't be able to tell you where to get it (I don't know where it is, and it's against board TOS to post that info). It (like every other WMA hack to date) probably requires valid licenses to all of the files in question to do its work, which you seem to have.

[Pu-239]

Connect your line out to line in on your sound card, and record to your format of choice- of course, you lose quality.

[Praxis]

You guys apparently don't know...

Download FREE from Apple.com the latest version of iTunes. If your PC is running Windows, the latest version of iTunes allows you to convert WMA to AAC which WILL play on the iPod.

Viola. Also, iTunes interfaces with the iPod much better than MusicMatch. Only the first windows-compatible iPods used MusicMatch, before iTunes came out.

[Datana]

Download FREE from Apple.com the latest version of iTunes. If your PC is running Windows, the latest version of iTunes allows you to convert WMA to AAC which WILL play on the iPod.

You never even read the documentation for iTunes, did you? It explicitly states in both the readme and all of the material on the iTunes website that only unprotected (un-DRMed) WMA files can be converted to AAC. Trytostaydead's files are all DRMed, which is the very reason he's asking for a means to convert.

[namdoolb]

Run a sound recorder simultaneously to playing the music, save it in wave format, and convert to mp3.

Possibly more than a little time consuming, but it works.

[GoldenFalcon]

Gotta love DRM...can't even play files you buy and makes getting around that a real pain.

Anyway, I'd also suggest Line Out -> Line In, but the problem is that some sound cards actually have a DRM feature built in...to disable recording while a DRM file is being played. Which, pretty much, throws any chance of you using that method.

[Praxis]

Ah, didn't realize that. I remember hearing that the WMA DRM was so bad you could get around it easily, and I've never used a DRMed WMA, AND I know that AAC can be converted to MP3 by CD burning despite the DRM, so I assumed it could be converted.

Does the DRM allow you to burn it to a CD? If so, just burn the music to a CD. When it burns, it will be converted to MP3. Then rip the CD to the iPod. Voila!

[Datana]

Ah, didn't realize that. I remember hearing that the WMA DRM was so bad you could get around it easily, and I've never used a DRMed WMA, AND I know that AAC can be converted to MP3 by CD burning despite the DRM, so I assumed it could be converted.

Does the DRM allow you to burn it to a CD? If so, just burn the music to a CD. When it burns, it will be converted to MP3. Then rip the CD to the iPod. Voila!

Versions 1 through 6 of WMA were weak on the DRM front -- a program called Unf*ck (yes, the asterisk was there originally, though the actual executable had the "u" in place) could break through it in seconds. Version 7 was vulnerable to another program called Freeme, but required a playback license in order to strip the DRM. Both can be found easily enough via Google if the WMA files are in those versions.

Version 9, so far, has been nearly bulletproof. The file is encrypted up the wazoo, and brute-forcing the key would take years (after which MS would simply revoke that key and send you back to square one). Depending on the license, it prohibits burning to CD, disables line-in and SPDIF though the sound card, and prevents any sound-to-disk programs (like Recorder or Winamp's disk output plugin) from recording anything when a DRMed file is active, closing all of the traditional avenues for ripping out the protection. As I had mentioned, I had heard of a hacked Winamp WMA plugin that allows use of the diskwriter plugin for output of v7 (and some early v9) files with a playback license, but I don't know where it is (though I found references to its existence easily enough).

[Howedar]

Gotta love DRM...can't even play files you buy and makes getting around that a real pain.

Anyway, I'd also suggest Line Out -> Line In, but the problem is that some sound cards actually have a DRM feature built in...to disable recording while a DRM file is being played. Which, pretty much, throws any chance of you using that method.

In that case you could route to a sound card on a second computer.

[Praxis]

Yeouch. Evil Microsoft. I'm definitely staying with AAC.

[Pu-239]

Gotta love DRM...can't even play files you buy and makes getting around that a real pain.

Anyway, I'd also suggest Line Out -> Line In, but the problem is that some sound cards actually have a DRM feature built in...to disable recording while a DRM file is being played. Which, pretty much, throws any chance of you using that method.

In that case you could route to a sound card on a second computer.

Is it theoretically possible to run WM9 within VMWare under Linux and do it that way?

Of course, some people would probably not bother breaking the DRM and will just download CD rips off of P2P- RIAA shooting self in foot.

[Durandal]

I have a bunch of files as WMAs from Musicmatch Jukebox, but the program does not support WMA -> MP3 conversion, iPOD only wants MP3s and the WMAs are DRM protected. HELP!

You're screwed. Buy your music from the iTunes Music Store; you get a much better deal anyway.

[Praxis]

Agreed.

AAC is convertible to MP3 and doesn't have as restrictive a DRM. It's also higher quality than WMA (most of the time anyway). And iTunes has the largest selection (700,000- Napster has 600,000- the next runner-up has 500,000) of songs.