[PixelPete17]

I just purchased about $30 worth of songs from iTunes (mostly worship tunes...I'm a Christian), but I didn't know anything about the "download preference" setting before I bought the music...sigh.

Now all my files are AAC (the default setting apparently), but I have a Creative Labs Muvo2 MP3 player...when I try to copy the songs over to the Muvo2, the song files don't even show on the desktop (all this is on WinXP by the way), so I guess that means that the Muvo can't play AAC...

How do I convert those purchased iTunes files to MP3 so I can work out to my new music? And if worst comes to worst and I can't convert them to MP3...then how I convert them to AIFF so I can burn them to CD and just use my portable CD player?

Thanks for any and all help, and no...I am NOT trying to break any kind of copy protection..I truly just messed up and don't want to waste a little over $30 on songs I can't play in the car or in the gym...

P.S. - I primarily am a mac guy (graphic designer), but for all my personal fun stuff kinda things (like this), I just use my pc as that's my gaming rig as well. My mac isn't even connected to the net, as it's also my profession and I just don't take any chances for viruses, hacking, stealing, etc.. So....just to remind anyone that reads this...please advise me on what to do from a WinXP perspective if you're familiar with both platforms like I am.

Thanks in advance to any and all help, I truly appreciate it,

PixelPete

[Chuckit]

iTunes can burn Protected AAC files you get from the iTunes Music Store onto a CD just like any other audio file.

[OptimusG4]

Originally posted by Chuckit:
iTunes can burn Protected AAC files you get from the iTunes Music Store onto a CD just like any other audio file.

To followup, once you burn the protected songs to CD, you can re-rip the songs into mp3 format and not have copy protection.

[PixelPete17]

I know I can burn AAC files to a CD..but won't that just be a CD filled with AAC files? I need a CD that holds AIFF files (for my car stereo or portable CD player).

Portable CD players and car stereos can't play AAC can they?

I have a portable CD player that must be about two years old, and my car stereo is a Pioneer something (the model after the unit that had the dolphins animation...anyone know that one?). Anyway...the car stereo doesn't have MP3 capability, so I think the only format it can support is good ol AIFF...right?

Thanks for the quick replies so far,

PixelPete

[f1000]

Originally posted by PixelPete17:
How do I convert those purchased iTunes files to MP3 so I can work out to my new music?

First, go to Preferences... / Encoding / Import Using and set it to MP3 Encoding.

Next, select the songs in your music library that you wish to convert from AAC to MP3.

Finally, go to the Advanced menu and choose Convert Selection to MP3 (You can also right click a song directly in the library to bring up a menu with the option to convert).


Note: I believe that any conversion from one lossy-compressed format to another will result in a loss in audio quality; thus, consider such a conversion as irreversible.

[f1000]

Originally posted by PixelPete17:
I know I can burn AAC files to a CD..but won't that just be a CD filled with AAC files? I need a CD that holds AIFF files (for my car stereo or portable CD player).

No, you can burn a CD as audio; iTunes will convert the output on the fly. Go to Preferences... / Burning and check the burning option you want.

Below is the iTunes help file:

Creating your own audio CDs

If your computer has an internal CD-RW drive or SuperDrive, you can make your own audio CDs containing the songs you add to a playlist. (Some external CD burners may also work with iTunes.) You can listen to the audio CDs you create in iTunes in most consumer CD players and on your computer.

iTunes converts the songs to standard audio files before writing them to the CD. You can fit about 74 minutes of music, or about 20 songs, on a 650 MB CD-R disc. Some discs allow 80 minutes (700 MB) of music.

• 1. Choose iTunes > Preferences, then click the Burning button at the top of the window.
  
  2. Choose Audio CD as the Disc Format.
  
  3. To have all the songs on the CD play at the same volume level, select the Sound Check checkbox.
  
  4. Click OK.
  
  5. Select the playlist you want to burn to the CD, then click the Burn Disc button. You can only burn a CD from the songs in a playlist. For instructions on creating a playlist, click "Tell me more."
  
  6. Insert a blank CD-R disc and click Burn Disc again.

If you plan to play the CD on a consumer CD player, you need to use a blank CD-R disc, not a CD-RW disc.

If the playlist contains more songs than will fit on the CD, iTunes will burn as many songs as will fit on one disc, and then ask you to insert another disc to continue burning the remaining songs. (You can see the size of the selected playlist at the bottom of the iTunes window.)

If the playlist contains any songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store, you can only burn the playlist seven times.

If the playlist includes Audible spoken word content with chapter markers, the chapters are burned as separate tracks.

It takes several minutes to burn an audio CD. You can cancel the burn by clicking the X next to the progress bar, but since you can use CD-R discs only once, you won't be able to use the CD after canceling.

[PixelPete17]

Thanks f1000.

Couple of thoughts...

The conversion from AAC to MP3 I don't think works...I'm pretty sure I tried that the other day and it gave me a message about "can't convert copy protected files...".

The CD method sounds promising, that sounds like it will work just fine for burning CDs for my car...thanks so much for that advice.

Now...is there any other way to go from AAC to MP3? I truly almost positive that I've already tried that method (I actually bought all that music about a week ago and currently I'm gone all day every day with jury duty so I haven't had much spare time to finally resolve this..). From what I remember though, your idea was the same as mine, and it didn't pan out...

Thanks again sincerely,

PixelPete

[f1000]

Read this,

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...30507104823670

That's about as much of a hint that I can give you without running afoul of Apple legal.

[PixelPete17]

I'll check it out tomorrow then...thx for another reply.

I'm off to sleep, as like I've said I've got jury duty tomorrow...I'm sure the link will help one way or another though..so thanks for your continued efforts to help me.

Sincerely,

PixelPete

[Thinine]

Just for clarification, songs bought from the iTunes Music Store are protected. Apple allows the burning of these songs to disc (both as AAC files and normal CD audio) but does not allow cross conversion (since this would remove the protection). So to use your Muvo2, you'd have to burn a normal audio CD and then reimport the tracks as MP3. Or you could just get an iPod.

[bmedina]

Do a search for "hymn movinup" on google if you want to save yourself from burning CDs you'll never use.

Gotta love the DMCA. Hopefully all this DRM crap will be sorted out soon, and we'll all be able to get back to making and enjoying music without all the extra hassle.

Apple allows the burning of these songs to disc (both as AAC files and normal CD audio) but does not allow cross conversion (since this would remove the protection).

Burning the songs to CD as normal audio also removes the protection, so that doesn't make sense.

[wataru]

Originally posted by bmedina:
Burning the songs to CD as normal audio also removes the protection, so that doesn't make sense.

No, it makes perfect sense. Burning to audio CD requires ripping, which is an extra, pain-in-the-ass step and, most importantly, it degrades the audio quality. There always has been and always will be the so-called "analog hole," but the recording industry has never cared because it's inherently lo-fi and inconvenient. Burning to Redbook audio CD and then ripping is exactly the same thing.

[AKcrab]

Originally posted by bmedina:
Do a search for "hymn movinup" on google if you want to save yourself from burning CDs you'll never use.

Doesn't that still require an iPod?

[wataru]

Originally posted by AKcrab:
Doesn't that still require an iPod?

Or a PC.

[AKcrab]

Originally posted by wataru:
Or a PC.

Oh, the irony...

I didn't know that, thanks.

[wataru]

Originally posted by AKcrab:
Oh, the irony...

I didn't know that, thanks.

I think Apple was better able to hide the encryption keys on the Mac, so that the only place the author was able to find them was on the iPod. Windows, I guess, is another story.

[Powaqqatsi]

Do yourself a favor: get rid of that MuVo and buy an iPod (mini)

[CatOne]

Originally posted by f1000:
First, go to Preferences... / Encoding / Import Using and set it to MP3 Encoding.

Next, select the songs in your music library that you wish to convert from AAC to MP3.

Finally, go to the Advanced menu and choose Convert Selection to MP3 (You can also right click a song directly in the library to bring up a menu with the option to convert).


Note: I believe that any conversion from one lossy-compressed format to another will result in a loss in audio quality; thus, consider such a conversion as irreversible.

That's not going to work with protected AAC files.

[bmedina]

Originally posted by Powaqqatsi:
Do yourself a favor: get rid of that MuVo and buy an iPod (mini)

Winner!

[PixelPete17]

"Do yourself a favor: get rid of that MuVo and buy an iPod (mini)"

no can do. Got the Muvo2 for free as I bought it just to rip the 4GB MD out for a digital camera. (the drive itself was $500 back then when I needed it) I just stuck a leftover 1GB MD in the Muvo2 and presto thankya bammo...intant free MP3 player.

Nowadays you can't do that MD-swap thing anymore...Creative has changed things too much.

I'm grateful to have it, and thanks to all of you as well for your help, this iTunes business is so cool I should've done it long ago. lol

PixelPete

[Angus_D]

http://www.hymn-project.org/ then you can convert them using iTunes.

[tooki]

Originally posted by PixelPete17:
I know I can burn AAC files to a CD..but won't that just be a CD filled with AAC files? I need a CD that holds AIFF files (for my car stereo or portable CD player).

Portable CD players and car stereos can't play AAC can they?

I have a portable CD player that must be about two years old, and my car stereo is a Pioneer something (the model after the unit that had the dolphins animation...anyone know that one?). Anyway...the car stereo doesn't have MP3 capability, so I think the only format it can support is good ol AIFF...right?

There are two broad categories of CDs (well, there are several other, but they're not relevant here): CD-ROMs (data CDs) and CD-DA (CD Digital audio; audio CDs). They physically encode the bytes differently.

An audio CD is not the same as a CD-ROM holding audio files. An audio CD is raw audio data stored on the disc with a minimum of error correction. A data CD can hold any type of file.

An audio CD does not contain files of any sort. Tracks are just markers dividing the continuous stream of raw digital audio data. Computers, as a matter of convenience, usually display audio CDs as if they were CD-ROMs with files, but it's an abstraction. (AIFF files also usually contain raw audio data.)

Any program that burns audio CDs should know how to convert files as needed. All the contemporary burning apps on the Mac certainly do. In iTunes, you can set in the preferences whether you wish to burn an audio CD or a CD-ROM containing audio files.

tooki

[Hal Itosis]

Originally posted by PixelPete17:
My mac isn't even connected to the net, as it's also my profession and I just don't take any chances for viruses, hacking, stealing, etc.

FWIW, virtually every question you asked here is already answered - and can be easily accessed offline - by simply launching iTunes, and going to the Help menu.

Originally posted by PixelPete17:
but I didn't know anything about the "download preference" setting before I bought the music...sigh. Now all my files are AAC (the default setting apparently)

As far as downloading music files with iTunes... that's the only setting possible. (In fact, there is no "setting" for downloads. We get exactly what Apple provides). The whole reason legal downloads came into existence in the first place is because of the DRM (digital 'restrictions' management) technology connected to the AAC format.

[Cory Bauer]

This is pretty much the same situation I just discovered.

When I purchased my iPod Mini a few months ago, I took the liberty of deleting my music collection and reimporting my songs from CD with the AAC format to make better use of the Mini's small capacity. The songs I had acquired by other means however remained MP3's.

I just got a new car whose stock stereo system plays MP3 CD's, and since I don't yet have a means of connecting my iPod Mini to the car, I thought I'd make use of iTunes MP3 CD capabilities. I made a playlist, and upon burning, I was greatly disappointed to see iTunes simply skip over any song that wasn't an MP3. Arg! I had merely assumed iTunes would convert the AAC's to MP3.

I guess it makes sense, considering the ability to convert AAC's to MP3's would completely defeat the copyright protection, but suddenly I find myself relying on my iPod as the only means of playing my music - and that's probably Apple's plan...

The least it could do is convert those songs which don't contain any DRM - the ones I imported from CD myself. That would be better than nothing.

[wataru]

Originally posted by Cory Bauer:
The least it could do is convert those songs which don't contain any DRM - the ones I imported from CD myself. That would be better than nothing.

It can.

But for the millionth time, that's a bad idea because you will lose even more sound quality.