itunes m4a to wmp help

purplecatlover

i think transcoding is beyond me, i have read that wikki article 3 times and am still no clearer to exactly what it is lol. thanks though.

j davies, does that deffinitly convert form m4a (itunes) to wma or mp3 as i cant see on their conversion table that it does? thanks though.

-TangleFoot-

Apparently, files with the .m4a extension are just MP4 files in disguise.

The existence of two different file extensions for naming audio-only MP4 files has been a source of confusion among users and multimedia playback software. Since MPEG-4 is a container format, MP4 files may contain any number of audio, video, and even subtitle streams, making it impossible to guess what type of streams are present in a MP4 file based on its filename extension alone. In response, Apple Computer started using and popularizing the .m4a file extension. Software capable of audio/video playback should recognize files with either .m4a or .mp4 file extensions, as would be expected, as there are no file format differences between the two. Most software capable of creating MPEG-4 audio will allow the user to choose the filename extension of the created MPEG-4 files.

So, supposedly you could use something like MediaCoder to convert them into MP3 files...

username

purplecatlover wrote:

i think transcoding is beyond me, i have read that wikki article 3 times and am still no clearer to exactly what it is lol. thanks though.

j davies, does that deffinitly convert form m4a (itunes) to wma or mp3 as i cant see on their conversion table that it does? thanks though.

In short, transcoding is the process of making audio quality more s**t whilst changing from lossy (i.e. MP3, WMA, MP4) formats and therefore should be avoided unless you have cloth ears.

Semi technical explanation: -

MP3, WMA and MP4 are lossy formats. This means that when you rip from the CD (PCM audio; i.e. the original sounding audio with everything in) parts of the original audio get chucked away to make the file smaller (hence the name). Converting between lossy formats (i.e. changing MP4s to MP3s in your case) will result in more audio quality being chucked away.

Crap analogy time. Let's say you drive your car down a narrow lane and there's some prickly bushes by the road that scrape the paint off your car at the sides. The paint is your audio and bushes are the MP3 convertor. You exit the narrow lane with the bushes in - some bits of the paint are still there, but the quality is not what it once was. That's like what MP3s do to the original CD quality audio.

Transcoding is the act of taking your already bashed up car and driving it down another different narrow lane of a different name with a different set of bushes that still scrape whatever paint is left on the car. When you exit this lane, the paint will be gone even further and so will the quality of your audio.

Moral of the story. Avoid transcoding and if you want to change to a different format, always start by ripping afresh from the CDs (i.e. get your car resprayed and drag it through the different lane with bushes ).

purplecatlover

thanks people

but i am no nearer to understanding any of this or being able to get things converted to mp3. my media burning software program cant find the itunes files, despite the fact that they are stored on my harddrive as well as in itunes. i can convert them to mp3 susposedly in itunes, but when i do that i cant do anything with it and i dont know how to find out which is the mp3 version and which the ordinary version.
i need a itunes for complete dummys guide.

i guess tomorrow ill attempt making mp3 cds from itunes the reload them all onto the computer through wmp unless anyone can come up with a simple way to get the same result or can point me to a step by step for technophobes guide lol

will that mediacoder take them out of itunes to convert them? i really dont want to download yet more stuff i wont understand how to use if i dont have to and i dont want to download stuff unless i am sure it will work. (i havent got recovery discs yet)

patwa_2

I use dbPowerAmp converter with all of its many plugins. It converts nearly every type of audio file and also does batches. Can't recommend it highly enough, and a must for every audiophile.

Phantom_Flan_Flinger

purplecatlover wrote:

i am no nearer to understanding any of this or being able to get things converted to mp3. my media burning software program cant find the itunes files, despite the fact that they are stored on my harddrive as well as in itunes. i can convert them to mp3 susposedly in itunes, but when i do that i cant do anything with it and i dont know how to find out which is the mp3 version and which the ordinary version.

The converted tracks should be in here somewhere -

C:\Documents and Settings\yourname\My Documents\My Music\iTunes

The symbols beside each track should tell you what they are. If you right click the folder and Arrange icons by type theyshould all be listed together. Right click on a music file and click Properties to see what type of music file it is.

purplecatlover

thanks for all the help everyone, i sorte dit by burniong them to mp3 data dvd and then playing in wmp.