Do any of you have something like this (an m4a to mp3 file converter)? I want to make an mp3 DVD, but cannot do that with the iTunes DVD ripper. So I want to convert all my iTunes protected files to mp3 files so I can make a few large DVD’s for playing on my stereo. Thanks for the help!
I’m pretty sure there’s one out there, but I’ve never bothered to look into it because I just have iTunes rip in .mp3 format, and I only ever “buy” the free songs they offer every week which usually suck. Here’s one that I found in 30 seconds of googling, not sure how good it is, but there are programs out there.
A roundabout way, however, would be to burn a CD (you may be able to just “burn” a CD image) of the various songs, and then rip the CD right back in .mp3 format. Long, tedious and wasting a perfectly good CD-R, yes, but it’ll definitely work, and aside from the CD-R, it’s free.
Yea SK. I’d seen that and shied away since the description seems a little inprofessional. There’s another one out there, but it re-records as you play the music files only.
I’m actually doing the “burning and reloading” now, but it’s a major pain in the ass and a waste of CD’s, since my whole purpose it to make a mp3 DVD. Stupid DRM.
m4a != m4p
m4a is generic, no-DRM cruft AAC MPEG
m4p is Apple’s iTunes/Fairplay DRM files (that’s just an FYI, not trying to be a cock).
You might check out jHymn, which should allow you to strip the DRM. After that there should something out there that lets you convert non-DRM AAC to MP3. You’ll experience a loss in quality transcoding like that, but it’s not illegal or anything (you did the illegal thing by stripping the DRM).
I’ve been considering this move myself. I rip and download most of my music in AAC, which is fine for me since I use an iPod, but it has started to lock me into the Apple platform (nobody else supports AAC, really, except Apple) and while I still think the iPod is the bee’s knees, choice is better.
If you find a good transcoding app I’d love to hear about it.
db Power Amp Music Converter could do the transcoding once the DRM was removed.
I use iOpener, which is another Hymn variant to unlock the encrypted files. And, as suggested, used dbPowerAmp to transcode the file to MP3.
I have dug around a bit before and almost everything is more work that simply burning an audio cd with Itunes, and then ripping that same audio cd with Itunes!
That is a bit of work but the MP3s you get are just normal MP3s.
Since you can use a CD-RW for making the audio cd it is a free solution, but it is a bit of work.
The thing is, if you burn and re-rip, you’re still losing quality to an already rather limited constant bitrate audio file.
Transcoding preserves what quality is there.
Duaility you hit the nail on the head. Playback Quality is my #1 concern. Does your method retain the original quality?
Transcoding a compressed format to another compressed format is always going to result in some loss of quality, but you might not notice it.
Since it’s directly relevant and since I want to join in on the whole thread-resurrection PITA myself, I thought I’d post this here.
If you do this, do not - do not - under any circumstances stop with the M4A, unless you’re still running iTunes 4.6. 4.7 will refuse to play iOpened files, and to add insult to injury, Apple will only let you download each file once, so if you throw away your original encrypted files, you’re SOL until you transcode to MP3s (which for some transcoders will remove the ID information) or go dig up a copy of 4.6 from the 'Net. I just went through this myself and my chosen solution is to never ever lose my iTunes 4.6 download again.
Hell, even if you have a hard drive crash on your own, you’re SOL unless you kept a backup. This is why I want to gradually replace all the iTunes content with original, old-fashioned CDs, and why I’m not buying any more.