Music File Format Conversions

[thomas__hb]

Can anyone recommend a free file format converter for converting WMA to MP3 (vice versa) and both of those to AAC (and vice versa again)

Thanks,

[Force Flow]

Here's some threads on WMA & MP3:

http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.p...threadid=90589
http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.p...threadid=96011
http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.p...threadid=97415

As for AAC, I'm not familiar with the format. What is it for?

[RayH]

Those ACC formats are hard. They seem to have some sort of digital right protection. As far as I know, you burn them to CD and rip them or just record them as analog from the sound card!

[SonicVanguard]

iTunes can convert mp3 to AAC and AAC to mp3.

AAC can have DRM encoded into the file -- anything downloaded from iTunes in fact has DRM. But if you convert from mp3 to AAC, no DRM is attached.

Dave.

[Jeff Lam]

Is there a one step process to convert AAC to MP3? I use Itunes but my car cd/MP3 player doesn't read AAC. They need to be MP3 to play in the stereo. What's the easiest way to do this without loosing audio quality?

[Mac Medic]

To convert un-protected AAC to MP3, use itunes. It will do the conversion for you.

In itunes preferences, change your import settings to the desired format (ie, MP3, 160 etc).

Then, in the itunes music library, choose the songs you want to convert, right click and choose "import as MP3". This will create a new MP3 file for those songs, leaving the AAC file intact too.

To distinguish between the AAC files and the MP3 files, either sort the files by date (the newer files being the recently created MP3 files) or set up a smart playlist where "kind" "contains" "MP3".

[Jeff Lam]

What if they are downloaded from itunes?

[SonicVanguard]

Originally posted by Jeff Lam What if they are downloaded from itunes?

They are protected AAC files and cannot be directly converted - they have a DRM embedded.

What you can do is burn a audio CD using iTunes and the AAC encoded files. Then rip that CD using CDex or something other than iTunes (iTunes will recognize it as matching a burned playlist). And there are your mp3'.

And before you ask - no, there isn't an easier way. And no, there isn't any other program that can take DMR encoded AAC files and do anything with them. That's the life of using iTunes.

Dave.