The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 3 (of 5)

ITunes And A Pocket PC

I was just wondering if anyone has come up with a solution to the whole ITunes AAC file format issue.

Anyone who doesn't know - when you purchase songs from ITunes they come down as a AAC file format which Windows Media Player does not understand. ITunes does not allow you to convert a song bought through their service to a generic MP3 format.

Basically, I can't play songs I bought from ITunes on my Pocket PC!!!!!! Has anyone heard anything about Pocket PC software that CAN play AAC files? (I would like to avoid burning a CD & then ripping it back to regular MP3 format it posible)

GenX'er
Tuesday, November 4, 2003

iTunes allows you to burn the downloaded music on CD. Once it's on CD, you can rip it to any format you desire.

Roel Schroeven
Tuesday, November 4, 2003

Why should I have to hack it up like that??? Also, why should I have to waste my CD's - I paid for the downloaded songs didn't I?

If this is going to be how it is I will not participate any more. This is silly and moronic!!!!!!

GenX'er
Tuesday, November 4, 2003

If you bought the songs with iTunes on the Pocket PC why can't you just use iTunes to play them?

Anonymous
Tuesday, November 4, 2003

There is no version of iTunes for the Pocket PC.

I bought the songs with iTunes on my XP Workstation - but I can't convert them to MP3 to play on the Pocket PC - Apple doesn't let you. Windows Media player will not play Apple's format so I can't play the iTune files on my Pocket PC either.

Understand the situation?

GenX'er
Tuesday, November 4, 2003

There are AAC to WMA engines out there that will convert for you. There are similar engines for AAC to MP3.

Be aware that changing from one lossy codec to another lossy codec will furthere reduce the quality of the audio.

Lou
Tuesday, November 4, 2003

If only the RIAA would allow one of these new music download services popping up to just allow plain mp3 downloads!

Doing that would immediately eliminate the number one complaint I always see about these services.. the songs come in a proprietary format with weird DRM restrictions.

They need to realize.. they're not the only way to get music on the Internet. If somebody's using them instead of Kazaa in the first place, they're not the sort of person the RIAA should be worried about sharing their music. Just give it to them as a frickin' mp3 and let them be happy!

As it is now, I use itunes to search for new music and then if I find something I like, I switch over to Kazaa and download it as an mp3. Takes probably 30 more seconds, and I know I have that song forever and can listen to it on any digital music device ever. Honestly, I'd pay the 99c if it was just an mp3!

Josh No-Spam Jones
Tuesday, November 4, 2003

Uh, why didn't you check what format iTunes music comes in before signing up? It's just knowing what you're buying before you buy it. The iTunes store has been out for 6 months now, any articles reviewing it would have mentioned what format it's in (even if it was just Mac-only until recently).

Do you think Apple would actually bother with the expense of porting over iTunes to Windows and have people use players other than iPods for it ?

abe
Tuesday, November 4, 2003

The iTunes Music Store files are encrypted, so an AAC to MP3 converter won't help. If you'd like to be able to play your iTunes songs on your Pocket PC, then you'll have to either burn them to CD and re-rip as MP3, or wait until (if) Apple releases a version of iTunes for the Pocket PC platform.

Actually, burning the songs to a regular audio CD as soon as you buy them is a pretty good idea, in any case. That gives you a good backup if you lose the original files.

-Mark

Mark Bessey
Tuesday, November 4, 2003

We used to rip CDs to make backups of our music. Now we burn CDs to make backups of our music.

:-)

runtime
Tuesday, November 4, 2003

I don't think you can convert tunes that you BOUGHT from the iTunes Store over to MP3 and play them on your pocket PC. Apple doesn't make money on music sales from the iTunes store; it makes money on sales of the iPod.

On the other hand, if you rip tracks from your own CDs and store them in your iTunes library, iTunes lets you easily convert them to whatever format you want -- MP3, AAC, AIFF, or WAV. This works far better than the Windows Media Player, which I find almost completely useless as a tool for managing my music files.

Brad
Tuesday, November 4, 2003

Dude, are you blind? The only way Apple managed to get the licensing from all 5 big labels is exactly BECAUSE they aren't offering MP3s. If iTunes did what u wanted it to do, the big 5 would have ALL walked right away from the bargaining table. This is why iTunes is such a huge freaking success, it's BECAUSE they don't deal in MP3s. You're lucky you can hack around it! I'm a musician and while I despise the labels more than anyone how could I ever have a recording career if no-one ever paid for my music?

dj lupo
Tuesday, November 4, 2003

(That post was a reply to the original post... :)

dj lupo
Tuesday, November 4, 2003

I've heard there are utilities on the Mac platform that allow one to transfer iTunes purchased music to other formats. I haven't had cause to use them as I have an iPod so the format isn't a problem.

As for iTunes and other formats not using MP3s, they need to have DRM or the industries won't sign off on it.

Lou
Tuesday, November 4, 2003

I came to you guys looking for an answer to the i-tunes to pocket pc problem, and it seems I run across a little utility y'all haven't mentioned here. Sync software for the Mac OS called the Missing Link. So If you have a friend with Mac, you can use i-tunes for Windows, email downloads, sync from the with pocket pc and play them in Windows Media on pocket pc. (Presumably, haven't tried yet because I haven't gotten desperate). Skip the cd waste, and you probably needed to see that friend more often anyway :) Maybe if pocket pc Windows Media can play the songs, they can be uploaded into desktop?

Eva Pintor
Sunday, February 22, 2004

I agree that I'd like to be able to convert them more easily. However, burning/ripping is probably the only way, as I'm not going to take the chance of messing things up (with buggy windoze) with the Missing Link...

But if you're worried about wasting CD's, get an RW... Anyway there's another post here that's similar...

http://www.aximusers.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2799&st=0&

Chris K
Monday, March 15, 2004

There are a number of free AAC (and ogg when you are searching) audio players for the pocket pc. I live in Australia so i cant use iTunes store and test it for you, but I am sure that at least one of them will have an 'ignore drm' style setting. Go through and try them.

Also, myTunes (get it from softpedia/softpile) has proved that the drm on aac files can be removed (kinda), have a look at it too.

Rova
Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Have a look at this article too:
http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2003/11/20031122001549.shtml

Rova
Tuesday, March 16, 2004