Itunes/Itunes store compatibility

morbus · #1 (**permalink**) 30th Jan 2007, 11:16 pm

Full Metal Platinum mv0blk2048mp042 from Uxcell.com.

I've been wearing holes in my sony discman for ages now and decided that it was about time to migrate to the world of mp3/mp4 players (can't fit the discman in my shirt pocket). Catch is I've been purchasing most of my music online from itunes then burning cd's to play on the discman. Turns out (far as I can tell) the parcticular mp3/4 player I bought doesn't acknowlege the music I bought from itunes.

Is there any way to convert them (I'm assuming at this point it's incompatible format and praying it's not some godawful security thing) so that they will play on the mp3 player?

tadad1 · #2 (**permalink**) 30th Jan 2007, 11:34 pm

You may find some help here:
http://hymn-project.org/

lattesurf · #3 (**permalink**) 30th Jan 2007, 11:41 pm

morbus , those mp3s purchased off itunes, walmart, etc are DRM-encoded (Digital Rights Management). It simply means these files can only play on 1 computer or player, or unless you purchase additional copyrights.

To re-encode them should be illegal in US, and most parts of the world. It's a sort of "reverse-engineering" and removing the DRM illegally.

There are encoders to re-encode DRM mp3 files into normal mp3 files. You should be able to find them in download.com. However, i've not used DRM mp3 files before so i'm not sure if these encoders would work or not.

admin · #4 (**permalink**) 31st Jan 2007, 12:04 am

That situation puzzles me.

I mean, if you BOUGHT that music already then why can't you play it on another music device instead? If you bought the digital content, why can't you play it on another digital player that you own?

What if you bought a CD, does that mean you can only play it on only ONE CD player?

morbus · #5 (**permalink**) 31st Jan 2007, 12:04 am

Lovely, so if I'm reading that response right, making the purchased music useable on my mp3 player sounds roughly as illegal as the old napster or kazaa (lol that's what I get for trying to be good).

Allright, thanks for the lightning responses guys, think I'll try the new napster or that music store on windows media player and see if my device is compatible there.

admin · #6 (**permalink**) 31st Jan 2007, 12:07 am

morbus

If you can convert it to a CD, why can't you reconvert it back to an MP3 instead? Hopefully by converting it to CD, it will remove the restrictions and using a CD ripper, you should be able to re-encode it back to MP3 instead? It's merely an idea.....

morbus · #7 (**permalink**) 31st Jan 2007, 12:09 am

oh crap, good idea, I'll give that a crack and see if it works, I know I can make cds with it all day long

lattesurf · #8 (**permalink**) 31st Jan 2007, 1:01 am

That's the issue with the copyright thingy.

If you own the CD, you only purchase the right to listen it from the CD itself.

Quote within wikipedia from RIAA:
The RIAA takes a broad view about what constitutes copyright infringement. In 2006, the RIAA claimed that ripping CDs and backing them up does not constitute fair use, because tracks from ripped CDs do not maintain the controversial DRM to protect the music file from copyright infringement. They argue that there is no evidence that any of the relevant media are "unusually subject to damage" and that "even if CDs do become damaged, replacements are readily available at affordable prices."

So legally if you own a CD, and you want to put the music into an MP3 player, you'll need to purchase the same mp3 with DRM for the player itself.

Kind of dumb. But personally i feel if you bought the CD itself, you should be fine ripping it into mp3s as long as it is for your own personal use and not distributing it.