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| Thread ID: 139501 | 2015-05-13 04:03:00 | looking for a simple free WMA to MP3 converter | PollyDana (17368) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1400568 | 2015-05-13 04:03:00 | Can anyone recommend a good, simple & free utility that can convert DRM protected WMA files to MP3? I have found a few, but they are all trial versions & will only convert the first few mins of a track. I am looking to just convert a few DRM WMA tracks into MP3 format so they can play on my Sansa player. Therefore, I don't want to purchase the whole software in order to convert only about 6 tracks. Any suggestions? |
PollyDana (17368) | ||
| 1400569 | 2015-05-13 04:26:00 | You'll be lucky if a free program will do it | Speedy Gonzales (78) | ||
| 1400570 | 2015-05-13 05:00:00 | Easiest way for free is to burn an audio CD and re-rip them. You can use a CD-RW and save some money also but for a 1 time deal a CD is less than $1. I think windows media player can do this but I've specifically avoided DRM WMA's so I can't be sure. Converting from one lossy codec to another is not Ideal, the result will be worse than if you ripped direct to MP3 from a CD. It's one of the reasons I have never purchased compressed audio online because although the original compressed file might sound fine to me it often doesn't after being converted. If the wma is a reasonably high bitrate though you probably won't notice, depends what you are used to and what you listen to it with. In the early days of MP3 & WMA I experimented quite a bit with bit rates and conversion to see what I could live with and settled on a bitrate I could live with. Codecs have improved since but I've stuck with it. For MP3 I was using a VBR of 160kbps but due to limitations of some encoders now use a CBR of 192 kbps. With WMA I tend to stick with the same even though it usually sounds ok to me down to 128 kbps. If you are going to convert between the two though I'd recommend a minimum of 192 kbps for the source or you may get poor results. Of course there are other more dodgy ways to aquire an MP3 of a song you already own :) |
dugimodo (138) | ||
| 1400571 | 2015-05-13 05:04:00 | If Windows media Player will play them, then try this, go to www.shedworx.com Get the free Version, click on the music Tab - Drag or open the File Location, click convert, then open the location its put it by clicking Show file. The free version does one at a time, to do batches you will need the pro. BUT if they are DRM, it may not do it, thats why I suggested if WMP can play them. If they were on a CD/Audio track thats easy to remove any DRM WMP can do that. |
wainuitech (129) | ||
| 1400572 | 2015-05-16 22:18:00 | Easiest way for free is to burn an audio CD and re-rip them. You can use a CD-RW and save some money also but for a 1 time deal a CD is less than $1. I think windows media player can do this but I've specifically avoided DRM WMA's so I can't be sure. You don't even need to do that! Programs like Nero (and I'm sure, many more) can write directly to an image file, which you can then mount on a virtual drive... |
Agent_24 (57) | ||
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