Switch iTunes and WMAs from Windows to Mac

Source from www.makeuseof.com  by Jackson Chung

Switching over from Windows to Mac is relatively painless because Mac has support for a lot of commonly used files like Microsoft Word documents, Powerpoint slideshows and Adobe PDF files. So, compatibility is hardly an issue. One thing which you do have to take note of however while switching over to Mac is your iTunes library.

iTunes for Windows is built with Windows Media Audio (WMA) support – it is able to play and convert WMAs. However, because WMA is a proprietary codec, it isn’t available in iTunes for Mac. If you’re not careful, you’ll be left with a lot of WMAs which will be unplayable on your Mac.

Before we start, I would like to mention that this tutorial was written under the assumption that you are running the latest version of iTunes ( iTunes 8 ) on both your Windows and Mac. Please update before proceeding to avoid any complications which may arise.

The easiest way to dodge this problem is to convert all the WMAs you have while you’re still on your Windows machine. In your iTunes General preferences, under ‘Import settings’, make sure to have AAC or MP3 selected. Configure the bit rate if you like but because you will be converting from one lossy codec to another, there’s bound to be a profound loss in quality.

While you’re still in Preferences, go over to ‘Advanced settings’ and check “Keep iTunes Music folder organized”.

Now you’re ready to convert all of your WMAs into the codec you’ve just selected. To do this, control-select your WMAs, right-click on one and choose “Convert Selection to xxx” (Where xxx is either AAC or MP3). After the conversion is complete, you may choose to delete the WMA copies if you like. Then, consolidate your library from the ‘File>Library’ menu. This will ensure that all the songs in your library are copied and organized into the iTunes Music folder. Normally, it’s located in “My Documents/Music”.

Now, you’re ready to bring that iTunes Music folder over to your Mac. Place it on your Mac desktop.

If you haven’t already, run iTunes on your Mac for the first time. You’ll be prompted with the initial welcome setup procedure. When it asks to search your drive for music files, make sure to decline. At the end, you’ll be presented with a fresh, empty iTunes library. Now, quit iTunes. By default, it would have already set up its own iTunes Music folder located in ~/Music. Go over to this location and delete the iTunes folder then copy and paste your iTunes Music folder from the desktop into it (the one which you have just brought over from your Windows computer). After all this is done, launch iTunes and you’ll be rewarded with your old, personalized iTunes library.

Another method of dealing with the whole WMA malarky is to get an audio converter. The first one which comes to mind is EasyWMA which isn’t free but very popular. A little hidden gem is Switch for Mac. It is capable of converting WMA to many other audio formats compatible with iTunes.

Switch is also available for Windows so you’ll have the convenience of converting your songs before making the switch over to Mac, if you prefer.

And here, I would also recommend using TuneClone Audio Converter, which can be used to either convert M4P(protected AAC), M4B and M4A music songs to MP3, WAV, unprotected WMA or convert both protected and unprotected WMAs to MP3. Not free, but well worth a shot if you have lots of WMAs ready to be switched to Mac.

How to convert iTunes 8 protected AAC(M4P) music to MP3 with TuneClone

More than two months ago, I wrote a tutorial entitled How to convert DRM protected iTunes M4P music songs to MP3. In that post, I introduced two ways to convert iTunes M4P (protected AAC) music to MP3. With the release of Apple iTunes 8, the second method of converting iTunes M4P music to MP3 with TuneClone isn’t applicable. So, I’d like to post the step by step tutorial about how to convert iTunes 8 protected AAC or say M4P music to MP3 with TuneClone here:

1. Download TuneClone from http://www.tuneclone.com and install it.

TuneClone is fully compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vista. A virtual CD drive will be installed. This virtual CD-RW will be used to convert music files.

2. Make settings in TuneClone

Click the “Settings” button at TuneClone. In the pop-up window, you can specify the “output folder”, “output filenames”, “output format”, etc. for the output files.

Note: Apart from MP3, TuneClone also allows you to convert iTunes M4P to WAV and unprotected WMA.
Tip: You can get the output protection removed music folder by clicking the “Folder” button after the whole process.

3. Make settings in iTunes 8

Create a playlist, and then add the files you want to convert into the playlist.

After you have created the playlist ready to be burnt, click the “Burn Disc” in the bottom right of iTunes.

In the pop up window of “Burn Settings”, make the settings as highlighted below:

4. Start to burn

Click the “Burn” button to start burning.

After the burning gets started, TuneClone will automatically convert the music file to MP3, WMA or WAV. You can open the manager screen to show all the converted music files.

The most important step is to choose the CD burner. Then the software can convert the music files automatically. It is exceedingly easy when you want to batch convert lots of files.

You may also show interest in:

How to convert DRM protected iTunes M4P music songs to MP3
How to strip DRM off iTunes music on Windows and Mac
TuneClone V1.20 download

How to strip DRM off iTunes music on Windows and Mac

There are many ways to remove DRM (short for Digital Rights Management) protection from iTunes music. On Windows OS, you can remove the iTunes DRM using the burn-and-rip method or you can turn to programs like TuneClone and Protected Music Converter. On Mac OS X, iMovie is the perfect solution to removing DRM protection from iTunes music. Besides, freewares like FairGame is also a pretty good choice. So this article is dedicated to introducing several methods of removing the nasty DRM from iTunes music on Windows and Mac OS X. It is divided into the following four parts:

Part 1. Remove DRM from iTunes music on Windows with burn-and-rip method

->Insert a CD-R or CD-RW disc into your CD-ROM drive. You’d better use CD-RW disc as it can be used for more than once.
->Burn your playlist to make an audio CD. You cannot select the “MP3 CD” option since it requires the protected music files be converted to unprotected MP3 files.
->After the audio CD is successfully burned, insert the disc into your CD-ROM drive again. Then you can use iTunes to import the music tracks on the burned disc to MP3 files.

Part 2. Remove DRM from iTunes music on Windows with TuneClone

Note: If you are using iTunes 8.0 or above, please skip to this tutorial using TuneClone and iTunes 8:
http://itunesm4ptomp3.wordpress.com/2008/09/16/convert-itunes8-music-to-mp3/

->Download TuneClone from http://www.tuneclone.com and install it.

It is fully compatible with Windows XP and Vista. A virtual CD Burner will be installed. This virtual CD-RW will be used to convert music files.

->Set the default CD Burner to TuneClon CD-RW at iTunes.

Click menu “Edit”, select menu item “Preferences…”, and then select “Advanced Tab”. In order to keep the artist and title information of the music, the “Include CD Text” option should be checked.

->Create a playlist, and then add the files you want to convert into the playlist.

->Click “Burn Disc” button at the bottom right of the main screen of iTunes.

While the burning gets started, TuneClone will automatically convert the music file to MP3, WMA or WAV. You can open the manager screen to show all the converted music files.

The most important step is to choose the cd burner. Then the software can convert the music files automatically. It is exceedingly easy when you want to batch convert lots of files.

Apart from TuneClone, you can also use other DRM Stripper tools to help you remove DRM from iTunes music. Here is the detailed review for other four DRM Removal software tools (on Windows OS) for your reference.

Part 3. Remove DRM from iTunes music on Mac OS X with iMovie

In the iMovie window, select the ‘Media’ tab located between ‘Themes’ and ‘Editing’. You will notice that the top right portion of the interface now offers a media browser. Select the ‘Audio’ tab and locate the playlist which contains purchased music, or search by artist/title.

Select the DRM-laden song and drag the file from the media browser into the iMovie timeline where it says “Drag audio here to build your project.”

In order to export the song, iMovie requires that a visual image be associated with the audio track – “iMovie thinks that it is going to be exporting a movie”. Simply drag a blank image (or any other image) to the track above the previously imported audio file. Once iMovie has processed the image, select the ‘Share…’ sub menu item from found inside ‘Share’ in iMovie’s menu bar.

Ensure that ‘Expert Settings’ is selected in the “Compress movie for:” drop-down menu. Selecting ‘Expert Settings’ mode will provide the options to export the file as an audio file. Select the ‘Share’ button.

In the Save as… dialogue, select “Sound to AIFF” in the Export drop-down menu, Choose an appropriate directory for iMovie to export to, title the file, and select ‘Save’. Depending on your machine configuration, iMovie will compress and export the movie project as an audio file in 15-40 seconds.

Locate the exported AIFF audio file and drag to your iTunes Library. Right-click on the file and select “Convert Selection to AAC”. Once completed, ‘Get Info’ on the new file, edit meta data, add album art, and trash the originally purchased and AIFF audio files from your iTunes library.

Part 4. Remove DRM from iTunes music on Mac OS X with FairGame

FairGame is freeware to remove DRM protection from iTunes music on Mac OS X. It will convert the DRMed songs you bought on the iTunes Store to an unprotected format (using iTunes default encoder) and keep all the original metadata, lyrics and artwork. FairGame doesn’t do lossless DRM stripping. It re-encodes protected AAC files purchased in iTMS into unprotected AAC file using Apple’s iMovie software.

What you MUST DO (only once) to get FairGame to work:

• enable “Access for assistive devices” in the “Universal Access” system preference
• select “Place clip in Movie Timeline” in the “Import” preference of iMovie HD

Then you can simply:

• select some songs in iTunes
• click on the “Process songs” button

Don’t touch anything and wait until it’s done…(FairGame is scripting iMovie’s interface to process the songs, don’t interfere)

You may also have interest in:

How to convert DRM protected iTunes M4P music songs to MP3
How to transfer iTunes M4P music playlist to Zune WMA MP3
How to share iTunes DRM locked music with Facebook friends
How to convert iTunes M4P to BlackBerry
How to transfer iTunes DRMed music to Sony PSP
How to import iTunes M4P to Windows Movie Maker project

TuneClone V1.20 download

TuneClone V1.20 was released on September 3, 2008!

TuneClone V1.20 is a powerful DRM cracker and music converter for unlocking iTunes DRMed M4P music and protected WMA music and converting M4P, M4A, M4B, WMA to MP3, WAV and unprotected WMA.

TuneClone V1.20 allows you to remove DRM protection from purchased music files by applying the virtual CD burning technology. It strips the DRM from protected iTunes M4P or protected WMA so as to help you enjoy DRM-laden music on media players or MP3 players like Microsoft Zune, Sony PSP, BlackBerry, Creative Zune, iriver, SanDisk Sansa, Sony Walkman, Cell Phone(Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia N-series, Samsung Anycall, LG, etc.) Pocket PC, PDA and so on.

TuneClone V1.20 also lets you virtually burn music files with media player software like iTunes, Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, WinAMP, etc.

Key features of TuneClone V1.20: http://www.tuneclone.com

1. TuneClone V1.20 is easy to install and easy to use via a simple user interface.

2. TuneClone V1.20 converts DRM protected music and movie files and various audio/video files to MP3, WAV and unprotected WMA at very high speed with very nice CD quality.
 
3. TuneClone V1.20 easily and quickly removes DRM from purchased music files by applying the virtual CD burning technology. Compared with using real CD-R or CD-RW disc, the virtual CD burning uses the maximum writing speed so that your music files can be converted at a very high speed.

4. TuneClone V1.20 supports converting protected music for playback on all kinds of MP3 players like Zune, PSP, BlackBerry, Creative Zen, iriver, Walkman, etc.

5. TuneClone V1.20 enables you to virtually burn music files with iTunes, Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, WinAMP and so on.

6. TuneClone V1.20 is specially designed for batch converting large song collections.

7. TuneClone V1.20 well preserves ID3 tags for artist, album, title names, artworks, etc.

8. With TuneClone V1.20, the converted songs will have no DRM restriction any more.

Availability

More information about TuneClone V1.20 is available at http://www.tuneclone.com/ . You can free download TuneClone V1.20 via http://www.tuneclone.com/tuneclone_setup.exe for a try. The full version of TuneClone V1.20 costs USD 34.95. If you have questions about or show interest in TuneClone V1.20, please feel free to contact its support team via support@tuneclone.com

How to transfer iTunes M4P music to BlackBerry Pearl and BlackBerry Storm

One of the great new features I am starting to enjoy on my BlackBerry is the ability for it to play multimedia files and specifically audio (music).

And below are the formats supported by BlackBerry Pearl and BlackBerry Storm:

For BlackBerry Pearl:

  ACC - audio compression formats AAC, AAC+, and EAAC+
  AMR – Adaptive Multi Rate-Narrow Band (AMR-NB) speech coder standard (Supported AMR-NB rates are 4.75 KBps, 5.15 KBps, 5.9 KBps, 6.7 KBps, 7.4 KBps, 7.95 KBps, 10.2 KBps, and 12.2 KBps)
AMR files must conform to the standards specified in Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comments (RFC) document RFC3267, Section 5, on the the Internet RFC Archive web site.
  MIDI – Polyphonic MIDI (.mid, .midi, or .smf)
  MP3 – encoded using MPEG Part 1 and Part 2 audio layer 3 (Supported sample rates are 16Khz, 22.050Khz, 24Khz, 32Khz, 44.1Khz and 48Khz.)
  WAV – supports sample rates of 8 kHz, 16 kHz, 22.05 kHz, 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz, and 48 kHz with 8-bit and 16-bit depths in mono or stereo (Supports WAV files created using audio codec GSM6.10.)

For BlackBerry Storm:

Video format support: MPEG4 H.263, MPEG4 Part 2 Simple Profile, H.264, WMV
Audio format support: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, WMA ProPlus

However, I bet there are not a few people who’d like to enjoy music songs from iTunes on their BlackBerry phones. What frustrates them most is the fact that the iTunes tracks they purchased or downloaded are in a “protected” AAC or M4P audio format and they are unable to play them beyond iTunes environment. The DRM-ed iTunes music songs are not recognized by BlackBerry devices at all. 

Never give up, anyway! The post I previously wrote How to convert DRM protected iTunes M4P music songs to MP3 is right there helping you get rid of the headache. You can choose either the burn-and-rip method or that of using TuneClone Audio Converter elaborated in that post.

After you get the output MP3 files (actually you can also output M4P to WAV), you can now begin to transfer them to your BlackBerry:

1. Connect your Blackberry to you computer via the USB cable.
2. If you have properly enabled your Blackberry as a Mass Storage Device, your Blackberry’s microSD card will show as a removable drive on your computer. For this guide, it happens to be on “Removable Disk” G:. Double-Click.
3. Double-click on the Blackberry folder
4. Double-click on the music folder
5. The folder should be empty.
6. Copy your music files to your Blackberry. Depending on the size, transfer time may vary.
7. Disconnect your Blackberry from the USB cable and go to the Multimedia icon on you Blackberry. You need to disconnect when you use the Mass Storage device method as it disables direct access from the Blackberry when connected to the PC via the USB cable.
8. Click on the Music icon.
9. Click on the Media Card folder
10. Select your Music folder
11. Select your Song
12. Play your music and enjoy!

Done.