What is WMA? How to Convert WMA to MP3?

What is WMA?

WMA stands for Windows Media Audio. A proprietary audio format owned by Microsoft, part of Microsoft’s Windows Media technology. Encapsulated in an ASF container, WMA has one ability that seems to attract more and more businesses and allows this format to stick around. That’s the easy inclusion of DRM or Digital Rights Management directly into the WMA file. This ASF container also gives the WMA two file options. (.wma for strictly audio and .asf for features simliar to ID3 tags in MP3s).

The following article shares with you how to convert WMA to MP3 using Clone2Go Free Audio Converter. In the latter part of this article, a way to convert DRM protected WMA to MP3 will also be introduced. Let’s take a look at how it performs:

How to Convert WMA to MP3?

Step 1. Download and Install Clone2Go Free Audio Converter

Download the latest version of Free Audio Converter. Install and run it.

Step 2. Add WMA File

Click the “Add Media Files” button to import WMA files. Alternatively, you can click “File -> Add Media Files…” to add WMA files. You can also directly drag and drop WMA files to left panel of the program.

Step 3. Choose MP3 as Output Format

From the “Profile” drop-down list, choose “MP3 – MPEG Layer-3 Audio (*.mp3)” as the output format.

Step 4. Start Converting WMA to MP3

Click the “Start Encode” button to start to convert WMA to MP3.

Note: This Free Audio Converter cannot help you convert protected WMA to MP3. If you want to convert DRM protected WMA to MP3, you will need to get a DRM removal to help you. Here, I would recommend using TuneClone Audio Converter, which adopts the smart virtual CD burning technology to remove the DRM from protected WMA music files. Below is the screenshot of this program:

Here is the guide link of how to convert DRM protected WMA to MP3 using TuneClone.

Source from http://www.clone2go.com/tutorials/how-to-convert-wma-to-mp3.php

How to convert Napster music wma to mp3

In the following guide, I’d like to share with you how to remove DRM from Napster music and convert Napster music WMA to MP3 using TuneClone Audio Converter.

Before getting started, please take note that TuneClone simulates the process of burning a CD disc and ripping it back. In order to get TuneClone to work, you need to purchase the music tracks from Napster to get the full burning right first. If you only subscribe music from Napster, you won’t be able to use TuneClone properly.

1. Download and install TuneClone

2. Create a new playlist in Napster

Under “My Playlists”, click the “New Playlist” button to create a new playlist. Drag and drop to the playlist the music you are going to burn from your Napster Library.

3. Make CD burning settings in Napster

Click “Tools”, and select “Preference…” from the drop-down list. In the left panel of “Options”, navigate to “CD Options”. Then choose TuneClon Virtual_CD-RW as the preferred CD burner.

Note: Please tick “Burn CD Text” to preserve the metadata of the music.

4. Start to burn

Click the “Burn Disk” button to start the burning and encoding process.

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

M4P converter – convert protected AAC to MP3 WAV WMA

Are you annoyed by iTunes DRM? Do you want to remove it because you want to play the iTunes music on non-Apple MP3 players like PSP, Zune, Creative Zen, BlackBerry, PS3, iriver, Walkman, mobile phone MP3 player, etc, use it as background music in a home video, or anything else that DRM limits it to do? Many people know you can remove the DRM from iTunes music by simply burning the song to a CD, and ripping it back over, losing very little quality (if settings are correct):

1. Insert a CD-R or CD-RW disc into your CD-ROM drive.
2. Burn your playlist to make an audio CD. You cannot select the “MP3 CD” option since it requires the DRM protected iTunes music files be converted to unprotected MP3, WMA or WAV files.
3. 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 as MP3, WMA or WAV files.

And the method I am going to introduce does the same exact thing but you will not need a CD-RW disc, a CD ROM drive, or even need to burn anything! It’s that simple. Let’s show you how to perform this.

We are going to be using a program called TuneClone M4P Converter. TuneClone M4P Converter is basically a program that acts as a virtual CD drive that allows you “burn” MP3 from iTunes and “rip” it. TuneClone “lies” to your computer saying that you have a CD-RW drive that it will burn to (like Alchohol 120%). You can use this to move your library of M4P DRM protected music to the MP3 format that you can use on any player out there worth its salt. This is a useful tool for anyone looking to break their relationship with the iPod. The best part is that it maintains all of the music file’s metadata. Below is the step by step tutorial that shows how it works:

1. Create a new playlist in iTunes.
2. Add the protected songs to your playlist. Since iTunes burns the protected music with TuneClone virtual CD drive, there is no limit as to music length so long as you have enough hard drive space.
3. Launch TuneClone M4P Converter. Click the “Settings” tab. In the pop-up window, you can specify output folder, output file name format, output format (WMA, MP3, WAV), etc for the output files. Note: You can check whether TuneClone virtual CD drive is successfully installed and where it is installed in the bottom left corner of the interface.
   
4. In iTunes, click the “Burn Disc” button.
5. In the pop-up window of “Burn Settings”, select “TuneClon Virtual_CD-RW” from the “CD Burner” drop-down list, click the radio button next to “Audio CD” and tick “Include CD Text” option. Click “Burn” to start burning.
   
6. Upon the completion of burning the disc and encoding the music, you can open the TuneClone manager screen to show all the converted music files. To locate the output folder, simply click the “Folder” tab on the interface.

 

Content Source: M4P converter – convert protected AAC to MP3 WAV WMA – Bukisa.com

How to convert DRM Nokia WMA music tracks to MP3

This guide is going to show you how to convert DRM protected WMA music tracks purchased from Nokia Music Store to (DRM free) MP3 format for sync to a lot more mobile players incompatible with Nokia Music formats with TuneClone Audio Converter. First, let’s take a look at something about music downloaded from Nokia Music Store:

All downloads from Nokia Music Store use DRM licences in the Windows Media format(WMDRM). They allow you to play a protected track and transfer it to a regsitered Comes With Music device an unlimited number of times. However, to burn tracks to a CD or to transfer tracks to an unregistered compatible mobile device, you must buy the tracks from Nokia Music Store.

The audio file format of the tracks in Nokia Music Store is Windows Media Auido (WMA) with a bit rate of 128 kb/s or 192 kb/s. The tracks are protected by Windows Media Digital Rights Management (WMDRM). Tracks encoded at 192 kb/s are bigger files than those encoded at 128 kb/s, but of better quality.

Now let’s take a look at how it performs to convert WMDRM Nokia music to MP3 using TuneClone Audio Converter:

Step 1. Make settings in TuneClone

Download and install TuneClone Audio Converter from http://www.tuneclone.com. Launch the program. In the TuneClone interface, make sure TuneClone virtual CD drive is successfully installed (at the bottom left corner). Click the “Settings” button. In the pop-up dialog, you can specify the output path, output filename format, output file format (choose MP3), etc for the output files.

Step 2. Burn “Audio CD” in Nokia Music

Launch the Nokia Music program.

Drag and drop the music files you want to convert to MP3 to the TuneClone virtual CD drive icon (in H) until the total length goes to 79 mins.

Click the “Burn CD” button to start the burning process. After the burning gets started, TuneClone will fetch the music from the “virtual CD” (in a temp folder) and encode it to MP3 format.

 

After the whole burning and encoding progress, you can get the output files by clicking the “Folder” button in the TuneClone interface. Now you can possess the music without any restriction.

The drawback is that, after the conversion, the ID3 tags info for the music tracks has been missing. I have to retrieve the information by dragging and dropping the original music to the TuneClone “Track Info” panel one by one.

How to Remove DRM from WMA – Is it Legal and Worth the Effort?

Technically, it’s illegal to remove DRM from WMA protected music. Digital Rights Management (DRM) is part of the music industry’s effort to curb piracy. There are legitimate reasons for removing it, but first understand DRM can not be removed from file sharing network downloads. Most tracks can be legally copied 3 to 5 times, and this has been exceeded long before they appear on a peer-to-peer network. You must have either purchased the music or have unrestricted free music downloads.

There is no easy way to remove DRM, but it can be removed with some effort and know-how. The best advice is to only download music in the format you need, and that you have the right to copy to an mp3 player, CD or other device. It’s also important to determine that the player will recognize and play the DRM protected WMA track.

What if I Really Like the songs and Want to convert them?

Let’s say you’ve already downloaded music and need to convert to another audio codec. The common conversion method is to burn the tracks on a CD, then rip them in the desired codec’s format. Even this requires special ripping software and numerous steps because the DRM is still embedded in the tracks. And because codecs like WMA, mp3, OGG, AAC, etc. are lossy formats, the sound quality will be degraded.

Lossy formats selectively discard sounds the human ear can’t hear to make the file smaller. But each format removes slightly different sounds. For example, converting a track using a WMA to mp3 converter is now missing the sounds that both codecs have deleted.

There are other ways to remove DRM and convert WMA to mp3, but they require numerous steps and more software – and they’re not for the technically challenged. Free WMA to mp3 conversion software and detailed instructions are available on the Internet.

By W R Kirk via link

Related post: How to strip DRM off iTunes music on Windows and Mac

How to transfer WMAs and iTunes 8 library from Windows to Mac

“My laptop HDD recently failed, so I replaced it with an iMac. Fortunately, my iTunes library was on an external HDD, so I have copied it across to the iMac. However, the songs that I have purchased from iTunes do not seem to be available. They have copied across, but are ‘greyed out’. I have authorised my new computer to play purchases. Is there anything else I am forgetting?”

It is relatively painless to switch over from Windows to Mac as 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. What you do have to take note of however while switching over to Mac are your iTunes library and WMAs. Note: This tutorial was written under the assumption that you are running the latest version of iTunes ( iTunes 8 ) on both your Windows and Mac.

1. Add WMAs to iTunes on Windows

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.

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.

However, if the WMAs are DRM protected, it will be a little bit difficult. One method of dealing with the DRM protected WMAs is to get an audio converter. Make a simple Google search and you will get a lot of converters that can convert WMA to MP3. However, those that can convert DRM protected WMA to MP3 are rather limited. The one that attracts my attention is TuneClone Audio Converter (fow Windows only), which isn’t free but very well worth a shot if you have lots of DRM protected WMAs ready to be switched to Mac. TuneClone Audio Converter is capable of removing DRM protection from WMA files and convert WMA to iTunes (both Windows and Mac) compatible MP3 format by installing a virtual CD burner. Click here to read the guide.

Apart from that, TuneClone Audio Converter can also be used to convert iTunes M4P (protected AAC) to MP3 for non-Apple MP3 devices. Click here to read the guide.

After getting the protected WMAs converted to MP3, add to your iTunes library the MP3 files, which will be transferred to Mac along with all the music in iTunes library.

2. Backup iTunes library on Windows

In Windows, open iTunes. Consolidate your library from the ‘File -> Library’ menu.

This will move all the music files into the iTunes Music folder and sort them by artist and album.

Navigate to your My Music folder. It’s typically found at C:\Documents and Settings\~username~\My Documents\My Music.

Copy the iTunes folder to the Desktop of your new Mac. Depending on the size of your library and the method of transfer, this could take a while.

3. Organize iTunes on Mac

If you are running 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.

How to Convert Protected WMA to MP3 for iPod

“The majority of my albums are in my Windows Media Player and I would like to transfer those albums to my iPod. Now I don’t know how to. All I know is that WMA is incompatible with Apple iPod. So how do I rescue my songs? I tried to use limewire to download free music but it is a mess.”

If you meet the same problem, you got the right place! The following tutorial details how to convert both protected and unprotected WMA (Windows Media Audio) music files to MP3 format for Apple iPod.

If the WMA files you are going to play on your iPod is unprotected, you just select and drag them into iTunes Library and they should be automatically converted to whatever iPod format you selected in iTunes preferences for importing.

If they are WMA files protected by DRM, it is not that easy. You need to use some software to remove the DRM from your WMA files and then convert the WMA music to the much more widely-supported MP3 format.
Note: As with any transcoding, the quality will go down. But if you’ve got a lot of protected WMA files you’d like to convert to MP3 files to get on your iPod, this solution would do the trick.

In this tutorial, I’d like to show how to remove DRM from WMA files and convert the protected WMA files to MP3 format using TuneClone Audio Converter. Let’s take a look at how it performs:

1. Make settings at TuneClone

Download TuneClone (fully compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vista) and install it. After launching TuneClone, click the “Settings” button. In the pop-up dialog of “Options”, you can specify the “Output Folder”, “Output Filenames”, “Output Format” (here we choose MP3), etc. for the output files.
Tip: You can get the output protection removed MP3 music folder by clicking the “Folder” button after the whole process.

2. Burning at Windows Media Player(WMP 11)

Create a new playlist and drag into it the WMA files you are going to play on your iPod. After that, click the “Burn” button and select “Audio CD” from the drop-down list. On the right panel of “CD Drive”, click “Next Drive” to locate the CD drive to TuneClone’s Virtual CD Burner.

Note: If you are unsure whether TuneClone’s Virtual CD burner is successfully installed or where it is installed, please refer to the bottom left corner of TuneClone:

Then, drag the playlist you created just now to the “Burn List” and click the “Start Burn” button to start burning the playlist. While the burning gets started, TuneClone will automatically convert the WMA playlist to MP3 files. You can open the manager screen to show all the converted music files.
Note: If you get the output files formatted as 01-1.mp3, 01-2.mp3, etc., please click the output MP3 songs in the manager screen and drag the counterpart original WMA songs to the “Track Info” panel of TuneClone one by one. The information about the artist, album, title, etc. will be changed accordingly. It would be a time-consuming process if you are burning a big collection of WMA music. However, since Windows Media Player 11 doesn’t support CD-text burning, this seems to be the only way to get the information back.

After you get the output MP3 files converted from the WMA playlist in your Windows Media Player, you can now begin to transfer the MP3 files to your iPod with the sync of iTunes.

You may also have interest in:

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

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 virtually burn WinAMP music to MP3 WMA WAV

TuneClone is a unique audio converter application. Compared with other audio converter programs, TuneClone converts music files via a virtual CD Drive. All you need to do is burn your playlist to TuneClone’s virtual CD drive by using your media player software, such as iTunes, Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, WinAMP, etc. The key step to use TuneClone is to select TuneClone’s virtual CD-RW drive as CD burner. Your music files will be automatically converted during the burning process.

Below are the detailed tutorial about how to burn music to TuneClone’s virtual CD drive with WinAMP:

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

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

Step 2. Set “Burn” option at WinAMP.

Launch WinAMP. From the items below “Media Library” button, select TuneClone’s virtual CD drive.

Step 3. Add files to the burn list.

After you correctly select the TuneClone’s Virtual CD driver as CD burner, click the “Add” button below to add music files, folder or the current playlist to the burn list.

Step 4. Start burning.

Click the “Burn” button to start burning the music files.

After the burning gets started, TuneClone will automatically convert the music file to MP3. 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.

Related tutorials:

How to convert iTunes M4P to MP3
How to convert Windows Media Audio to MP3
How to convert RealPlayer Audio to MP3

How to transfer iTunes M4P music playlist to Zune WMA MP3

You are considering buying a Zune as you broke your iPod or had your iPod stolen. And you bought a lot of songs from iTunes store because you had money left on your iTunes gift card. You still want to enjoy those purchased songs on your Zune music player. Or you own an iPod while your boyfriend/girlfriend has a Zune. And you hope to share the library of M4P (protected AAC) music purchased from iTunes store under your account with your boyfriend/girlfriend. Here comes the headache! The M4P music you bought from iTunes is DRM laden! You cannot transfer the protected iTunes music to the Zune software, not to mention playing the it on your Zune player. 

Yet, there seems to be a solution. You can burn the DRM-locked iTunes music playlist to CD-R or CD-RW disc to make an audio CD and then use some CD ripper software to convert the audio CD track back to Zune accepted MP3 or WMA format. And iTunes allows you to burn the protected iTunes music files to CD-R or CD-RW disc to make a standard audio CD.

Sounds a good idea! But it would be a time consuming process if you have a library of iTunes music ready to be converted to MP3 or WMA files for playback on Zune. Moreover, the information about the M4P music files like title, artist and album will be lost after they are burnt and ripped back to MP3 or unprotected WMA format. So this method is not recommended if you have a big collection of iTunes DRMed music to be transferred to your Zune.

I’ve made a Google search for programs that can convert iTunes music to Zune WMA MP3, and TuneClone Audio Converter attracted my attention. The edge of TuneClone Audio Converter over other similar programs lies in that it applys the virtual CD burning technology to simulates the burning and ripping process. You just need to burn the iTunes playlist to TuneClone virtual CD burner. Then TuneClone will directly convert the iTunes music list to WMA or MP3 for your Zune. It is very fast and the information about each music song will be preserved perfectly. Below are several key steps to convert iTunes M4P music playlist to Zune MP3 or WMA using TuneClone Audio Converter.

1. Make settings at TuneClone

Click the “Setting” button at TuneClone. In the pop-up window, you can specify the “output folder”, “output filenames”, “output format”, etc. for the output files.
Tip: You can get the converted music folder by clicking the “Folder” button after the whole process.

2. Make settings at iTunes

Click “Edit -> Preferences… -> Advanced -> Burning”. Select TuneClone’s virtual CD-RW drive as CD burner. In the “Disc Format” option, tick “Audio CD”.
Tip 1: In order to keep the information about the music, the “Include CD Text” option should be checked.
Tip 2: The most important step is to choose the cd burner. Then the software can convert the music files automatically.

3. Create a playlist

Create a playlist, and then add the iTunes M4P music files you want to convert to Zune WMA or MP3 into the playlist. After the conversion, the WMA or MP3 music folder should be located under the folder you specified at first. The name of the music folder should be the same as that of the iTunes playlist you created.
Tip: It is exceedingly easy and fast when you want to batch convert lots of files.

After you get the output folder, now you can transfer it to your Zune software so as to enjoy the iTunes music on your Zune music player.

So, has your headache been removed now?